United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at today's press conference for the local media, Abbott in the second and final part of a lengthy interview ahead of Carlisle's final League One match of the season talking about the recent decision to release Ryan Bowman and Nahki Wells :
GA
That is always the downside of any manager's job, but we have to look at those two and think will they play in our team next season and will they be pushing the likes of what we have got. Watching them every day in training and all the friendlies and bounce games we have had, we felt they wouldn't be able to do that so we have to be honest with them and they are honest with us, and we want them to go and be successful somewhere else and find whichever level it is. If they come back to prove us wrong then that is good news for them, it is certainly not a problem with us but we have to make decisions as we see fit, and judgements have been pretty decent over the last couple of seasons with that.
PN
And in terms of other players who might not have their contracts renewed in the summer, have you had those conversations with those players yet?
GA
Some of them, and some not, by the end of next week I think all that will be wrapped up, it is difficult because some of the players, obviously the players out on loan are still playing and our players are still concentrating on the games. We don't want to do too much negotiating to get in the way of the main thing, which is the playing of the football, but certainly next week we will be trying to finish everything off. Certainly with what we have got at the present the recruitment drive will start, but the end of the season decision making will all sort of be wrapped up by Friday I think.
PN
Looking at Nahki Wells and Ryan Bowman and saying well why weren't they given a chance in the first team? Why is that? Why aren't we seeing players like that being released without maybe getting that step up?
GA
Well, they have been given the chance, they have played first team football, so that is the answer there straight away, they have been given first team football. They have trained every single day with the first team and all the friendlies we have had, they are chances and we have to make decisions on that. What we can't do is put players into the team that we know aren't good enough, nobody else would do it, Manchester United don't do it, that is why we end up with the likes of (James) Chester and (Joe) Dudgeon, and sometimes they get released from Manchester United without playing in their first team, now we are no different to that.
PN
You might face a job in maybe trying to fend off interest in some of your prize assets in the summer as well, how much of a concern is that at this stage?
GA
It is not a concern at all to be honest, because most of the players we have got we think we could sell are under contract, it would take decent money to shift them. We would never stop them progressing, we forget the money that we think they are worth, it would go to reinvesting into making sure that the squad can continue. We have done it, we have lost....... If you look at the players we have lost over the last two years we might just find ourselves in the top half of the Championship, never mind League One you now, and we have managed to keep the team rolling forward.
That is a massive positive for the club, you look at the likes of Gary Madine and Danny Graham and Ian Harte and Tom Aldred and Keiren Westwood and Richard Keogh and James Chester, there are some good players there, really good players there that would have done a shift for us this season. But, they have gone, they have moved on and we have kept moving slowly forward, if we had been able to keep them then we might have moved forward a bit quicker, who knows? But, we haven't been able to do that, but we have managed to find some good players to replace them, if these types of players go again and we make money on them we are confident we can find the players to keep the ball rolling as well.
PN
And in terms of tying up players to contracts for next season, how far down the line are you in those talks?
GA
I think by next Friday we will have answers to all of those, so I have set Friday as a deadline, it doesn't have to be met but I would like it to be met because I would like to have a week or so away from it where I know that the work I have already got in hand has been done. And the likes of Thir (Paul Thirlwell) and Murph (Peter Murphy) and Matty Robson and Kevan Hurst and Jason Price, all their situations are resolved, but by Friday I think they will be done.
PN
Any concern that your captain is not getting enough sleep at the moment?
GA
No, because I think babies are good for the club, if he can get a goal the same as Murph I will be alright. But, it never stopped me from sleeping, so hopefully his good lady is doing the bits and pieces nearer the weekend and he is doing the early shift in the early part of the week.
PN
You have got it too easy.
GA
I have had it massively easy yeah, I don't get any sleep now and mine are 25, so it doesn't get any easier.
PN
And Yeovil tomorrow to end the season, how determined are you to really impress and hopefully get a good crowd down here on Saturday?
GA
Obviously, everybody wants to give the lads a round of applause, that is what happens with the last game and thank the players, and we want to thank the fans and obviously, it has got a better ring to it if we win the game and we put on a decent performance, but our performances over the last few weeks, apart from Dagenham, have been exceptional. We could probably have been sitting here with a boat load more points, that is the disappointment that we haven't won games that we have been playing particularly well in, but there is always the sob story of the season when it is finished. But, we would like to finish tomorrow on a high and we would like the ground.............. 8,000 in this ground is a fantastic atmosphere, so it would be great if they were there tomorrow.