United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) at this week's press conference for the local media, Abbott in the second and final part of a lengthy interview talking about his latest searching for new Carlisle players :
JP
Obviously you have still been working over in St Lucia, you have talked already about how you are hoping to be talking to two, three, maybe four players quite soon. How far along have you managed to get with that?
GA
I have talked to one already so I am alright. I have got to speak to John (Nixon), I have got a plan for John this afternoon, I need some good ears from John and the chairman (Andrew Jenkins) this afternoon because things are getting warmer. Decisions have to be made but I am optimistic we might be able to do something, maybe one, in the near future. But, it is not a race, patience and getting the right people at the right time at the right financial level is important, it is the key, that is how I have to do my business. But, I am optimistic we are going to be in good shape. The key is August 7th, the key is being right for the first game of the season.
JP
You talked about maybe three more players last year, and this summer you have talked about four, do you think that is about what you need to do with the squad presuming you keep hold of what you have got?
GA
Yeah, if we keep everybody we have got I think three or four, if we got the opportunity to take a couple of young players that have been released from their clubs to give us cover in one or two of the positions that we have got decent players already there to see how they do, might think about that.
But, obviously they would be players that you would say were part of your squad, but I think we need three or four, again if you go for three really expensive ones it will end up as three, if you go for four at more modest money then it might be four. But, I think we need some depth, we definitely need players that can give us a little bit of experience and a little bit more know-how to go with the young players that we think the world of, and then I think we will be in decent shape.
JP
Can you tell us anything about the one that you are close with at this stage?
GA
No.
JP
Alright, what about Liam Noble? is he in amongst that? Is he any closer to being a Carlisle player for next year at some level?
GA
No, at the minute Liam has got his situation at Sunderland to sort out and we have left him and Sunderland to do that and we won't be getting involved until that situation is resolved, and then I can ask Steve (Bruce) if he can be kind enough to let us take him again. But, until that is resolved, and it is not at the moment, that one is out of my hands.
JP
What about a couple of younger players who left your squad, another Bermudian speaking of that part of the world who was with you in Nahki Wells, and Ryan Bowman, how are they getting along in terms of getting themselves set up once more? And what are your reflections on their time with Carlisle and whereabouts they just about missed out on it?
GA
Erm, we have to take players that we think can break into the team and we didn't think they could, and that is the brutal side of football and the cut-throat business of making decisions. I didn't they could break though so we have let them go, they need to play football now and that is where they have gone. I don't know if they have got fixed up, I know Nahki hasn't just yet, I don't think Ryan has just yet, but that is up to them to go and...........
What they have got to try to do now is prove people wrong, at the minute in most of the instances I have done with the young players I have been right, that is not something I like but it is something that is a fact. I would like them to go and get careers in football like everybody that we release, but there are only enough places for a certain amount and we have made those decisions and now they have to move on and try, and try like mad to make out to people that that decision was wrong.
JP
Clearly Kevan Hurst and Jason Price will be disappointed with the way things went in the end, were you a bit disappointed that it didn't quite work out like I am sure you wanted? In particular with Price who was so effective at the back end of last season and then came in and it never quite happened this year?
GA
Yeah, I mean, I would rather not dwell too much on what has gone, that has gone now, that is history. I make decisions, we are improving the team all the time, we are trying to make the team better all the time, we try certain players, we bring certain players in, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. They weren't disasters but we felt the need to go a different avenue and that is what we have done. We have spoken to them both personally and wished them both the best of luck.
It happens at every single football club and it is part and parcel of the industry and we move on now and try to come July 1st have a squad in place, or certainly by the first game of the season a squad in place that we think is going to be better than it was. We have to keep moving forward, the fans expect it, the fans demand it, so that is where we are working to at the moment.
JP
Any interest in any of your players yet? Francois Zoko for example?
GA
I don't even think about losing players because at the minute I have not had one phone call to suggest that he is going to be going anywhere. All I can do is be ready for the situation if it does happen. There has not been one enquiry for any player so at the minute I am taking it that they are all coming back and looking forward to a tougher pre-season than last year and an even better start.
JP
Excellent news. And just a touch of déjà vu in a way with the summer for Carlisle United and it hinging on what happens with Danny Graham to an extent. We have already talked about this clause in the contract, the 15% that Carlisle are entitled to, I suppose is there a bit of a waiting game for Carlisle as well as Watford and other clubs to see if you are going to get that money in terms of what you can do financially now over this summer?
GA
I just think we will deal with it if it happens. There is a list of players that probably at the minute are looking expensive, if Danny's situation changes then it might make them affordable, so I think it would be wrong of us to go and rush into signing everybody, but we don't want to miss out on targets that might go elsewhere. So, it is a difficult one, it is a little bit of a waiting game, but one that is not a situation that is happening at the minute, and I don't think we are in control of anybody else's work at any other club. So, if it happens we will have to try to deal with it, but the situation is that I can't do much about it really, but we have to be aware that it may happen.
JP
St Lucia you described as a working holiday, I am sure you did have a few moments over there to yourself, are you looking to get away a bit more yourself or are you back into it now?
GA
Erm, more or less back into it. Like I say, I didn't have a holiday last year and that was probably the wrong thing to do, because this industry and this level and this club, it is very demanding. So, I am going to try to see a bit of family in Coventry and try to do some things away from football that I need to do and come back refreshed. But, this was quite a tough fortnight in the end, but really valuable and stuff that I would like to do again. But, now I have got to sort of try to make sure I am ready and spread that message through to the players because we have got to hit the ground running. Everybody knows the importance of a good start and if we get things right pre-season it will give us a great chance of doing that.
JP
And for those fans who perhaps don't know all the details what are the details in terms of the players coming back now and how it all builds up to the start of the season?
GA
Well, they just report back on the 30th of June ready to rumble.
JP
Is it going to be the hardest pre-season yet for them? Should they be terrified of you with the things you have learned from St Lucia?
GA
Not at all, but we did a pre-season last season that was perfect and we got off to a flying start. Everybody was in tremendous shape, we had to haul them back to be honest, so the fitness levels throughout the season were grand, we ran out of a little bit of steam, maybe that was because the edge to games wasn't there. But, we didn't pick up too many injuries, certainly related to muscle injuries so we felt we got that just about right. It will be much more of the same, I am not going to change something that worked last year.
JP
Just a few more general football questions. What did you make of Swansea making it up into the Premier League? The first ever Welsh team to do that.
GA
Erm, yeah, I felt sorry for Reading obviously with Ian (Harte) playing there, I have spoken to him today and disappointed for Reading, I like Brian (McDermott) a lot, I don't particularly know Brendan (Rogers), so I just had a bit more interest in Reading. They let us use their training facilities so we had a bit of a sentimental side to that, but mistakes, I have been where Brian McDermott has been, individual mistakes cost them dearly in the first-half.
Then even when they got back into the game another individual mistake gets them out of it, and you make mistakes in cup finals and there is no going back. They got beaten because they made poor mistakes at times where they are irretrievable, over a league period you can get round them but on a one-off situation, as we have found out, the manager must be sitting ther pretty upset because of what has cost them, it is not what they have done and how they have prepared but it is individual mistakes on the day.
JP
Peterborough no longer in League One, glad to see the back of them?
GA
Yeah, good.
JP
And that guy (Craig) Mackail-Smith?
GA
Yeah, good, I am disappointed for Lee (Clark) as well, I like Darren (Ferguson) and I like Lee, they are both terrific guys. Lee has had a 26 game run come to an end in the most important one of that 27, if you add it on to the 26, so he will be disappointed. But, they were terrific games and whilst he won't look forward to locking horns because he would want to be in the Championship, it is a tremendous fixture for us.
But, Peterborough with the goals they score and the way they have played have won by being the team most likely to score goals, and capable of scoring goals. So, I did say Huddersfield and Peterborough and watch out because Peterborough can score, and that has proved correct, and I did pick Swansea so I have got that correct.
JP
And just finally, the team coming up into your division, Stevenage, looking forward to that trip next season?
GA
Absolutely not.
JP
It is not the nicest place is it?
GA
At least the pitch is decent, but a toss up between Accrington and Stevenage, I think I am going to enjoy the travel.
JP
Or Torquay it could have been as well?
GA
Yeah, I don't want to go back there in a rush either. But, we are losing.......... Shrewsbury would have been nice and with David (Raven) being there that would have been nice for him but not to be. So, we have won on most fronts of travelling and places to go in the ups and downs. So, it is a little bit more local for our fans, which I am pleased for them because the amount of money they spend travelling with the club is phenomenal. So, that will give them a little bit of an easier burden on time and wages, so we have done alright out of the ups and downs this year.