United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 2-0 League One season ending defeat at home to Colchester, Abbott saying the Blues were flat in the game:
JP
Not I am sure the end to the season that you were looking for today?
GA
No, it wasn’t, absolutely wasn’t but it has been a long tough road this year and I think we have probably done our work the six games, probably even last week, the last seven games. Today was one of those that it was flat, the players were flat which sometimes does happen. But, that is the way it is, we wanted to go out on a bit of a high, they trained actually very well all week.
But, today I just thought the performance was a bit flat, obviously Colchester had a lot to play for, we didn’t but in our minds we tried to make out we had plenty to play for because we wanted to finish the season properly. Up to the first half I thought there was nothing great happening, we were doing the things right but we just couldn’t find a fluency really and that bit of quality maybe to open people up. But, I think it has highlighted where we are and what we need to push on forward, there was definitely gaps for some quality and some pace in the team today.
I think that has shown, we had no wide players fit today, and again Rory Loy is not suited to playing maybe out there. Matty Robson was a little bit up and down in his performance so your areas of providing weren’t quite as good as they might have been. So, through a game you are going to find yourself on the back foot at times and that is what happened. Then they got a goal, a couple of scruffy goals, really soft rubbishy goals and it puts a bit of a dampener on it, but that is where it is.
JP
It leaves a bitter taste for the fans doesn’t it, you wanted, you said in your programme notes and through the week, you wanted to give them a good send off to give them something to think about over the summer, and you wind up with them thinking about today. It is not the way you will have wanted it to end, and they clearly didn’t, there were quite a few unhappy people at the end there. Not I am sure over the whole season, just frustrated that it ended so disappointingly?
GA
Yeah, but I think they will be delighted with the run that we have had to make sure that we have gone into this game with a safe position. So, there has been a lot of plaudits for the six or seven games previous to this one, and people look at the big picture and it is a full season of inconsistency really.
A bitter blow early on with losing Lee Miller and bitter blows, bitter damaging blows, we talked about the games where we lost two and three at home and they really rocked us and rocked the fans and rocked the belief. It has continued really, it is very difficult when you get a mindset amongst people like that to turn it around. But, we have done to an extent, but there is still a whole lot of work to go.
JP
Is it a season and a summer now of evolution for you do you think with your squad, it looked at the end of last season, missing out by four points on the play-offs, you were just a couple of players maybe short. Not quite the season you were after this year, do you think the whole squad needs evolving this summer or is it minor tinkering you need to do?
GA
Well, you have watched the last eight games and it didn’t look like it needs major surgery in the last six or seven games, today it looked like it did need it, that is football for you. Certainly if you think you have cracked it you are wrong, but if you think you are as bad or worse then you can sometimes be wrong too. But, we are obviously better than we showed today because we haven’t in the previous seven games, we have been absolutely excellent.
But, today was disappointing because it sends people into delirium I think with the fact that we are not as good as what we want to be and what the supporters want us to be. So, if you look at today a lot of work needs doing, but if you look at the last seven games it is not all that bad. Again, we know where we are, we know what we can and can’t do and we have got to improve, we have got to improve the consistency over the period.
But, maybe we complain about finishing 15th or 16th that we have actually done better than a lot of people would have thought over the last four or five years, because to finish 15th or 16th, we are looking on it as really disappointing. So, we maybe have raised the bar at the club and that is why we are disappointed.
But, the first year I got in we got clapped off by thousands when we had finished 16th, so maybe that is a victim of a little bit of a upturn in progress. Today people are expecting a bit better at this football club, fans and board and players and manager alike, and we haven’t produced that, so that is something we have to look at and try to get back to where we want to be.
JP
As you put it earlier in the season, before the good run you went on, you have got through this season now, a season of mediocrity I think you dubbed it at that stage, are you looking forward now to what can happen over the summer to try to make sure we don’t have another?
GA
There is no guarantee either way, but you looked at Exeter’s season and Yeovil’s season when they were in the play-offs, one team got relegated the next season and Yeovil have been fighting relegation for the past five. We have never been in that situation so we can actually take a little bit of credit for that, but we want to be more than mediocre.
We want to be better than that and we want to get this place buzzing again, and that was the disappointment today that we didn’t send them home buzzing. But, there are no guarantees, it is not just a switch you can flick on and off. Everybody contributes to that, I got a bit of criticism today because Matty Robson kept kicking the ball into the goalkeeper’s hands from corners.
It upsets me a little bit and it irritates me a little bit because I don’t take the corners, and Matty Robson takes the corners in training and he is really good from set-pieces. But, he makes a mistake and I get criticised and I find it disappointing and I probably have to pass on the criticism to Matty Robson for once. But, I do take it and I don’t hide from it, at the end of the day the team is mine and the situations on the team are mine.
But, I wish he had just got one in the right area and we might have ended up getting a goal from it and I would have got less criticism. But, that is football, you live and die by the decisions you make and the teams you pick, but we didn’t have many options today with the few injuries we had. Certainly in the wide areas, the two lads Jon-Paul McGovern and Andy Welsh are both injured and Danny Cadamarteri has had a knee operation so there were not too many options there.
JP
One of the twelve players out of contract this summer, his future is now come to light, was it disappointing for you that that news about Andy Welsh did come out when it did?
GA
What news come out?
JP
That he is not going to be offered a contract for next season.
GA
I didn’t know the news was out to be honest, I spoke to him because he had problems with his wife and they have just had a new born baby, I didn’t even know the news was out.
JP
I think he put it up on twitter and then the club website I suppose as a consequence.
GA
I don’t think it is that important is it.
JP
But, that is one of them sorted out, you have now got another eleven to sort out, when can we expect the news on who will get the offers and who won’t?
GA
Probably sometime on Monday, we have got the evening tomorrow, where I think the lads deserve to go there and enjoy themselves. They have never waned to be fair, they have been up and down in their performances, but they never wane. So, we will do that and hopefully they will enjoy themselves there and refresh themselves and come back ready to really attack the season and get off to a flying start. But, I hope by the end of play on Monday you will have all those answers.
JP
Do any of them have the terms in their contract where they have made the games they need to, are there any who are in line for new deals that you can tell us about?
GA
Just Danny Livesey, he is one that was appearance related, so he has got another year to go, so he is a yes.
JP
And I am sure after his season with Sean O’Hanlon you would like to keep him at the club long term?
GA
Yeah, I think he has done well, today wasn’t a great game for him today because he had more time and space on the ball than he has ever had and that doesn’t suit Danny. He wants to be up against a centre-forward and defending, that is what he is best at. But, listen, over the piece they have done well those two together, so there is a cornerstone for a defensive improvement next season with Mark Gillespie behind them to hopefully, if we can get off to a better start in terms of defending our goal.
That is the important thing, I think that really, really hurt us the four or five defeats early on in the season at home and I don’t think we have really recovered from that in terms of the fans getting behind us and believing that we can be successful. So, we have got to change that, but next season is fresh, new start, new beginning, but I think the key is important that we get off to a decent start and certainly our home form is better than it was in the early part of this season.
JP
Clearly a lot of interest has been in the players who are out of contract this summer as to whether they are going to be extended. What about the players who aren’t, there are some players who have got another year, that doesn’t guarantee that they will be in your plans next year, are all those things to be considered over the coming weeks?
GA
Yeah, there is a lot to consider, you have got to look at everybody’s performance now from top to bottom, from chairman down to first year YTS. We have got to improve, everybody has got to improve the performance, everybody. I think responsibility throughout the club, throughout the club, that is not even just the playing side, that is the whole lot, the commercial, the sponsorship, the work we do in terms of generating revenue.
Everybody has got to look at themselves and say that they need to stand up and be counted and take responsibility. I think I do, I have, and I have accepted responsibility for all performances good and bad and that is the way we have to be as leaders of different lines in the club. You have to say that is my job and I need to do it better, and that is top to bottom.
JP
What about your own position with your contract, that is still up in the air as far as the fans know, any more news on that?
GA
I think we have done the season now and all that we will do on Monday or Tuesday and most of the announcements can be made when we have got the thing out of the way tomorrow night, and we can move on from there.
JP
Can you tell us anything though, are you looking to be here next year, are we close to that?
GA
I think we would like to think we are here next year. That is up to John Nixon and the chairman Andrew Jenkins to rubberstamp. But, we have had some decent talks about what we want to do and how we want to do it and we have talked the issues from this season, the good, the bad and the structure going forward. So, we will do everything on Monday and hopefully by Tuesday everything is sown up.
JP
And a final one from me, you have had seasons up at the top end, you have had seasons at the bottom end, how do you characterise this season and what do you think everyone needs to learn from it?
GA
That you can’t make too many changes during a season to the structure of your club. We have had issues to deal with over a season, but I think the key is that is one side of it, the key on the pitch is the goals we conceded early on with the home form. Because, I said to you and Jon Colman early on in the season that we had lost more than three points, we had lost a bit of belief, and I don’t think we have ever really got that back.
Now the summer has given us time to batten down the hatches, reflect and people come back with a freshness and a new enthusiasm. But, we have to start the season properly and well next year and give people something to really get excited by, because the four or five results early on really rocked us and I don’t think we have ever recovered from it.