|
" It isn't a decision that we took lightly, obviously Greg had a go at the job last year, he has been trying the job again almost 12 months later. It isn't all on one result, it was watching what happened over these five or six games and seeing what was going on both on the field and off the field behind the scenes. Also the way that he tackled the job and he was looking to the long-term on all of these issues rather than just the short-term, which you would have expected a caretaker manager to be doing.
" Continuity helps because we have the same back-room staff and obviously we have got the same team running through as well. He is looking forward now on a longer term basis, he knew the players that were here so he didn't have to go through all that relearning process with someone new. So we have got a good continuity running through the club.
" We had some good applicants that were coming in, obviously you get a rash of applicants, I think that I had something like 30 or 40 applicants. Which probably 50% of them were people who have only won fantasy soccer leagues, so we have got to write back to them quickly. A lot of other managers writing in who have failed in the past and are looking for work. Plus one or two managers who had written in who were actually still in work in the lower leagues, or lower league positions, and looking for that job.
" 18 months is natural, I think that if we had given Greg the job from now until the end of May, which is a contract period on his contract, that would have been wrong. Because players are not prepared to come to the club, he is the guy that is going out there persuading players to come to Carlisle United. If he had to go out in the January window, and he has already got targets for that window, and tried to persuade players to come in and come here for six months and know that he might not be here then he would have been significantly less successful. "
" Also he has got his own thoughts on players that are in the existing squad that he wants to extend contracts to. Again there, he would have a really difficult job if they were sitting there opposite him and saying to him that he might not be there after next summer so why should they sign for Carlisle United.
" So I think that it was natural that you have got to look, we as a group of directors are looking to the longer term of the club. We want to consolidate where we are in League One as you are aware, we want to move up towards the Championship and so we have got to look forward on a longer term basis. I think that the manager has got to be looking on that way too.
" There is always a risk and the thing is that if you bring in somebody else completely new, of course they could bring in their own back-room staff. They may want to change everything behind the scenes and change a lot of the football team, and that can take two or three months to kick in and be effective.
" Last year when John Ward was brought in, and again to be fair Greg Abbott passed him the ball and it was a rolling ball. We were in a good position, we were going forward and that continued. There was some progression through that, the difficulty has been from the back half of last season into the early part of this season is keeping that going, with virtually the same squad. "
" We expected quite a low crowd because effectively we didn't know that we were playing that game on Wednesday night for sure until last Saturday afternoon at three o'clock. So we literally had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get the game on. We did extremely well to get the game on because everyone was ringing in saying that they expected the game to be off tonight, and infact the game was on. I have got to say that looking back at it I wonder that sometimes we should have let the game be off, at least we might still have been in the cup, but who knows (laughs).
" There you go though, we worked hard to get the game on, the game was on and it was a low turnout. It was an extremely bitterly cold night and I suppose that Crewe are not really a really attractive side. When they came up to us for the first match of the season for example, Crewe themselves only brought about 211 supporters, I think that were about just over 100, (79 - ed), on Wednesday night.
" The results over the last half dozen matches have indicated that I think that we have had 50% wins. That has got to be good and that has got to mean that we have turned the corner and we have stopped that run of defeats. I think that has indicated that things have begun to turn, we have got a difficult December coming up, we have got some really difficult games, tomorrow being no exception at Swindon.
" Then we have Leicester, I think that we are away to Northampton and then we are at home to Huddersfield. So they are all difficult games when you are in the bottom eight or nine of the league, but I believe that we have turned that corner and I think that Greg will consolidate it. Hopefully we will then move forward and move upwards. "