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" One more week to go on the early bird offers, last year we cut off on June 13th, this week we are cutting off on June 12th. As at last year we had nearly 2,400 sold, of course this year we have changed it a little bit. We have had an early, early bird that ended at the end of April and we got 800 in there, so we are just hoping that we get up to a similar level by the end of next week.
" Supporters can just come in, they can do it paying by standing order, they can pay by credit card, debit card, cheque, cash, whatever. As long we as we know that they want the ticket by a week today literally then we can set the system up for them. They are then guaranteed a seat or a place in the ground for the coming season.
" You are looking at £360 at this stage for the 23 matches, that is against buying the ticket on the day and that is for a seat, which costs you £20. So the 23 matches, it means that you are getting a ticket for £15.65 it is I think instead of £20 which is the price on the day, so there is a really good saving.
" I think that there was a fear that season ticket sales would be down after last season. I think that when we built into our forecasts, we built into a forecast that we probably would be down 10% on ticket sales as of next Friday. We were being realistic taking into account the credit crunch and the fact that the performance on the field wasn't as good as the season before. "
" I have got to say that I have got my fingers crossed to get there. On the last week of the early take up last year, in the last five days, we sold 1,303 tickets. As at last night we had sold 1,201 so if we get the same in the next five days, 1,303, then we are going to be better than last year. I don't actually think that will happen but we have got no indicators at present that we are going to be that far down, although there is still a lot of work to do next week.
" We do need to recoup what we have paid out for Cleveland (Taylor). Cleveland is aware of that, at this stage we have paid over £60,000 to Scunthorpe for Cleveland, we need to get that back at least. There are two routes with Danny (Graham), first of all his services, he doesn't want to come back to Carlisle and he has officially said to us that he doesn't want to re-sign, and he is entitled to do that.
" If more than one club are chasing Danny Graham then they can agree between Carlisle United and themselves how much compensation they are prepared to give us in order to release his contract. If they don't do that then he can simply try to sign for another club and then we will go to a tribunal with the Football League and compensation will be set by the Football League. Both clubs will agree to that before we sit down but I have got no firm offers on the table for him at this time.
" Greg (Abbott) has been given, and is being given, 100% backing at this time. I have got to tell you that even though Greg is on holiday, and he is going away on holiday again next week, he is in touch with the club every day. He is probing and pushing a lot of the players that are on his list and a lot of the contracts that he is after currently are on holiday as well, which makes the job somewhat more difficult. He is pushing and probing every day though and getting 100% backing from the club. "
" The recession has had a big affect on the football club in terms of the numbers that have been missing through the gate. It is well in excess of £400,000 that actually hasn't paid this year, or this season, that paid the season before. All clubs, there are one two or exceptions obviously, teams that are in the top two or three positions seem to in some cases buck the trend. A lot of the clubs though are down by 5% and 10% in the numbers that are coming through the gates.
" It is due to the recession, or it is due to where we are in the league, or whatever, but people are spending their money in a different way. To be honest I think that the vast majority of our supporters do understand where we are coming from. We have got a job here to try to balance the books, if you don't balance the books then we end up in the situation like Stockport, Darlington, Bournemouth, Luton, Rotherham and so forth and so on.
" We can't afford to do that and a lot of the supporters when you talk to them as individuals and as groups, they fully understand what we are trying to do and they back us on that. I think that we are fairly aware that there were a significant number of clubs at the last Football League meeting, they were talking in excess of 30% of the clubs in the lower leagues were on the edge.
" Now getting through the summer period and season ticket sales helped that in all clubs and getting into earning again, and the first day that you start to earn money is August 8th, minimum, could be the 15th if you have got an away match. It is very important, so there are a lot of clubs at the very edge and it is very, very difficult keeping clubs going at this time. "