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" Can I just be one of the first to wish Barrow the very best of luck from, not just myself, but everybody at Carlisle United. We've followed their progress through the season, it has been absolutely incredible what they have done, and if they can finish it all off tonight it will be a very, very proud place will Barrow. It's great for Cumbria that both Barrow and Carlisle United are in the position we're in, so my good wishes and those of Carlisle United to Barrow football club tonight.
" Everybody is OK in our team, we've got Danny Livesey back involved and he's obviously available for the first game. Then (David) Raven will be back for the second game so we've got something to look forward to. Jeff Smith has trained with the squad for the first time yesterday as well, and whilst he is short of match practice it's nice to see him back in working with the squad and getting himself back in some good training.
" I think the first game will be far too soon for Jeff, we've had a rest day today for everybody and we'll be back in training tomorrow and Sunday having a real push towards the game on Monday. I think that will be far too soon but Jeff could be, depending on how the whole position goes, Jeff could be in consideration for the second game next Thursday. Whether it be as a substitute he is a good person to have around us, and I was really pleased to see him with his boots on yesterday and playing with the squad, it was great.
" Paul (Reid) didn't think that he was going to make it, we knew that there might be an outside chance of the second game. I was prepared, along with Fred (Story) to take the chance to do it and extend the deal for two weeks, and then if it went further then we could do a further fortnight on it. When I spoke to Paul though after the final game against Bournemouth he wasn't comfortable that he would make that. "
" I think that is to his credit, he is a terrific person and a really good professional, but I think that was to his credit that he said that he wasn't sure that he would be able to help us here. We accepted that situation from him and decided not to push it further, because at least it leaves me as the manager exactly where I am. I know where I am with the players available, and I think that is just to Paul's credit.
" A permanent move in the summer is something that he and I have talked about, he has got another year I think on his contract at Barnsley and it really depends on what they want to do with him at that football club. That is something in the future but it is something that we are obviously keeping an eye on. Obviously I know Paul now and I have had him in our football club and I like what I see, so we'll wait and see what happens with that.
" We've made phone calls on players as I think you'd expect us to do. We are still not certain which league we are going to be in obviously, but the positional areas we know what we need to strengthen on. We feel we know what we need to know, and we've made enquiries to that degree, but we have not made any firm offers to players or clubs. We are just sounding out really at this particular time, asking what have they got and who would be available at what time, that type of thing but nothing definite.
" When we came off the pitch after the Bournemouth game we were very, very low and very disappointed. With the 46 games come and gone and we knew we were finishing fourth and not second where we wanted to be. Once we had come back out on to the pitch though, I didn't know what to expect myself, and didn't know whether the ground would be half-empty. I reckon though that there must have been 9,000-10,000 Carlisle supporters stayed in that ground to support the team.
" I think that's what they did, we didn't see it as a lap of honour, we saw it as a lap of thanks if you like from the team to the supporters and vice-versa. That supporters reaction, they stayed because they wanted to stay and they wanted the team to come out, and they wanted to let them know that they were still behind them. That is something that I could not do in the dressing-room, I needed a lift myself you know, but I could not give the team that sort of response. "
" That for me was the moment that we put aside any feelings of failure or disappointment, and said that we have to go on and we have to push on now. I think that just the fact that we play Leeds United as well just lifts everybody, to say that this is not a bad effort, we're not in a bad position, let's have a go at it. So I know exactly when the lift came back in and that was down to the Carlisle supporters immediately after the Bournemouth game.
" The Sunday awards dinner was really positive, over 300 people in there and the feeling towards the team was exceptionally warm. It was as if we'd done something really nice, I'm not saying special because we haven't done that yet. We'd finished fourth though, we'd moved on, they respected the efforts of the team, we had some bad days, we know that, we said that at the time, we don't hide things from people.
" I think that in the main over 46 games they were saying us to that we have done OK, now we're behind you so go and push on and see if you can do it again. That's something that I feel has been in the training ground this week and the mood of the players, and the staff and myself, Dennis (Booth) and Greg (Abbott) I have to say. We've been of that inkling this week, we've got to go on and push on and really give Leeds a tough time if we can.
" Hopefully the long rest before the first game will do them good. I think that it has been a good week this week, as I said before it has been positive reaction from supporters. We've seen them queuing up at the ground, the team have been driving into training and seeing the people queuing and wanting tickets and wishing them well. Everything that has come my way has been good luck and all the best, and all that type of thing, so I think there is a feeling that this is a big situation in our careers. "
" We're fine, there is a positive feeling about it all, we want to do well. We've given them a rest as I have said, we've had days in and days off, we now go back in tomorrow morning. We are working very thoroughly on Saturday and Sunday, travelling down to the game on Monday, as we did against Nottingham Forest. Let's hope that we can get a similar reaction and a similar result, that would be terrific.
" I'd agree with Leeds if they said we were the team they wanted to play in the play-offs, they are probably right to say that. I don't think that is a feeling for us to get upset about, their manager (Gary McAllister) has said himself that they are the form horse going into these play-offs and they have got to win. I think that if I had been in their position I would want to play Carlisle myself.
" Because you'd think that we would be down, we would be low, we've missed out on second place and promised this and that and not delivered it, and that we are going to be low. Maybe we can surprise them though, but I don't worry about what they say and I am not going to pin it up on the wall. I think that they are probably right, maybe they should have just kept it to themselves, but what they are saying is probably right.
" I'm going to upset somebody whatever I say on Doncaster against Southend. I think maybe Doncaster, and yet I'm saying that with a lot of reservation, because Southend have got the experience of being in the Championship and coming back down and going again. They have both got terrific managers with excellent knowledge of the tactics and how to play these sort of games, so I think it is going to be really tight.
" We've got our chief scout Stuart Gray at the game and I am going to watch it on TV and Greg is going to watch it on TV. We've got tickets though for the second leg and we hope that we're right to get those tickets for the second leg. I think though that that is going to be extremely tight, but if you are going to push me then I'm going to go for Doncaster over two games. "