|
" We've got to go to Bristol Rovers at some stage, somebody actually said to me that at least the pitch would be better, but as I understand it they play rugby on it through the summer. I think it will probably be better than last year when we went and we got hammered 3-0 and conceded two in the first 16 minutes both off corners. It was a lousy, horrible, windy, wet day and I've been there at the Memorial Stadium on those days, so hopefully we'll get a better weather day and we'll see if we can put that right.
" We're expecting the Keiren Westwood deal to go through at some stage really, pretty shortly I guess. I think the two people have spoken, Coventry have spoken to Keiren and it's just a question of getting the I's dotted and the T's crossed. We're waiting to see when that is completed and we'll deal with it after that. We've got Chris Howarth still at the football club but under that is young Alex Mitchell who is just 17 and he'll be a second year Centre of Excellence boy. So he's not ready for that yet, although we rate him very highly.
" Chris has improved tremendously though, and he will be in with a shout, we'll bring another goalkeeper into the football club and they will compete, as they would have done if Keiren had been here. We haven't seen Chris yet though at first-team level, or I certainly haven't, so we've got to check that out as well both for him and for the football club. So it will be an interesting time and it's a valuable position as everybody knows, and we've got to try to get a good competitor in there.
" It's two weeks on Thursday that the boys come back in, we've got three days in on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday from July the 3rd. Then we've got a full week in after that, then we go to Scotland and we have the first more serious game I think, we're at Kendal on the 11th and then we're obviously at Partick Thistle on the week after that. So we hit the football quite quickly, but within a couple of weeks the full staff will be in preparing for the lads coming in on the Thursday.
" Urgent doesn't come into for me in signing players. I think that it is a question of being careful and patient and getting the right things done. I am speaking to three players later this week in the next three days, so that thing has already been taking place. I've spent a long, long day today with Stuart Gray the chief scout, he has done a fantastic amount of work for me while I have been away, contacting people and keeping things on ice as it were, and keeping it ready. We're moving on with it this week and I'll be speaking to three players in the next three days and we'll see where that leads us. "
" I don't see it as a hurry to get people in, I think that it is a question of trying to get the right people in. It's not as if nothing is being done, it seems like it because publically we are not saying what we are doing. Stuart Gray has spoken to a lot of people though last week, clubs, players, agents etc. I've spoken to a number of people, as has Greg Abbott. We had all that going on before he had a little break, so work is being in progress as it were.
" Some of that hopefully will come to fruition, as I say, I'm speaking to three players this week. If they come off successfully then the panic if you like will cease because we will have players on board, but there is a lot of preparation gone into it. I am very much a stickler in getting the right person as well as the right player. I've got an excellent dressing-room in terms of people and one bad one can spoil that, and it's important that we do our homework correctly.
" No-one has enquired about any of our other players, not at the moment, and hopefully that won't happen. Because, I have said before, the squad is still not big enough, we've obviously lost Paul Arnison and Zigor (Aranalde) in the senior side of the football club. We need to do that, I'm still chatting to Grant Smith and I'm still chatting to Luke Joyce in terms of their contracts but we're pretty close to getting those situations resolved as well. So there is a lot going on, I don't want to talk about other players at other clubs, I don't think that is fair, but we are making some progress, and that's pleasing.
" We have long trips on Tuesday nights but they happen don't they, we play clubs up here on Tuesday night. We went to Luton on a Tuesday night last year I remember, just after the Leeds game. Those pan out a little bit, there is never an easy time to go to a lot of places for us, as there isn't for other clubs to visit ourselves up in Carlisle. So we just have to deal with it and get on with it, we will do and we'll see if we can be successful as much as we can. "
" There are seven new clubs next year with the three coming down and the four coming up, that is literally a third of the clubs coming in. So there are going to be some new names on the fixture list, and people like Stockport County came and beat us 3-0 in the cup last year, so they are going to be tough opponents. The emergence of MK Dons and Peterborough though, who have not just come up with good teams, but have got the financial clout as it were to move on another stage I think. They must not be, and will not be, underestimated.
" Certainly having Leeds and Leicester City in there though adds that little extra spice, as did Nottingham Forest last year. So it is a tough league, and we will be regarded as a prize ourselves you know, we finished fourth, going into the play-offs and receiving some accolades off people about how we played. People will be lifting themselves for us, and we are going to have to be absolutely ready for that.
" The Shrewsbury match gives us three of the first four games away from home, so the start is going to be tough as it is. That game though will have that extra little bit of interest for it with Paul (Simpson) being the manager and the two lads (Stephen Hindmarch and Paul Murray) being there. From my point of view it is a fantastic stadium, I've only seen it in pictures and listened to people tell me.
" I haven't been there yet but it is a big stadium, a brand new one that they moved into last year and obviously the pitch will be in good condition. So knowing how Paul likes his teams to play they will pass and play their football around the floor and we'll do the same, so there is a good football match in prospect. I think that will be a credit to both clubs as well.
" I think that we all look forward to the end of the season if you like and say that there is a nice break and breather coming in, and holiday times come along etc. Within a couple of weeks my experience of players is that they start itching to get back, they might take a couple of weeks rest and off things. I've seen Scott Dobie this week though coming in to the gym, we've given all the lads a summer programme and they know exactly when they are going to play their next game of football. "
" That will be in just over three weeks time, these days these guys are athletes, they are not like my day where they came back a stone overweight, not me by the way, to get fit in six weeks and pounded the streets. These guys play tennis, go running, go to the gym, they have got very much a pride in their athleticism. I'm sure that these guys here will come back in good nick.
" I think that Euro 2008 is fascinating for the fact that you have got France and Italy playing tonight and one of them is going to go, that is a surprise. When you look at Greece winning it four years ago, you think that was a surprise also. There are a lot of emerging teams in there and there has been some excellent football. I think that the pace of Spain and the ability of Holland has been outstanding, but they are all still to be tested when it gets to knockout stages.
" That's when big players come to fruition, when you watch that, I watched the game last night and (Michael) Ballack I thought was an excellent player and what a goal he scored. These boys come to the fore in big games and I think that there are a lot of exciting, and maybe one or two surprises to come yet. They were talking about Holland making one or two changes but when you look at their squad there isn't much difference, they are still very good.
" It's a fascination of cup competition, I know that it is a league basis, but they are one-off games aren't they and people have to get beat and win and it gets very, very close. Then you have got to come to your fore and play your best football all in a tournament that lasts three weeks. It is not a full length season, it is three weeks and you have got to come to your best. I think that's when the big boys come through, when they are on the big stage and they can do it. "
" It's watching enviously for me, I don't think that we have got a chance on any of the players. There are people in there who want to come and play in this country, but they want to play at the top level. To be fair you are talking international players, and even probably the less fashionable countries like Romania or who have you, they have got players good enough to go and play at a higher level than League One.
" So I'm not envious of it, I understand that, but I do watch it and enjoy the quality of the football. I get upset at the so-called injuries sometimes when I see players getting strapped on a stretcher and carried off, and then coming back on, it drives me crazy. So hopefully we don't get that at Carlisle, that is something that we can do without.
" It amazes me that clubs like Chelsea give managers four year contracts, and then move it on so quickly. It does seem a crazy way of doing it but if you are the manager you'd have a go at that. Football, like everything I think, has become so instant. There used to be the time that you could go in a club and build it and put things together. I think even down the leagues there is not quite the massive crowds or the same sort of situation going on, but people want things a lot quicker these days.
" It's not just football, it's in life, and I think that rubs on all variations of what people do. Even our guys next year, we'll be expected to be in the top two. I understand that but that is going to be a tough call. Somebody has got to do it though, so we'll have a go, but I think that everything is wanted on the instant list these days, and we've just got to deal with that.
" I'll never make it at that top level, I'd already accepted that some years ago, and yet I've got the qualifications that some of them haven't got, so you wonder how that counts don't you somewhere along the line. Sam Allardyce might be in there for the Blackburn job and will do a good job if he gets that, but like good players, good managers will come around and do good jobs all the way through, whatever level they are working at. "