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" I won't add to the Joe Garner situation, I've been at the club all day today with John Nixon and other guys and I have obviously seen Fred (Story's) comments in the local press tonight. So that's what I have got to go with, I say that line as well, it is not right for me to start speculating and cause any other discussions, so we won't comment on that.
" I can understand a number of things, but football moves in mysterious ways at times. Only last week the fans were asking me where the new faces were and things like that. So it will continue in terms of speculation, I'll be pleased when we get going on Thursday when the training starts and getting into August when the real football starts. Then that will occupy people's minds.
" We've brought players in to improve the squad already in a sense, I'm still looking to bring other faces in. We've brought two guys in, we've moved quickly to repair the situation with Keiren (Westwood) and we've got one of the best young goalkeepers available. As I've said before in Ben Williams, he's not a guy that has come cheap as a free because people don't want him.
" A number of people wanted Ben, he made the decision not to accept the deal at Crewe and we feel that we have got a very, very good young goalkeeper in there. That was obviously needed to be done quickly and we moved quickly to do that and replaced Keiren. We've also brought in young Josh Gowling from Bournemouth to strengthen the back four and I'm still looking to strengthen the rest of the squad.
" They bring us up to six new players that I have brought in in the last eight months since I came in October. So we've moved quite quickly but quietly, I'm not one that will jump at things and express a load of strange things going on. We'll move quickly, we'll move quietly and we'll get one or two things in, but new faces, yes, I am still looking to improve this squad. "
" It's unlikely in the next few days, I think that's not right, and if there was then I would tell you there was something hanging in the air a little bit. I've made a number of phone calls to people today and enquiries. It's a question sometimes of waiting to see what happens either in the pre-season period or in the next few days.
" Football is such a thing that it works in the next five minutes and the next phone call might be something that gets me moving. You think that I am not telling you the truth now but that is life in the game I am working at. I will try very hard though in the sense that I have done with the previous two new ones in Josh and Ben. That we'll try and get not only the good players but the right people to join this squad and make it better.
" I think it's fair to say it's easier to get answers when pre-season starts, I think that it changes the strength a little bit as well. I've come into a full week of post and dealt with it yesterday and today, and the bulk of that is players asking for trials, letting me know they are available. So they are now beginning to panic a little bit because pre-season is starting, a number of clubs have started. A number are like us, they are going in the next couple of days and getting players back in.
" Once that tends to happen players miss the fact that they are obviously not involved in something. Also the fact that in the next few weeks teams will be getting their strength, teams will be changing their squads a little bit. That nudges players out of focus with their original teams and might move things our way and other clubs' way. So it changes consistently and it is my job and the job of my staff to remain on top of all the information that is going.
" I think it is likely that I will be less interested in Paul Reid (ed - Paul Reid signed for Colchester this evening) since I brought Josh Gowling in. It was a priority for me to strengthen the back four and bring another face in there. So if I did bring Paul in then suddenly I have got four centre-backs who are all absolutely capable of being in the team week in and week out, and I wouldn't have one even on the bench. So it's less likely, I wasn't aware that Paul would be released when we brought Josh in, although it doesn't affect that, I like Josh and think he is a good player, so it's less likely. "
" I've been talking to Grant (Smith) consistently over the summer, we've clashed with breaks away. He came into the club yesterday, I have spoken to him twice again today, I still owe him another phone call which I will probably do this evening or tomorrow morning. I'm hopeful that we'll get somewhere with Grant to agree to stay with us. There hasn't been interest from other clubs to me but then Grant is out of contract so he has been able to talk to other clubs if he wishes.
" He is obviously over the 24 Bosman age, but I have had no indication from my end that he has talked to other clubs. He wants to stay, he has never indicated to me that he wants to leave anything. Like a number of things though, each player's individual requirements or requests are slightly different and Grant is in that category, but I am hopeful that we will keep him.
" I am pleased that Luke Joyce has signed, otherwise I would have released him when his contract was up. I think that other supporters at the club have probably seen more of Luke in the first-team than I have. As that goes though I have seen him every day and I've seen him in the reserve team and I've seen his attitude and his approach. At just 20 years of age this young man I think could be a very good player. He is competing in what I have got is a good midfield squad, we were just talking about Grant, we've got Chris Lumsdon, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and we've got Paul Thirlwell coming back in there.
" We've got good players coming in that group and it's competitive, but everybody for me starts at scratch. It doesn't really worry me if they played 40-odd games last year or two or three like Luke, if Luke comes through then he plays and I have got no problems with that, he comes into the side. So it is really down to the players these next few weeks as to the impression they can create within their training regime.
" I think the midfield is strong, so again, if I brought another one in then it would clog up a good midfield. I think the guys in there did extremely well last year, they have all come through with a lot of good credit. Paul Thirlwell is the guy that I have not seen enough of, he was blighted by injury as we all know. Hopefully he can get through a good six week period and become a strong contender, so he for me in terms of manager would be like a new player for me. "
" So it's not an area that I am looking to say that is where I am needing a player now, I think that there are one or two areas that we need to just add to the squad. We will be looking at trialists, there are two or three players that we have already spoken to that we think we should have a look at. I think that in the next week or two there will be one or two faces in there that I will have to explain to you.
" Preparing them mentally is going to be the key, after missing out through the play-offs last year that is going to be the interesting factor for me as to how the players individually deal with it. There is no guarantee, you can come back and be much, much stronger. I was at Bristol City as the manager there when we missed out in the play-offs and the next year we got promotion. I was at Bristol Rovers when we lost in the play-off final and the next year we found the start very, very tough and some of the guys that you expected to be coming through couldn't quite make it as strong as you wanted to.
" So it will be an interesting period, hopefully we can get the former one where we come through stronger and the adversity and disappointment of last year strengthens everybody's resolve. That is really what I am looking at but each one is individual, and they all will be affected differently by last year, but hopefully the majority will be stronger for it.
" I think that the best team won EURO 2008 in the end, what I saw of it I thought that the Spanish team were full of pace, enthusiasm and really good quality football. There were quick and bright, and certainly in the final they gave Germany a bit of a toasting really, for a 1-0 win it was quite emphatic. At times the Russians used that pace and brightness with their football, and I think that I liked that as much as everybody else. So if we can get our fast and quick players playing to a good tempo and good quality touch then hopefully we can have a good time at Carlisle and feed off that, learn off it.
" You must say that people like (Steven) Gerrard, (Frank) Lampard, they can play to that level, (Wayne) Rooney. We see them week in and week out at their clubs and what we don't probably see enough of is that they repeat that at international level. So that has really got to be the push and the challenge from the manager to them that we think we have got these players available, can we now reproduce that at international level football.
" Individually you can't really say that people like (Rio) Ferdinand at the back, and (John) Terry at the back, you can't tell me that they are worse than Germany's centre-backs. You can't say that people like Gerrard and those guys can't compete in the midfield like we have seen with the Spanish people. It's getting it out of them and that is going to be his (Fabio Capello's) quest isn't it, and there are a lot of managers who have gone before him and haven't quite succeeded. "