John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 18 July 2008 By Thetashkentterror
John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Friday evening ahead of tomorrow's pre-season friendly at Partick Thistle, Ward talking about how early preparations for the forthcoming 2008-09 League One campaign are going :

" It's been an excellent week, we've had typical weather actually, we've had similar weather to yourselves I guess. We've had rain, it's not been too hot, but the surface underfoot has been terrific so the players have enjoyed that. Often in July you are coming into really hard ground and hot weather but we haven't found any of that. We've had really good pitches and grounds to work on, so everybody has come through very, very well.

" We have just got a couple of little problems, Danny Graham has got a couple of blisters that we've needed just to look after today, but he has done the bulk of the work. Darren Campion has got a slight groin strain which we have protected today, but apart from those two guys everybody is fit and well, and I think that they have thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

" The players have been excellent, we've had a lot of compliments from people in the hotel. We are in a main hotel with a lot of other people, there are some American guests and Polish guests and people like that. So we're not very private but everyone has looked around, I think they get a bit scared of a football team, but our guys have handled themselves very, very well off the training pitch.

" I think that is a real pleasure to have people like that around me and the representatives of our football club. So that has been good, people have got to get to know each other, they have obviously had meals together, worked together and lived together for a week which is not the usual. It's not the norm, we do our training and people shoot off in different directions to their homes, but here it has been very, very focused on what we have had to do. "



" We have trained in the evening which has been good, we've been able to get two sessions a day, thorough sessions as well, not wondering or worrying where else to go. We've got the football in but certainly off the pitch as well I think that everybody has got to know each other that little bit better.

" They (Josh Gowling and Ben Williams) are both nice guys, I think that Josh has found it a little bit tougher than he has been used to, but he has dug in there and he has worked through. It's a big change for Josh coming up, he has been at Bournemouth a little while and something is obviously a little bit different. He's the guy that you can probably tell you better than I.

" I said to him this morning that by the time he gets through these next three or four weeks, getting into Bristol Rovers, he will be right up there with the rest of the boys. So he has enjoyed it, Ben is obviously working with Chris Howarth very, very closely. In the goalkeeping work they have put a lot of hard work in this week and at the same time they are getting to know the rest of the guys.

" It's the same as we used to do at Cheltenham, Greg (Abbott) and Neil Dalton have basically set out this first couple of weeks pre-season training work. Obviously I have overlooked it and that, but those two guys have set it out on the basis of what they have done before. So it's not necessarily mine if you like but it's very much similar to what I have done at Cheltenham and other clubs that I have been working at. "



" It's been very thorough and pretty tough in some instances, but pretty much every day the guys have had a football out, although some of it has been slightly disguised in terms of the running work. They know that but it has been football, the big fitness levels are obviously still to come in eleven v eleven. We just differ, different managers and different coaches just have different thoughts as to what they do.

" All three of the young lads have come up, Connor (Tinnion) was a late addition when we didn't bring Dean Nicholson with us, so we added Connor to it. You wouldn't know, that's the beauty of it, you look at the squad and if you didn't know these young guys you wouldn't know that they were young kids in their first year, or Connor even in his second YTS year.

" They have blended in well and I would think that Connor, particularly, or all of them, have learned a great deal about life on and off the pitch as a professional footballer this week. It's really good information to pass through the club that Eric Kinder's boys will get a chance if they show some worth, I think that is a big incentive for those people.

" We'll look at a squad of about 18 or 19 tomorrow, obviously the two guys I have mentioned may not be available, Darren Campion and Danny Graham. We'll look at the other group though, and it might be a bit too much early for the young kids but I will see. In the main we will probably be looking at 18 or so, and maybe getting an hour or a little bit more for some players. "



" Maybe even some will get 90 minutes, we'll just have to wait and see on it. I propose maybe to look at one or two different shapes of the team as well tomorrow, and just vary that, but give us a picture of what we think people can do, as we did in the league last year.

" I'd ask the supporters not to get anxious about the transfer market, I'd ask them to trust me and the football club. I've just put the phone down to John Nixon actually half an hour ago, we have had a good conversation about what we are trying to do. The fact that I am up in Scotland doesn't mean that I am not working, and as a football club we have been very close.

" I've spoken to a couple of managers regarding players, and indeed I have spoken to a couple of players this week. So things are moving on but they don't happen very quickly sometimes, and they've just got to be patient with what I am trying to do. I'm confident we will have some new faces before the start of the season, I'm trying very hard to do that so hopefully that will happen.

" We're exactly as we were with the Joe Garner situation. No developments on Kevin Gall and Cheltenham either, Keith Downing and I are good friends, so Keith would give me a shout if there was something on there. I think that they are away, actually I have spoken to him this week but it was just purely about that they had had a tough game at Hinckley I think and he lost one of his players with concussion. So we were just chatting about that, so if there is anything I am sure that they would let me know and give me a shout, but everyone is aware of Kevin's situation.

" I think in regards to talking to people at Kendal, that's what we have found this week in here. I've got a group of footballers who are quite happy to mix and chat to people. I think that gets rid of the myth that footballers are above the supporters. I think that we are very close at our football club and it's something that I would like to nurture and make sure continues to happen. It's something that I do enjoy is talking to people, particularly the younger ones, I think that it is a big thing for a football club to keep those young people wanting to come to watch our football team. "