|
" It will be really good for Dan Wordsworth to go to Kendal, Lee Ashcroft came on looking for a defender and we said that we had the young lad. I think that he is playing tonight in the game against Guiseley so that will be really good for Dan, he will get plenty of football. We've got Richard Keogh, we've got Josh Gowling coming back into fitness so his opportunities might be slightly limited. Dan is relatively young though, he is only really a month too old for youth team football, so he is a very young professional.
" The experience at Kendal will be very good for him and hopefully it will be for Lee and Kendal. The Unibond Premier is a tough league, we went to Kendal in pre-season so we know about that. That is fine, that is why I am happy for him to go there. I won't say that it will toughen him up because he is a tough kid himself, but he will have to do it properly. He shouldn't underestimate that at all, he is going to have his work cut out.
" Not bringing anybody in was by design, we have brought eight players in in the previous ten months. We have changed the coaching staff a little bit as well, we have rearranged a number of things in the club. There are things taking place here, maybe people think that it is slowly but it has been progressive. There is no need to race in, I think that you'll find that there were probably only five clubs in our league, including the Dan Wordsworth one, that did any business at all bringing players in.
" So we are either all strapped for cash or we are all quite shrewd and get things done quickly. I'd like to think that it is the second one really, we have done business, we have got things done and managers, particularly I think in the lower leagues, don't like being rushed into signing players. "
" I look at some of the big-time signings and there are players I am not aware of, you can think that they have only been done by video and that has got to be a little bit precarious I'd have thought. So we'd like to think that we have done things calmly and collectively. We have got a good squad here at Carlisle and we have still got obviously the loan window to work on if we need to.
" We can only talk about what we are doing at the moment, I don't know how it is going to pan out over the next seven or eight months or so. You want a good start though, everyone talks about that, we were doing that three or four weeks ago. We've had that, we've got that, we have got to maintain it, we come back home again on Saturday to Southend. All games are difficult, as we know we have got to work very hard to try to get the three points.
" It is a good start though, with a good squad of players all putting the right type of pressure on each other to get in this team. I have used my three substitutes quite a number of times in the early games as well and it just keeps people on their toes. The boys that have had their starts have done very well though, and that is exactly what I am trying to achieve here at Carlisle. All the players are fit and well after Saturday, we have just got a reserve game at Hartlepool tomorrow afternoon and we will look at the majority of the boys getting some more football in that.
" The fees worry me in terms of the long term of football. The ones at Manchester City are coming in with bragging rights that they have got more money than Chelsea and that they are going to make this Manchester City club the biggest club in the world. Well what happens when they get a bit bored with that, because it often happens with people with cash. They have their favourite flings for a while and then it moves on, or maybe somewhere, sadly for them, the cash dries up. "
" It does worry me that all these things are happening. I have said all along though that all I can do is work with the people here at Carlisle and make sure that our football club doesn't get into a situation where it is financially hurt, and we have got to do that properly. At the top level I look at those things and wonder how on earth is that going to continue. In some ways it is slightly embarrassing because there are so many other things that large amounts of money can buy rather than footballers that are there for people's sport.
" It is instant success that they are looking at. Manchester City have quite rightly prided themselves on bringing through young players, they have got people like (Daniel) Sturridge in the side now who is a good player, but now he is not going to get that chance. They won the FA Youth Cup last year, they brought Michael Johnson into the team, Micah Richards into the team. These guys possibly wouldn't be on their list to buy players. They went for David Villa who is a top class player, they tried to get (Dimitar) Berbatov, or so we are told all these things.
" The youth team people at Manchester City who are a terrific bunch of people, and work exceptionally hard to produce players for their club. They must be wondering where it leaves them and what incentive does that give for their young kids. I'm a big believer in trying to bring people through, we were really delighted when we saw Gary Madine on Saturday get his first goal for the club, it was fantastic.
" We have got Dan Wordsworth as well going out to get some experience, we think that we have got some more young kids coming through at Carlisle. Those boys need a big incentive to come through and get a chance and get a shirt in the top clubs. Manchester City are going to find that tough now though, so I am going to watch their reserves tonight and see if there are any pickings. They have got a reserve game tonight against Wigan and I am going to go down and have a look at that game, and I'm pretty sure that I won't be on my own. "
" We've tried very hard at the start of this season, I am not going to get any plaudits for playing attractive football and losing. So you have to get your winning heads right and pleasingly the football has been together. On Saturday we weren't too happy in the first-half and there were one or two rumblings, quite right, we weren't playing as well as we would have liked to.
" We were a goal down so that causes people some frustration, but when you win the game at the end of it with a good second-half performance then people probably remember that and say what a great performance it was. Well it was two performances in a way, a bit similar to Shrewsbury away and maybe a little bit like Bristol Rovers away. It's difficult every game to dominate, you are just not going to do that, it won't happen.
" When you are in a position of dominance though it is important that you find your goals and we have been able to do that in the games so far this season. When we have had a good spell we have found goals and the only period probably was the first-half against Leyton Orient which we had a good deal of possession and good opportunities and couldn't find a goal. The goals have been exciting for us though to finish off some of the good play that we have shown.
" As long as the supporters don't expect it all the time, we try very hard. I did say that I should have packed up at half-time against Millwall in my first game when we were 4-0 up in that it is not going to get any better than that. Well it has got a bit better and we are always working to try to get better, but four goals in each game at home is too much to expect. "
" I would be happy to win 1-0 on Saturday with a tough old encounter, because that is going to be part of the season you know. 46 games, there are going to be battles, scraps, you are going to have to dig things out as we did at Orient a little bit. So there are those sorts of things in the players' lockers but when we can play well then we can be quite an exciting team.
" I'm as pleased with the boys that are not in the team as the ones that are, because they are really forcing, I think, the competition for places, but in the proper way. I have not had a player knock on my door and say that he should be doing this or to let him go or he is not happy or whatever, they are all very much in it together.
" Even people like Grant Smith who didn't get a shirt, and Jeff Smith on Saturday, you think that they are good enough to get in most teams in our league. They are patting the team on the back, they are in the dressing-room at the end, they are talking to me on Monday, they are doing extra work after the game.
" They want to be part of this and they know at the moment that it is not easy to get in there, but I have said to them that when there will be a chance that they need to be ready. So the team is there for all to see, but I think that behind that team there is a squad of players that are exceptionally supportive, but at the same time competitive. It is all in good spirits and hopefully we can maintain that."
" He (Chris Lumsdon) is progressing slowly, he was at the game on Saturday and he was in that dressing-room with everybody. There is two-fold to Chris I would have thought, he is delighted for his mates but at the same time he knows that he is missing out. He has got to do exactly what we said when the injection was put in there.
" For six weeks really he has got to do very little, he is in a swimming pool, he is pretty much working on his own. There is no point him coming in, he can't work on the training ground here at the moment. When that six week period ends then we start to gradually ease him back into training ground work and getting his boots on. It is pretty dull and boring for him at the minute but it is essential if we are going to get him back to fitness.
" Josh (Gowling) is fine, Josh has trained all the time, we've not missed him on any of his training sessions whatsoever. It really is up to him if he wants to play on Wednesday, I will ask him that question today. If he is happy to play then he will play, and if he is not then we will leave it a week. We are not going to lose anything by doing that so it really is just the confidence of Josh.
" He got a little bump on the nose yesterday which hurt but it would have done whether he had had an operation on it or not. So he has just got to deal with that and it really is purely down to his confidence. After all, it is only two weeks actually tomorrow since he had the operation, so it is a relatively short time and that is why we are going to leave the decision to him. "