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" We have worked very hard to get Graham Kavanagh in, we are pleased that we have got it done. We have seen Graham play over the last two or three weeks, he scored the winner in the reserves game for Sunderland and we are really delighted to bring him in. He has certainly got a presence about him and that has been made felt at training this morning.
" He is a player that you know about for a long time because he has been at that level. There were a lot of people saying when I told them that we were going to try to get him that we would never get him, we wouldn't get him, he is not going to come to Carlisle. We made the phone call though and Sunderland and Graham have both been excellent about it.
" There was no question about him wanting to come and play, the conversations I had last night with Graham were all about how he wanted to play and what he wanted to do. It was all about the football side of it, nothing else, and we have got him sorted. The big thing was to get him across to training today and obviously down to MK Dons ready for tomorrow, he will be playing, he is in the team.
" The conversations only went over football, last night we got it finalised and the priority for me was to get Graham across to Carlisle today, which we did. Anything else going on after that would have to take its course. He is a name that people will be very much aware of, supporters as well as ourselves in the game. He is a welcome addition and help to the squad, we need a bit of a lift all of us, whether it is me, the players or the supporters. I think that this signing has helped to do that. "
" The simple word is that confidence has been lost a little bit, but what is confidence?, how do you get it back?, what do you do? It is a question of working hard through that and getting that little bit of belief back. I have got some good players not playing as well as they would like, maybe I am not getting things as well as I would like, those sort of things, and we get affected by it.
" So at this stage it is a question of everybody pulling together, none of us like the position that we are in. It is a question of getting sat down and working out what do we need to do about it. We have been trying to work very hard this week at doing that, so hopefully we can get that put right tomorrow, and that little bit of belief and the smile on the face returns to everybody.
" I don't think about my job as the manager, that decision goes with somebody else, my job is to get the smile back on people's faces on the training ground. Greg Abbott and myself have worked very hard to get onto that, get into the players, talk about that, what we want to do, and everything else will take its course. If I win the next game or two then everyone will be happy and it won't even get discussed anymore.
" So it is a question of being very focused on what we are trying to do and I will let other people discuss win ratios and job threats and all of that. That is not my business at this particular time, it is getting in with the team and making sure that everybody is pulling the same way together. If people outside it are thinking other things then I can't be affected by that at all, and I won't be.
" I think that there are always going to be ideas and comment and thought from supporters and there are always more texts when you are getting beat. A few supporters don't have any names, you haven't put any names to supporters either, I have got a name, I am standing up and being counted. It is a few supporters though, I don't know how many that is, it might be two, you don't tell me that. "
" There will be ideas and views, whether you are staying loyal to some players or not in terms of the team. I think that it is a question of staying loyal to your team and making sure that you work hard, whether you are a supporter, a player, or a manager, to try to make it better.
" I pick the team that I think is the best one to win particular games, it only gets questioned when you get beat, very few people will ring you or text you and tell the manager that he has done a great job. They all come back when things are not that way, so I try to pick a team which I think will do the best job on that particular day and that particular game.
" Individuals in a sense don't come into it whether I am being loyal to them or disloyal to them or not picking them, there is nothing personal in any of my situations and selections. It is a question of trying to get the thing right and pick the best team, when it is not going so well sometimes those changes need to be made.
" Ben Williams has played an excellent game on Tuesday at Rochdale, I know that some people felt that he kept us in the game. That selection was totally justified, Chris Howarth has sat with me this morning and I told him that if it had been him in that position then he would have wanted me to give him another chance, and he agreed with that. "
" I have told him to keep working hard and playing hard and when he gets a chance, whether it is through an injury or the performances are not so good in front of him, then he needs to be ready. So he is like anybody else, he has got to keep working, I see him every day, I see every reserve game that he plays in as well and I bear those things in mind when I make my selections.
" We simply need a win, if we can play indifferently tomorrow and win then I think that everyone will be absolutely delighted with that, it just turns people around. We are looking for a performance first of all, if we can get that then it gives us the best chance of winning, but if we can't get the right performance but we get the win then I think that we will all take that.
" Our record on television is immaterial, I think that it is a question of everybody just getting on and being focused, whether we are on television, away, at home, playing in one competition or not. It is just a question of everybody getting on with it, I think that it is a good platform for people, it gives people that opportunity and there is no place to go hiding tomorrow. We need everybody to stand up and go to work and do very well, and I am very confident that that is what will happen.
" We have got a team selected this morning and we have talked about that, we have got it ready and we have prepared it, so hopefully it will go well. I am aware of the early start, there are 4am pick-ups for the supporters to start it all off. I am sure that there are a lot of those people that were at Rochdale on Tuesday that will be there again on Saturday lunchtime.
" We respect them massively, I think you saw that even though the penalties went against us on Tuesday, a lot of those people applauded the team and the team responded back to those supporters. We respect it fantastically and I hope sincerely that we can send them back on that long journey with a bit of a smile. That is what we are trying to do, resurrect that smile for everybody, not just me or the players but those supporters who spend a lot of their time and money following us. "