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" Stadium-wise it doesn't seem to have a changed a great deal but inside it has. Obviously with the floods and what have you the inside seems to have been completely redone and it looks very nice. I really, really enjoyed my time here, on the pitch it was obviously a difficult time, the club was struggling right at the foot of the Third Division as it was then. I had a great time with the lads and the staff here and I have fond memories from that time, although the football side of things didn't go to plan I've still got fond memories.
" It was probably the middle of last week I think when I found out about the chance to come back, it was of great interest really when I found out. It was something that I wanted to come and see what was going on up here. Obviously in the last three years this club has gone from strength to strength and hopefully it can continue that.
" I went back to Derby after leaving here and I couldn't force my way back into the first team, so when I was 21 I got released and I signed for Port Vale. I spent four years at Port Vale, enjoyed my time there as well and then I signed for Stockport and Sammy McIlroy. Stockport was a club that seemed to be moving in the right direction but for many different reasons we ended up going down that season. I left, as it happened, in the February time and signed for Bradford and I've been there since until this summer.
" I really enjoyed it at Bradford, when I first went there, obviously Bradford is quite a big club. It was on a bit of a slippery road but it was a good time to join that club. We did really well at the end of that season, we went into the new season, obviously financial problems were a major thing at Bradford and the wage bill was being cut. Some of the more important players were having to leave and that has continued really up until this summer.
" Hopefully now, in the recent press, I think somebody has been in and cleared their debts for them so hopefully they'll be able to come straight back up next season. It's a big club and I really enjoyed my time there with both managers, obviously Colin Todd initially and then David Wetherall as a caretaker. I really enjoyed my time there and I hope everyone does well. There have been times throughout my career when I have tended to score good goals, it's the little tap-ins that I seem never to get unfortunately. Hopefully though I'll get a few of those and a few tap-ins and I can get my goals total right up there.
" I don't know if it was for financial reasons that Bradford released me, I was never actually given a particular reason why. We didn't have a manager at the time, it came from the Chairman, those would add up and it would look like it was that but I don't know to be quite honest. Obviously with the situation at Bradford, the Dean Windass deal is having to go through and we had to sell Jermaine Johnson last year to Sheffield Wednesday. It's all to try to break even at the end of the year so that the club doesn't lose too much money. Hopefully now someone has gone in with a little bit of money and they've cleared the debts so the club can start looking forward again. "
" It's two relegations I've had in my career, at Stockport and Bradford now, it's something that I'm bitterly disappointed about. These are things that sit on your resume and you can never take away, that third one I'm hoping will never come.
" Paul Boertien and Rory Delap were both there when I was at Derby, Rory I think joined just before I came to Carlisle on loan and did ever so well, he did brilliantly really for Derby, then he moved on to Southampton. Paul Boertien was actually here I think when I came for my month and then he came and joined at the end of that season, or the start of next season. Obviously "Boerts" did ever so well, he's had a few injuries in the last couple of years but he's a great player and I'm sure he'll do well.
" He has been released by Derby now, I still text him every now and again and it's something that is on my to-do list now I've come up and signed for Carlisle again. Obviously he's a local lad, I'll have a chat and see what he has got to say, hopefully we'll catch up.
" I spoke to the manager (Neil McDonald) on Friday on the phone and from the manager's perspective he is looking for me to come in and get forward, get goals and create goals from midfield. That fits into the way that I like to play, in the last three or four years I have not been able to do that a great deal. It's been patchy really, I've had to be more defensive and that is not really my game. I do it to the best of my abilities and always try to do that but my game is about getting forward and creating and scoring goals. The manager says that is what he wants me to do and hopefully I can do that for him. It depends on where the manager puts me really but hopefully from the middle.
" We're obviously looking for promotion, I want to play in the Championship and I'm sure the manager wants to manage there, every other player has got the same sort of idea. We're in this division, nobody wants to be in this division just to make the numbers up and we're looking to move forward. The club has done it over the last three or four years, it's done exceptionally well to keep making that step up and it's something that we'll be looking to do this season.
" I'm fit now as we speak, I tore my medial ligament at the end of last season in a tackle but these things happen in football. There is nothing you can do about it unless you don't go in for tackles which, let's face it, you just can't do that playing football. I played 43 or 44 games last season, I only missed, I got rested for two, a cup game and also one of the league games. I played all the rest of the games until I did my knee so injury-wise it's no problem at all.
" Obviously certain things can't be helped in football and when you pick up these types of injuries you've just got to knuckle down and get on with it and get yourself back fit. So hopefully I won't get any injuries and I'm looking to play most of the games next season. "