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" First friendly against Barrow tomorrow, the boys have been working very, very hard over the last two weeks and they are really looking forward to the game. They will all play 45 minutes, I've got two teams so hopefully if we don't get any injuries then one team will play the first-half and one team will play the second-half. They've worked their socks off since they came back, they have looked after themselves over the summer and they are really looking forward to the game.
" It's always nice to watch the first game with it being local and have a look at the new players that we have brought in, they will all be involved tomorrow for 45 minutes. You can't beat the competition but the goal is Walsall for the first game so we have to make sure that everybody is in tip-top shape leading up to that. It's always nice to play pre-season games and try to get a little bit of balance and team shape and obviously get them confidence by trying to win games.
" This early in the season though we are certainly working on fitness and that is the main priority, getting everybody through 45 minutes hopefully without any injuries. All the games are competitive and what we have tried to do is play Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday and then have a full week of training which is excellent. Then go again on Tuesday and Saturday so we are looking forward to the games, we've got some excellent games.
" I suppose leading up to probably the last two friendly games you've got an idea on who is in good form, what the balance of the team is, what shape we are going to start off and how everybody's fitness is. So probably leading up to the last two games I will probably have an idea in my mind what might be the starting line-up. I think that's how it works and that's how I tried to work it last season where you get the bulk of your team ready for the last pre-season game. Nine times out of ten that will probably be the team that starts the first game of the season barring injuries and stuff like that.
" He (Simon Hackney) has done fantastically well, he's joined in everything, he's done everything, we've had no reaction from his injury. He's been a breath of fresh air for everybody, he's fantastic going forward, he's fantastic on the ball as a few of the players are but it's nice to have him back to have lots and lots of competition for our forward play. "
" I can't hide the fact that I was very, very disappointed that he (Peter Murphy) didn't accept his new contract at the end of the season. I can appreciate that players want to play at a higher level but there is a time and a place for me to do that. We always left the door open hoping that he would reconsider, I'm sure he's had offers although I've never really asked him to tell you the truth if he has had other offers or not. We've secured his services for the next two years, he played fantastically well last year, he's an international now which is fantastic and when was the last time Carlisle had an international player on their books.
" We're trying to improve players and I think we've done that over the season, we certainly improved Peter to the certain extent that he has got a full cap so we all feel very, very proud of that. All players want to play at a higher level of course, now why can't they do that with Carlisle. Over the coming months and the coming years that's what we want to do, we want to improve Carlisle and get to the next level. If we get to that obviously you have higher aspirations on trying to get into the Premiership because everybody wants to get there.
" I've said publicly as well that I thought he played absolutely fantastically last year for the team, we finished eighth which was great. Carlisle have certainly helped almost 100% in getting him that international cap. I certainly tried to persuade Peter that the club was very, very capable of trying to get to the Championship but players leave their options open. I can understand that, we've had the conversation about the game changing, you have to deal with that.
" In the end by not being a pest but by just being interested on where he was at, what he was doing. Still trying to push forward the Carlisle case on that we can certainly take you where you to want to go to and hopefully enhance your international career at the same time. Then maybe it did hit home that this was the perfect place for him to sign for the next two years, in the end there is a time and a place and maybe it wasn't the right time for him to move up a level. Hopefully it is within the next year and hopefully that is with Carlisle.
" There isn't so much a time limit but you have to slowly build the club up to get stronger. Behind the scenes is fantastic, the improvements around the whole place are super and if it comes sooner than we think then that would be fantastic."
" There are a lot of people wanting to know who the captain is going to be, I think there is plenty of time for that. We have plenty of candidates who are experienced enough and are going to play week in, week out. We'll slowly make that decision later on as pre-season goes along, you'll find out when we, or I, decide who is going to be the next club captain. It will be the right person because he will be respected by everybody else, hopefully he will be playing week in, week out and lead by example. That's what we need from all the players, not just the captain.
" I think it will be somebody who has got the respect of everybody, somebody who leads by example, who plays week in, week out and shows how things will be done off the pitch as well as on it. So there are a lot of attributes that you need to be a captain, We have three or four candidates that I would be very, very happy to be captain of Carlisle. Lead by example of course, to understand the tactics that we are trying to get across and if there is anything wrong on the pitch to stand up and take responsibility for that.
" To stand up and say 'listen that is bang out of order' or 'this is the way we are going to push forward'. Or 'we need to work a little bit harder', 'we need to pass the ball a little bit quicker', someone who can understand all of that. It's a person who wants to do it, especially when you can name a captain but he might not want to do it because he might not want that responsibility. It's just finding the right person and I'm sure we have got three or four that can do that.
" I'm very surprised how much people are talking about trying to find out who the captain is. I didn't realise it would be that strong with everybody. We've still got plenty of time to decide who is going to be the skipper but we have got three or four candidates who I would be very, very pleased with. I'm sure if I name one of them then they would be very, very happy themselves.
" I've never commented on speculation, we're trying to recruit players and there are two or three things that we look at. Obviously money comes into the scenario because the players want a decent package that has to work both ways for the club as well. Location does come into it because are people going to be willing to travel or to move up. Then the third one is ambition on where the club is trying to get to and whether a player is going to jump on board or not. "
" Sometimes you think that you have the right player, the right player becomes available but then when you try to speak to the players then you find out the real player. Sometimes it doesn't feel right so there are many things to look at within the package. I can't really comment on players going to different clubs that we have been linked with, I never set the headlines in the papers or through the media, there is a lot of speculation on that.
" Sometimes it would possibly sound like sour grapes if we did and they went somewhere else, that package has to be perfect and we are looking for the players to come into the football club to enhance what we have got. Because we have got a very, very tight unit at the moment, which finished eighth in the league last season, and we're trying to improve on that.
" We need to strengthen, I think we still need another defender, another forward and possibly another one that either comes from midfield or wide to make competition for places even stronger than it is at the moment. The four or five people that we have brought in so far have made the squad strong but I still think it needs to be stronger. The door has always been open to Peter (Murphy), I was disappointed that he didn't sign at the end but I am a person who tries not to give up, and we got there in the end which was fantastic.
" Fred (Story) has spent some money, I don't think anybody can criticise Fred, John (Nixon) the Managing Director or the rest of the board. They have backed us up as much as I have asked them, they have been fantastic. I think scouting the Scottish Premier League is something that I have re-addressed over the summer. I didn't really exploit that last season and we are certainly going to try to exploit that this season. That is the improvement on our recruitment side so we look forward to watching games in Scotland which we haven't done. We are going to scout Scotland a little bit more and see what they have to offer.
" We've gone a little bit more part-time and spread around the country, in reality if we are trying to attract somebody from London it's going to be very, very difficult because of the distance inbetween. We've tried to locate down, up and across a certain distance and that will give us a better chance to recruit players knowing that it's not too far to come to Carlisle because Carlisle are on the up. "
" We have been speaking to agents, some are difficult and some are very good so you have to take the rough with the smooth I suppose. It is nice to talk to the player, to see what his ambitions are, to see the colour of his eyes and to see if he wants to be part of what we are trying to achieve at Carlisle. After the three seasons that we have had for me it's all good and it's all positive. If a player wants to come then he'll come which, we've recruited the four or five players already this season, and that is the main reason why they are coming to the football club.
" Because they see the football that we play and how the club is trying to run itself and where it is trying to get to. We have to remain positive that we have recruited five players already, if we can recruit more than that it is fantastic but why talk about the people that we might have been interested in or might have got who have gone elsewhere. Maybe they might not have been the right people in the first place.
" We've had a situation where the player had said yes but the manager has said no. I'm not saying that has happened in the summer but as the season has gone along it hasn't materialised. If I was a player and I wanted to go somewhere then I would go somewhere. I'd say to my agent to get the deal done and I'm definitely going there, the agent certainly wouldn't tell me where to go that's for sure.
" He (Matt Jansen) has come in, he's asked to train with us to try to get his appetite back. I want to try to keep it as low-key as I possibly can, just let him enjoy himself and see how it develops. I think he is enjoying the training that he is doing at the moment, if he gets that appetite back and he fancies having another go then why not Carlisle. As I say though there are no strings attached, he is just training, enjoying himself and trying to get a little bit of an appetite which he had in the past. Personal life is personal life for me, he's come in, he's applied himself excellently, he's got on really, really well with the rest of the lads and if there is no pressure on him then just let him enjoy himself.
" We've signed players this season and we've signed players in the past who have moved to the area. Everyone keeps on telling me that when you move to the area that they very rarely move back. We are recruiting players from all over the country, and they do move up, that's fantastic and long may that continue. "
" He (Joe Garner) came last year, everybody saw what he could do, he scored some goals and he had fire in his belly which is why we brought him to the football club. He just wanted to play first-team football but he's a Blackburn player until Blackburn say anything different. We'll keep on monitoring the situation though because we know what he can do.
" I think that loans were fantastic last season but it's vitally, vitally important that we sign players first and foremost because then they have the association with the football club. They are Carlisle through and through because they have signed contracts, we are working very, very hard behind the scenes to make signings to finish the squad off which we need. I've said that we need possibly another two or three if we are very, very lucky to do that, if we can't do that then we have been very, very successful in bringing loans in and we'll continue to do that. If we can make permanent signings though that is even better.
" The loan system hasn't changed for us, it's exactly the same. I think Sam (Allardyce) was the one to say that it has changed, it certainly hasn't changed for the Football League. FIFA are trying to close the loophole on emergency loans but it will be exactly the same as it was for us last season. If we do need them then we have the time and the resources to bring loans in but it's vitally important that we bring in signings in that are associated with the football club, and we've tried to do that so far.
" If we go ask and a Premiership team now if we can borrow one of their players if we have got an injury or a suspension and we haven't got the replacements ready at hand or whether they aren't fit themselves. These clubs still want their young players, or even players who can't get in the team, to come and out and play four or five games in a month ready to go back to put pressure on. That will always happen and that will always continue.
" We have an ex-U21 Dutch international (Reggie Faria) who is playing in the Dutch League Two, he's come across, he's a right-winger-cum-left-winger. He'll be involved tomorrow, he'll play 45 minutes and we'll have a look at him, he's been training all week so we are interested to see how he does in a game situation. With him being at Ajax as a young kid he has got the pedigree, it's whether or not he can perform on a matchday along with the rest of his team-mates. "