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" It most certainly has been one hell of a journey, to start off at Carlisle, move to Sweden, go to Lincoln and then hopefully finish off at Leeds is beyond belief really isn't it. We played the Walsall game and we had a good result away from home, I thought that we played really well in the first-half and I thought that Walsall played really well in the second-half. We jumped on the coach along with some of the directors and they dropped me off in Preston and said goodbye, have a nice weekend.
" I came in on Monday, we had a little bit of a meeting and Fred (Story) came in and said that he was cancelling my contract so that was how the weekend panned out. After that I had a couple of weeks off to spend with my family to get my head around the situation. Then I went to Sweden, and here we are from Lincoln to Leeds and I'm looking forward to the season. When you are a new manager you are always questioned on team formation and how you want to play but I think that I certainly got that right with the fans coming through the turnstiles to support the team.
" You are always judged on, I suppose, recruitment but I would like to think watching this season that the majority of the players that I have signed have been the star men and there are a lot of people watching them and they are certainly playing well. It's been a difficult one to understand but that's what happens in football sometimes, when people make decisions there is not a lot that you can do about it.
" It was a very difficult decision to leave Lincoln, Peter (Jackson) just let me get on with the training, I've never seen a manager come into a football club and the players love him so much. He gets them on his side and he makes them feel special but it was a hard decision. Peter didn't want me to go but he is from the Yorkshire area and he knows what sort of club Leeds are, their size and stature, and I just wanted that opportunity.
" I feel as though, with knowing that league as well, that they have got a fantastic chance of winning the majority of those 16 games and that will give them a chance to either get in the play-offs or to get promoted. There is no connection with Gary McAllister, I know Gary through obviously playing against him in the past, I've seen Gary on numerous courses that you go on and my name was put forward. I spoke to Gary on the phone and he asked me to come across to give him a hand and I was very, very pleased to do that.
" I must say that it has been fantastic to have loads of texts and messages off the Carlisle players which is great, so I still have a fantastic relationship with them. I really look forward to seeing them in a few weeks time, and I'm hoping that both teams can get promoted because their team has done fantastically well this season. I look forward to locking horns against a team that I'm sure that I helped build over the last 14 months that I was there. "