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" I said to the lads when I first came in that they had had two fantastic seasons, you've gone away and hopefully enjoyed yourselves in the summer and come back focused. Everyone is looking forward to the season, just give me 100%, everybody starts off on an even keel, which I think the players who I have spoken to agree with. If you play well and I pick you for the first game then it is up to you to keep your shirt, but if you are not in the team then it is up to you to battle back and try and force your way into the team.
" We've had two players in that scenario I suppose, one who threw his toys out of the pram and has left the football club (Adam Murray) and the other one has battled away and is playing extremely well at the moment in Simon Hackney. So, you have that scenario I suppose with do you really want to fight and pull up your sleeves and try and get in the team, at the same time though you've got to be working hard to try and keep in the team. Trying to get that balance shows a little bit of commitment from both sides, the one who was in the team and the one who was not, hopefully we've got that little bit of balance now which is good and that is why we are in the top half.
" He (Danny Livesey) has responded well as well, if you have a conversation and be upfront with the player and explain your reasons, and they agree with that, then it is OK, and he's still battling away trying to get into the team. I suppose Simon Grand comes into that as well, he's played two games in the Cup and has been outstanding, unfortunately though you've got somebody else playing in front of him the majority of the time who has been outstanding himself. They just have to bite their lip I suppose and keep battling away, then it comes to a stage in the season where they'll say they've had enough, then you'll have a discussion and go from there.
" If we can pick up a couple of victories away from home then I think we'll be in a good position, our home form has been fantastic though. I haven't been surprised at how well we have done because pre-season was excellent in the way the players applied themselves in trying to do things that we have asked them to do. I haven't been struck by one team so far that I've thought are definitely going to get promotion, it's a close league and if somebody puts a really good run together then that will put them in a good position. If you get your home form really good then sometimes it can affect your away form, it's just trying to find that balance and we haven't got that balance I suppose at the moment. Saying that though, we have drawn four away, we have lost a couple away from home but we are working extremely hard to try and rectify that at the minute. "
" Glenn Murray has gone to Rochdale, he came back after doing reasonably well at Stockport and got a little bit frustrated in the fact that he was down the pecking order. A lad who hasn't had that much first team football wanted to have first team football again, so I've allowed him to go to Rochdale, that might be with a view to signing for Rochdale. We'll see what happens with that leading up to the January transfer window though. Our goal chances have been the best in the league but at the same time we are not putting the ball away in the back of the net and that is the most frustrating thing. Having to come out to explain to everybody about how well we have played but we haven't got any points, or we haven't won the game is frustrating.
" It's not for the lack of trying though, they don't miss chances on purpose and if we keep creating them and practising in training like we have been doing then I'm sure it will get better. I think we need another loan striker to come in, we're still short with Michael Bridges going and Karl Hawley being out. It will be strengthened with Karl coming back though and if we can nick another one then that would be fantastic competition. We tried to sign two players before the August deadline, so they will still be in my sights and if we can sign a couple on top of that then that would be fantastic. Sometimes it's not easy but we'll keep chipping away.
" The two right-backs have got a little pact going I think of playing six games each, we have two very good right-backs at the club though and they have both played their part so far in the success we have had. I'm definitely going to go down the line of trying to sign Paul Thirlwell in the transfer window and secure his services on a long-term basis. It boils down to Derby and Paul as well, it will be a financial package that we are trying to sort out between the two clubs and that will be ongoing all the time now until his loan deal finishes. Whether they want a fee or not he wasn't in their team and that tells me that he wasn't in the manager's plans and that's the reason that we went for him. I think he's been a huge success since he came to the football club, he's showed everyone what he can do and if we could sign him then that would be a fantastic acquisition for the club.
" We'll probably be in competition with other clubs of course, we've made the lad welcome though, we've treated him well, he's played in each game and has been enjoying himself. Sometimes if you move somewhere else and it doesn't work out, like Michael Bridges at the moment perhaps, and you go through a patch where things don't work then it's the wrong move. He's doing the business for us at the moment, he's certainly enjoying himself, he's enjoying training, he's part of the dressing room, and has maybe taken it over at the moment then he will only get better. "
" Paul Murray had an operation last Thursday, he had tear in his cartilage which we have tidied up, he's now on a rehabilitation programme for six to eight weeks and it will be a rigorous one to see how his knee stands up to that. We'll then take the plan of action after the six to eight weeks. I've had no approaches for our players at the moment, I doubt they have gone above me because the people above me have been fantastic since I came to the club and they involve me in everything. That includes Fred Story and John Nixon who are top class men, they are trying to teach me the other side which I said when I first came in that I needed to learn and they certainly involve me in that. The three of us are working hard to improve Carlisle.
" With being a new manager working at a level that I have never been at before I have really concentrated on us, I'm often out watching other reserve team games as well as ours though. It is a tough week because we are doing travelling and lots of miles but it's certainly worth it at the moment. Our support has been second to none, I think it's been brilliant, especially away from home, as well at home actually, the numbers that have turned up and travelled has flabbergasted me to be fair.
" I've been impressed with Stephen Hindmarch – that is why he has been in the squad, Dan Kirkup started off really well and I just thought that he needed a few games away, he's really enjoying himself and we are getting some good reports back off him. Pete Ferris is obviously coming back from injury and it has been stop-start for him I suppose in the reserves, it was a chance for him to go out and play some first team football. The three of the them are all at different levels I suppose and we'll see how they develop over the next two or three months.
" Stephen has forced his way into the four or five centre-forwards that I am pleased with at the club, he's still got a lot to learn and a lot to do but he is having a fantastic time at the moment training with the first team. He is developing all the time and if I get a chance to throw him on again then I will do because he can cope with it. Strikers definitely need pace and movement and they need to be brave and he's certainly got all of those attributes even though he is at the early stage of his development. I am sure we can bring them out better as times goes along. "
" Neale McDermott in still in the squad, he's had a couple of injuries, he played the first game against Bradford and got taken off after 55 minutes due to injury. He's a had a couple of colds and things like that so he has been involved, he's just waiting for his chance really because in all fairness to the three midfield players then have been playing really, really well and it's difficult to try and change that. If you make your mind up that that is the team you are going to go with then players have to accept that, they are disappointed of course and you want them to be disappointed. If you explain the reasons why though then players tend to accept that, if you don't explain yourself and blank them then players turn against you and you have a problem, I think at the moment I've got the balance right.
" I was conscious of keeping the team together at the start even though people were saying that I had to strengthen it, the players had been through two promotions together and their team spirit was fantastic, I think that showed from the start. We are trying to enhance it with one or two but if you try and change a winning team then I would have been very foolish, if it's not broken then don't fix it, just try and enhance it and that's what I've tried to do. They have got the experience and I think they are showing that they are enjoying it as well by the football they are playing, there is bound to be a little bit of a dip every now and then though. We just have to make sure that the gap between having a bad run is huge and if we can go on an unbeaten run again like we have done this season then we'll be up there.
" I haven't been told a specific amount that I have to spend, if I feel as though I can get a player at a realistic price then the board, the owner and the managing director have been very, very supportive. If I can get that person then I'm sure they'll support me in that decision. If we could get a £300,000 player then that would be fantastic, if we could get three £100,000 players then that would be good in itself. As long as the balance is right, the person fits into our system and our way of doing things and gets along with the rest of the lads.
" It takes time for the scouting system to kick in, we are watching players below us, we're trying to pick them up and now the best players. It is really good if we can get Premiership and Championship players because they are already at a decent level and that's the level we want to try and get to. The problem that you have is that if players below you are very good then they are still going to cost you an awful lot of money. "