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FS – Fred Story
GT – George Thomson
PS on transfer activity and transfer window :
I’ve had the day from hell, I’ve had a list of players I’ve gone through and I’m waiting for a call from an agent at the moment. I got a phone call this morning at 11am about Kevin Gall which was a definite no.
Transfer window is a nightmare for managers, we’re having to stretch the budget and sign players to have a big squad in case we get injuries. Seven or eight of the players won’t play every week but we need to have the bodies in and it’s a real pain for all the managers.
I wanted options in every area of the squad, Adam Murray has been excellent apart from his finishing, we’ve a reserve team fixture against Darlington tomorrow (Wednesday) lunchtime to give Chris Lumsdon and David Beherall a game.
PS on the start to the season :
We’ve had a tough opening six games, we have to get our home form right, to have the lost two home games is very disappointing. Teams come here to defend and it puts extra pressure on us when we don’t score when we are on top.
FS on the club :
We’ve a long way to go to make the business side as professional as Paul’s playing side. I’m happy about the club, we’re very lucky to have Paul, he’s very intelligent and understands the business side of things as well, he works very hard and he’s quite right about waiting to sign the right players rather than just jumping in and signing someone he’s not sure about it.
PS on Raphael Nade, Adam Murray and Anthony Williams :
Raphael has found it hard coming into the club but he has strength and pace and he will be a threat. He works very hard in training and is disappointed himself with his start. His confidence is down but he can be a good footballer, we have to be patient with him.
Adam has scored goals at Derby and Mansfield and he’ll hopefully come good and I believe in him.
The new signings have settled in well, Anthony is good to have round the club and as soon as he came here he asked to be involved in the Centre of Excellence and with the training of the young keepers there.
GT : The club shop has exceeded all our expectations.
PS on the season ahead and Gregg Blundell :
I’ll be happy to be safe this season but we obviously want to do as well as possible. We only start to hit the ball long if we panic but we don’t train for it and it’s not the way I want to play. We’ll just approach each game on it’s own basis and hopefully we’ll get more than eight points from the next six games compared to the last six.
Doncaster were asking for too much for Blundell and his demands were way over the top for this level, he was wanting an increase on his League One wages when he was actually dropping down a level. I thought he was worth £50,000, Doncaster wanted £100,000 and Gregg also wanted a three-year deal. Dave Penney (the Doncaster manager) thought he couldn’t do it at League One level so why would he for us if we get there. In the end his agent refused to speak to us and he ended up at Chester.
PS on football agents and the Gretna youth scheme :
Agents are a very difficult issue. We have to deal with them and you have to get them on your side or you stop getting the phone calls. I believe players should pay the fee of the agent but you have to keep them on your side.
I hope we won’t suffer with the Gretna youth scheme but they are just throwing a huge amount of money at it. I’m happy though with our scouting system and I’m happy that we’re bringing in the right youngsters.
FS on the club and the Trust :
We are ambitious but we have gone through a cost-cutting exercise to get the club back on it’s feet. I welcome the Trust taking me to court because everything will be out in the open and I wouldn’t be going to court if I thought I was going to lose.
I believe in fans representation in the club and them having a place on the board but I’ve lost faith that the Trust represent the fans. They had an option for 49% but they gave up 29% of that in June 2004. I believe the fans should have 25.1% but they are trying to use all sorts of arguments to claim 49% but they won’t get the extra 5.1% by trying to blackmail me. This club was in desperate financial trouble when I took it over and it had the taxman waiting at the door with a big bill. We should be working together and not against each other.
The Trust are trying to say they were misled when the three of them signed signed the agreement for me to buy the club off John Courtenay, they are saying that they didn’t have the approval of their own board.
Kate Rowley accused John and myself of misleading them about the shares and the ownership of the club which is definitely untrue. I’m a local businessman and I’m going to stay here for the rest of my life so why would I damage Carlisle United, I have to be responsible in my ownership of the club and I have said many times that I mean that.
John had to give £50,000 to the administration men that Michael Knighton appointed but he did the right thing to keep the club out of administration.
N.B. I was scribbling notes down quickly so if any of the above is factually incorrect then blame me and not Fred Story.
PS on the Conference :
I still look at the results there every week but I’m delighted to be out of the Conference, we’ve now got better games and we’ve made progress. The ground is also looking far better and also local business sponsorship has gone up with us being back in the League. I’m surprised to see Aldershot bottom as I really expected them to win it this year.
FS on the East Stand :
We’re hopeful of having a gym in the first floor of the East Stand, it would bring some good money into the club and would also help regarding the hospitality side. I’m still hopeful that it will happen but if it doesn’t we’ll just have to think of something else.
We’re also looking at sponsorship for the East Stand but the business with the Trust is causing problems with big companies who are put off by it. It’s certainly an avenue of revenue we’re definitely looking at though.
GT on the club :
We’re trying to introduce a model of self-sufficiency for this club in order to keep it going after Fred has left. We really need the supporters to work with us and come through the gates to bring in revenue and that then helps Paul build up the playing side. The history of the club seems to have been lost in the last few years and it’s important for us to keep the history of the club.
FS on the club :
The whole of the community has to get behind the club so we can achieve success. We were very close to the 60% budget on player wages last year due to the legacy of the Roddy Collins era but we were OK.
PS on things in general :
Carlisle United could sustain Championship level football and definitely League One football and success would breed success financially.
Premiership clubs are reluctant to let players go out on loan so that they have strong players in their reserve side. They seem more bothered about their reserves than the development of a player.
The pitch is a lot better, David has done an excellent job.
I am concerned about the goalscoring but the midfielders need to be scoring as well. In training the shots go in from everywhere but in a match we have a tendency to want to score the perfect goal, we’re looking for a goal instead of just smashing the ball. We have to get a shoot-on-sight mentality.
The location issue has come up today on a possible transfer target but that is the first time in a long time that it has.