|
" From a personal point of view it is something that I am really pleased about to get my first 45 minutes of football in the last six months really, it is nice to get back out there. My injury was difficult, I had a cartilage problem in my toe, to sum it all up there was obviously a tear in there that they can't heal the cartilage. So they had to drill the bone and make the bone bleed to try to knit the cartilage back together. So that is pretty much why it took so long, you have to wait and let it settle down and now it is a case of just getting on with it.
" It was embarrassing to be honest, I feel like I am walking round quite normally and you are walking round and getting on with things. Then people are asking what is wrong with me and you say that it is your toe, the first instinct is that people laugh and ask me what is really wrong. So it is difficult but hopefully that is behind me now.
" Obviously I am going to be slightly behind, as Danny Livesey is, we have obviously been out for quite a while. Fitness-wise pre-season is all about fitness though so we are working as hard as we can. We may be a little bit behind now but at the end of the six weeks we will hopefully be up with the rest of the lads and raring to go for the first game of the season.
" The fitness comes first really, the football is obviously a bonus. In the situation that I am in now I have got to get fit first and foremost, and then the football will come afterwards. So obviously the next couple of weeks really is just about fitness, fitness, fitness, and then maybe with two or three or four games left of pre-season, I have got to be starting to look for my performances to pick up then as my fitness gets better and better. "
" I learned today that my toe is alright which from my point of view is the main thing. We have gone out there though, we are playing against a team that is quite well organised and we know that it is going to be difficult for us. We have put on a little bit of a performance though, we have worked hard and I think we have come off, young Liam (Davison) has got an ankle injury which is obviously disappointing. Bar that one though I think that the rest of the lads are injury-free and obviously we have had a good 45 minutes under our belt.
" I can't see a lot of Lenny Pidgeley really, he is that tall and I am that short, I tend to be talking to his kneecaps. He is an excellent keeper though, I have played against him a couple of times previously and he is an excellent keeper. He is a very big lad as well and very commanding inside that penalty area, so I am sure that he will be a great signing for us.
" Personally I don't know a great deal about him (Tom Taiwo). Obviously I know that he was at Leeds as a youngster and moved to Chelsea so I believe, and obviously he is at Chelsea for being a good player, you are not going to be there if you are not a good player. So obviously he is looking to come and get some games, so it will be nice to have him in the squad and I am sure that he will add something to it.
" It was frustrating for me last season, basically my role at the end of last season was being a spectator. I had nothing else to do really, I couldn't go out there and help the lads, I couldn't even help in the training sort of aspects because I was in the treatment room and stuff. So it was just watching and if you can pick something up then try to pass it on to the lads if you can. "
" I think that what it came down to at the end of the season was the fact that we didn't particularly play very well last season all through the season. I still don't think that we deserved to go down though so we got our just rewards at the end of the last game of the season, and we played ever so well on that day. Let's hope that we can continue where we left off on that last game really, and really go at teams and put pressure on them and start this season well.
" I had my time off obviously during the season when I had my operation. I was able to start running on I think it was the last game of the season, I was able to start running again. So that was when my pre-season started, I trained all the way through three to four days a week, just on my own stuff, doing my own exercises and gradually building my fitness up and strength and stuff. I have come back pre-season and I am in OK shape, but pre-season now is where I have really got to top it off and get fit and show the boss (Greg Abbott) that I am fit and raring to go.
" Boydie at Barrow (Mark Boyd) is a very good lad and he is a great player you know. We played together at Port Vale, I think that he was there and unfortunately we only got to play in the same team probably a handful of times. It was unfortunate really but he is an excellent player, obviously he is a great ball player and he was a great lad to have around the changing rooms as well, so it was a good time.
" He was excellent at Port Vale, it was disappointing that he never stayed there and then carried on. Sometimes though these things in football happen and disappointing obviously for him, but I am sure that he will kick on again and carry on progressing as he has been. I will definitely be keeping my eye on Barrow this season. "