Andy Hall - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 11 April 2010 By Thetashkentterror

United media officer and first team kitman Andy Hall spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips ahead of Carlisle's League One match away to Brighton this afternoon, Hall first talking about what to expect from the Seagulls in the game :


" We all know what Gus Poyet likes to do with his football, he will want them to play it. I think he has had the groundsman watering the pitch for the last half hour or so, so he wants it to be a slick surface. He will expect his lads to get the ball down, he has got some good players there as well to be fair. It is not a bad team at all so it should be a good game of football.

" Certainly looking ahead to Tuesday, I know we are here down at Brighton at the moment, but I think I will take this opportunity to talk about the Leeds United game. There has been quite a lot said over in Yorkshire about what happened the last time that Leeds United came to Brunton Park.

" What we don't want is for our fans to react to any of that because as far as we are concerned we have not reacted as you know yourself. And Jon Colman sat beside us has asked for reaction to some of the comments that have been made, and we just haven't done it.

" Because we don't want to inflame a situation on Tuesday night where we have to be aware that we are still possibly going to have to answer some kind of questions from the Football Association. I have absolutely no doubt that they will send representatives along to watch what happens on Tuesday night to see how we deal with what will be a larger than normal crowd for us. "



" So all we can say to the fans is, please don't react to anything that you have heard, don't feel that you have to react to anything you have heard. Come along, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the game, don't for heavens sake go onto the pitch at the end of the game. Because it is all that kind of thing that again could put us in the spotlight with the authorities.

" We just don't need it, we are a good football club that has got away from all that kind of thing over the last 10 to 15 years. There is no need for us to go back to it, there is no need for the authorities to be looking at us, let's just enjoy the night and get on with it. There is absolutely no need for us to react to anything that has been said by anybody.

" There is no need for us to look back at what happened at the end of the Leeds game with anything other than the fact that, as we have said as a club, we did our best on the night. We went by the guidelines, we reacted in the way that we thought we had to react.

" We have said that to the Football Association, I am sure that the Football Association are going to get in touch with us soon and let us know what they feel about that. But I have absolutely no doubt that there will be people from the authorities who will come along on Tuesday night and they will watch what happens. We don't need to give them anything else to talk about.

" There is still a lot of work to do in the league this season. The fact of the matter is that every game that you play you have got fans that are following you all around the country. If you look at our away games they are all over the place, even though we are coming towards the end of the season, and you don't want to let them down. "



" The lads themselves, some of them are in contract talks at the moment with the manager (Greg Abbott), some of them are still to start those contract talks and the manager has still got to make a decision. So there are all kinds of things for these boys to play for.

" It is always a case of bring your binoculars isn't it to the Withdean Stadium. I think we have got another season here from what the Brighton people are telling us today. So they make the best of it, they don't like the fact that that happens to the fans. We have got to make the best of it as well, and fair play to all of those fans who keep coming down here because they don't half support us.

" Greg's team talk just before I came over here, and sat and listened to it, and it was a case of we know what Gus Poyet is going to do, he is going to tell them to play football. Make sure we don't allow that to happen, he doesn't want our two wide men, (Ben) Marshall and (Scott) Dobie to get sucked too deep.

" He wants us to be the ones who are pushing forward, because if we are then the very dangerous left and right-back who become almost wing-backs for Brighton, will get forward and hurt us. So it is a key position I think, the Dobie and Marshall position today is one that they will be looking at to push us back. We need to be pushing them forward in our sense. "