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" I'm chuffed to have it sorted out, it took a little while to sort it but I am buzzing and I can't wait for the new season now to be fair. We have had a good month and a bit off now and I am dying to get back into it. My contract would have finished in July but I didn't really come close to leaving really. I was always speaking to Greg (Abbott) so I didn't really come close to leaving if I am honest.
" I wanted a one-year contract because it was a case of the way that the season went last year, the way that it wasn't a successful one, and I know that we just stayed up. Also the season that I had wasn't from a personal point of view as good as it could have been I think. The contract that they offered to me reflected it so I just wanted, it was a personal point of view thing, to prove that I was better than that and better than they were saying I was and go and win myself something better next year.
" That is all that it was a case of really, it was not a case of not wanting to sign for two years because I love being here and I love playing for the club. It was just that I wanted to prove a point really to be honest. It can work the other way as well, it is a risk as well that I have taken. So it is one of those that can go both ways, if I have a poor season again then it is back to square one isn't it, but a good season then hopefully I am knocking on the manager's door.
" I am totally committed to the club, I think that anyone who knows me will say the same as well. So hopefully people don't think that I'm not, and I am glad that I have come on and explained why as well because I want to say to everyone that I am committed to the club, definitely.
" It was a massive relief at the end of last season, it was a very difficult season, it is the first time that in my football career I have been in a relegation battle. It is the first time that I have been out of contract at the end of the year and not knowing what was going to happen as well. I think that both things took a bit of a toll on me and I think that I have learned a lot from that. "
" So I will be a stronger person for it but it was a massive learning curve for me personally. Now I can look back on it though and say that it has gone well, I am glad that I have gone through it because football is not always a bed of roses. Last year we were in the play-offs and this year we only just stayed up, so I have had the best and worst of both worlds really.
" I have kept in touch with a lot of the lads over the summer and everyone is dying to get back and we are all looking forward to it because I think that everyone has got a point to prove. Not just me either, I think that everyone has got it to show that we are a better side than we showed. Compared to last season when we were coming into pre-season training there may have been a bit of a hangover from the play-offs and it was a bit hard to get yourself going. This time though the lads are raring to go, everyone that I have spoken to anyway.
" I have been talking to the gaffer and I asked him what was going on with my contract and who he is bringing in and this, that and the other, meaning to improve the team. That is just because I want to play in the best team possible at Carlisle. So you talk about everything, it is not just a case of I want this and I want that, and them saying that you are not getting this and you are not getting that.
" Maybe last season was a reality check, a few of the lads have been through that before, I haven't been in that situation before but it may have been a reality check for myself. Being down the bottom of the table was hard, it was tough to go out there every week so it was a reality check.
" I can imagine everyone is raring to go now though to be honest and we did finish the season, the last few games we did play really well. We were really unlucky for it to go down to the last game of the season I would say looking back on it. Looking back on a few of the games, things that didn't go our way, even like the Cheltenham game, I think that we could have been a few points clear before we even went into Millwall. So the fact that it went to the last game of the season, I would say that we were slightly unlucky but that is football isn't it. "
" Danny Graham going is definitely a big blow, hopefully we can get someone to replace him. I think that he is a top player and I am sure that he will go on and do big things as well, because he is a good goalscorer. He is a good lad, he is my room-mate as well so I will miss that, he is a good mate of mine so I will definitely miss him round the place, he is a good lad. It is big blow football-wise though definitely, but I will see who I share with now, I don't know who the lads are going to room with to be honest, I will probably end up being on my own or something.
" I have been doing a bit of running, I have got a game of golf with Dolly (Neil Dalton) the physiotherapist tomorrow but other than that I have been really busy because I have just bought a house on the Wirral. It is a base for me and my girlfriend because she has just got a job down there so it is case of moving a bit of stuff there and doing it up so it has been a lively summer to be honest.
" I haven't played golf for two years so I am absolutely dreading it, we are going around Carlisle so I am going to have to buy another bag of balls. I have been to Turkey for a week this summer, me and my girlfriend went in Whit week, she is a teacher so that is the only week that we had off. We went over to Turkey and it was nice, a good break but now I am getting back to it and I can't wait to get in and get on the fitness trail again.
" People always ask me what it was like starting off with Steven Gerrard and I always say that when you are watching him on the television and he looks good, but he is twice as good when he is playing next to you. He is bigger, he is stronger, he has got a better touch than you and some of the players there are frightening players.
" It was a brilliant experience, I look back on that with great memories and it does help you and you realise that they are the best players in the world that you are training with every day. It doesn't get much better to be honest. I think that Liverpool should have won the title this season, they just killed themselves drawing against Stoke and people like that, no disrespect to them but Liverpool should be beating them. I think that we should have won it this season if it wasn't for silly little results like that. "