Dennis Booth - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 10 December 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Dennis Booth
United assistant manager Dennis Booth spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips at Thursday morning's open press conference for the local media ahead of Carlisle's League One match away to Gillingham this weekend, Booth pleased with United's much better run of form recently :


" We are in the results business, we always say that and that is what we are here for. Early on in the season we were a bit stop-start, we would get a result and then we would go and get beat. But now you just want it to continue, I said that to the players, I think it is six or seven out of nine is it or something where we have won but we want to push on with that. We want to go as many games as we can because winning breeds confidence.

" There is a different atmosphere within the ground, within the office staff, with everybody that is associated with the football club, and that is important because we are in it together. Everyone in this room and the girls in the office, we are all Carlisle United Football Club, ladies that even wash the kit are all part of it. So when we are winning football matches everybody is happy and that is what we maintain to do.

" I have not said anything to Matty Robson about beating Hartlepool last night. We just asked him earlier about one or two of the players but Matty said that a lot of them had left the club and he didn't know much about some of the ones coming in. So that was a waste of time anyway as we thought he would give us a bit of information.

" They have changed their team round quite a lot but he just got on with it did Matty. He never even mentioned it, obviously he will be pleased to have scored against his old club and back over there that people and their supporters might be wondering why he was allowed to leave.

" He is a handful, he is one of the old type wingers isn't he. You get the ball out to him, he runs at them, he can come in at the back-post, he is good in the air. He is a strong little fellow, he is very stocky and tough, You give him the ball and let him run, some of the decisions sometimes obviously with a winger, he can be up and down which they are and a bit inconsistent. But he is a having a very good season and he is a threat for us Matty is. "



" Gillingham have got a very good home record, I believe that out of 21 points they have only got one away from home so I believe. So down there they have been doing well but it doesn't phase us now. We are pleased we can go away from home, we think we are going to win when we go away. Again, we went to MK Dons, we started well, struggled a little bit, but we came through that.

" So really playing home and away, it has not been a problem for us. It has been a problem early on in the season playing at home, but away from home we have always done quite well. So we will go there to Priestfield and we are going to try to win the football match and I think we have a chance, a massive chance.

" I think they are a footballing side, he (Mark Stimson) has got them to try to pass and play. They are not the biggest I believe, I will have to have a look at all the reports but we have spoken to one or two people and I don't think they are the biggest side. And at the moment we look dangerous from set-pieces, corners, free-kicks, that is something we will be working on. But by all accounts they like to try to pass and play.

" Obviously Simeon Jackson is a good player but Danny Livesey and the centre-backs have to cope with that. You come up against good players all the time, we are going to go to Everton and we are going to come up against some top drawer players, that is what you should relish. Yes he has done well, they got him from non-league and he is scoring goals and when anybody scores goals at any level there is going to be interest.

" I am not sure about the £1 million tag or anything, I remember him playing against us a couple of years ago and he is bright and he is sharp. We will do our homework on him but we won't give him any special attention. We have got a lot of strengths ourselves, but we make them aware that he is quite sharp and sometimes when they are a small player like that, centre-halves tend to prefer the big, bustling type that they deal with. So it will cause a few problems but they are good players our lads. "



" I think he (Josh Gowling) is going to be in for a rough ride with the big lad Vincent (Pericard), who has done very well. But there again you come up against ex-players and that, Josh has done well down there. Surprising that you say he has got nine yellow cards really because he didn't seem that type of lad. But I suppose if you are a centre-half and you are smashing people about and the fans like that sort of thing don't they.

" But I don't think he will be relishing Vincent Pericard at the moment, infact I don't think a lot of teams will either, because he has given us something different. He is a big, strong player, even when he doesn't score goals he is still in involved as he was last night, when he held the ball up and knocked the ball back to Tom (Taiwo) perfect. So he has got more to his game than just scoring goals has Vincent, he will be a problem for Gillingham I hope.

" I think I said a few weeks ago that we just get on with the long trips, we have no option, it is no good griping about things like that. We just have to get on with it and I think we do get used to it, I think players get used to it. We try to train en route, which we have done before, and we go down there and play.

" It doesn't seem to bother us, well if it does bother us there is nothing we can do about it. But some players prefer to stay at home obviously, but with us doing so much travelling, lads get used to the routine of it and we just get on with it, and we have to do.

" They are all fit who aren't long-term, everyone is fit, we pick sides to win football matches. We changed the system last night, we won the game so that proves the manager (Greg Abbott) was right and that is what we will do on Saturday. We will look at it, we will discuss it and if we make changes we will make changes, it is a squad game and we will look to pick the team that we think will beat Gillingham. And Adam Clayton is fit, he has trained this morning, so he will be involved. "



" Obviously Peter Murphy was disappointed at being left out because they all want to play. I was disappointed when I was left out, but Pete has got on with it, he has trained this morning and he is going to play a vital part at this football club. Because we haven't got a big squad and he can play in two or three positions, he did very well for us Saturday but we decided to change the system last night.

" And as I said, we won the game so we were proved right. But we feel for Peter, we don't like making decisions like that but in management that is what the name of the game is. You have to make decisions and you have to make them before the match, not afterwards, because everyone can say afterwards why didn't we do that or why didn't he play.

" That is easy but our job is at two o'clock when we send the teamsheet in that we try to pick the side that will win the game. At five to five, or whenever they finish now, if we have won the game then we are right, if we don't win the game we are open to criticism like everyone else.

" We would like to keep Tom, I think Tom would like to stay but there has got to be more talking done about that one and we are hopeful that Tom will stay here. Because he is enjoying himself here, I think he has learned a lot, 19, and yeah he is training at Chelsea and he is with the big boys.

" But as we say to Tom sometimes, this is real football and it has opened his eyes a little bit that it is tough and he is toughening up every game. If we can keep Tom we will try to do that. I think Tom wants to stay, I think Tom would love to stay because, no disrespect but he would be going back down there and playing in Chelsea's reserves, and maybe not even playing in Chelsea's reserves."



" Because they have that many players and that big a squad, you certainly wouldn't think he would play in the first-team so here he comes to Carlisle United and he is going to be in and around playing first-team football. That as a youngster is what you want to do when you join a football club, you want to be playing first-team football and he has got the opportunity so I am sure in that case he would want to stay here.

" We will competing against bigger clubs for him now, we run the risk of that. You have seen players that have left this football club before, there is nothing we can do about it. If somebody comes in with a good offer and the board decide to let them go, that is the nature of the smaller clubs.

" We are not Manchester City or Manchester United that they can pick players up, we can't do that, so if somebody comes in and the offer is there then there is nothing we can do about it. It is disappointing but then we have to go out, get on our bike and look to replace them.

" That is why we have a scouting system and we spend a lot of hours travelling round the country looking for players. So if we do lose someone we have already monitored players that can come in and we would try to get them in, but Carlisle, that is time immemorial that they have had to sell players and there is not much we can do about that.

" Greg and Vincent's agent are meeting, they are talking, I think Vincent is very happy here. He has obviously helped us, I think everybody can see that, but again, it is sitting down and talking and trying to sort things out with his agent and Vincent. But he is here with us, he does like it, so that is a plus from our point of view but obviously financially they have to sort that out.

" We are training at Peterborough ahead of Gillingham, halfway down, then we have still got a good journey to go down to Kent. But we will meet up, the lads will meet up, get on the bus, go down, train and then get on our way down to Gillingham, it is only a small trip isn't it Gillingham, it is not far. But Greg will brighten up the training halfway down, he's a young manager with some good ideas, he's worked with a lot of people and I'm pleased for him that he's turned things around. "