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" Chris (Howarth) has been superb for the reserves with me, he has done as well as he can but the manager (John Ward) is there to make a decision. When somebody like Ben (Alnwick) becomes available then I think that we had to take him. The manager has made an important decision there and that is what he is there for.
" I haven't spoken to Chris because the deal I think was done on Wednesday, obviously I take the reserves on Wednesday and then the boys are in college. So I have Thursday off and then I came back in on Friday morning and it was done. Again, the manager is there, you would have to ask him why he wants Ben Alnwick, he is paid to make important decisions and hard decisions and he has made one. I think that when somebody of that quality comes available then I think that you have got to take it.
" We lost our first game of the season against Burnley who have ended up winning all seven of their league games and their Youth Alliance Cup game, and they look a very, very strong side. Since the first game we have been unbeaten, we drew the second and then we won the next five. We are looking strong, we have settled into the season well, I have got the basis of the side from last year is still there, we have got a heavy second-year group.
" The FA Youth Cup draw has just been made and we have got to travel to Hartlepool for the start of it. It starts all over again, and the second years who where first years last year went on that incredible run, they want to have another go. Then the first years have heard so much about it that they are getting excited. They have set themselves high standards, we set it ourselves, the whole club does, you just heard the gaffer speak and he sets the first-team high standards. I follow that through with the youth players, so we are ready for it and we have settled into a new season very well. "
" Jonny Blake is a second year youth player at the moment. He has spent all of his youth career as a central midfield player, he has been turning out at right-back for the reserves on a regular basis. The last two reserve games he has moved into his favoured position, which is central midfield. I can't speak too highly of Jonny at the moment, he works hard every single day, he spends quite a bit of time training with the professionals.
" He has impressed all the staff, he has impressed me since the first day that I came into the club when he was an under-16 schoolboy at that time. How far he can go I don't know, but we have got high hopes for him and we, all of us, the staff, the first-team staff, the coaching staff, all think that there is a lot more to come from Jonny, we have got high hopes for him.
" Simon Lakeland isn't ready for the first-team yet, Simon has got a lot to do. He is a second-year youth-team player but with the age system in this country he is actually 12 months behind in age. He is a very, very young second-year and we think that there is a lot more to come from Simon. I thought that he was excellent for us on Wednesday in the reserves, his distribution from the back into the front men was excellent. He is coming on nicely, he has improved tremendously over the last couple of months from last season. He is nowhere near ready for the first-team yet though, he has still got a lot to do.
" Anybody who scores 25 goals as a first year and is already up to ten league goals this season out of I think five or six league games like Andy Cook has, then you would be a fool not to take notice of him. He is a big, strong boy who certainly knows how to score and he is a match-player, if you came down and anybody watched him train then you would wonder what all the fuss is about. Come down to Gillford Park when we are playing at home though, watch him on a Saturday morning and realise what a real handful he is. "
" Connor (Tinnion) is another one, he last year was a shy little boy who played on the left-wing, who has got fantastic feet but couldn't miss the first man. Now he is growing up and he is stronger, he gets involved in all sorts. At the moment he is serving a three-match ban for violent conduct, I would have laughed at you this time last year if you had said that would happen.
" He got a little bit stitched up though, he got caught up in something that he shouldn't really have got caught up in and he is paying the price, he misses the next two youth games, he is a talent though. Again though, there is just not Cooky, Jonny and Connor, all of the second-years are really impressing us all and they are making a real good fist of it to try to get a professional contract.
" We haven't watched the team at Gretna, I move on things when people e-mail me at the club or when they ring me and I listen to everybody. I think that we are not arrogant enough to turn anything down, if anybody around the county thinks that they have got a young player who they think can make it then we will follow up on it, they only have to contact me at the club.
" The young lads teach me about life, at this moment in time they are paid very little. It is a poor wage compared to academy players, they find it very difficult, they know that the rewards will come if they keep working hard. Higher wages and learning about life is something that if it is comes along in the future for them then it is something that we might need to have a look at. "
" Bringing people like Gary Madine through into the first-team is what we are here for. It is OK getting to the quarter-final of the FA Youth Cup or winning the league at this level and doing well. A youth-team coach's job though is to provide players for the first-team manager, Gary was the first one since I have been here.
" When Gary scored his first league goal the feeling that you have is incredible as a youth-team manager, knowing that you have brought him to the club. That is what you are in it for, and the moment he scored that goal was unbelievable satisfaction for myself. Not only for myself though, but for the youth-team as well because they can see a way through.
" There is no maximum or minimum on how many will get professional contracts, I sit down with the manager, it is an ongoing process with the manager. We talk every single day, the gaffer is terrific for me as a youth-team coach because he has as much time as I want him to have with me. Even though the first-team need a win tomorrow he always has time to talk about the youth-team players and he always comes out to look.
" If we feel that six, seven or eight players can make the club better in the future then I am sure that we will make that step. If we feel that there is only one that can do it, then we will only take one, but there is no maximum or no minimum of how many we take. We have got Bury tomorrow at Gillford Park, it is an 11.30am kick-off. If people can to get Gillford Park then come in and watch and then make their way down to Brunton Park for the first-team, and let's hope that we have two victories tomorrow. "