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" I took Tony Kane to us (Blackburn) as a 15-year old I don't know how many years ago now obviously when I was at Blackburn Rovers. We held a midweek trial game and we didn't really want anybody to know about it because we had players coming in from all over the place.
" We had them coming in from Ireland, we had them coming in from Europe and around London and we actually shouldn't have done it, the Premier League wouldn't have agreed to it. So we decided to play them under floodlights at Morecambe and Tony came over as a very, very young under-16 I think.
" You look at his date, he is two days away from being a year younger, two days, so for him to progress through a youth system 12 months behind his maturity age is incredible for what he has done. He has got through all that now, he has earned himself a professional contract at Blackburn, he was impressive that night at Morecambe we took him on and he has gone from strength to strength.
" He is a fine young player, right-back, he can play centre-half at a pinch and he also can play left-back, but his favourite position is right-back. It is cover and I think that it is better than cover, I think that we have got a good footballer. I think that we have got a very good defender, we have got a young lad who wants to make his way in the game. "
" He has been given the unfortunate news that come the end of the season his contract will be expired at Blackburn Rovers. He is playing for a contract, he is playing for his future, whether it is here at Carlisle or somewhere else. I think that what you will find is that when you see Tony play, and when the fans see him play, they will see a big resemblance to David Raven.
" They are very similar, both of them can play centre-half, both of them are strong in the air for their size. Tony has got good quality on the ball and I think that Carlisle fans will enjoy him when he gets his chance, because he will get his chance here and they will enjoy seeing him play.
" Not only does it give us cover due to the unfortunate injury to Danny (Livesey), he does and he has come in. You saw what happened when Michael Liddle came in, he pushed Evan (Horwood) for his place and eventually took it. Evan has got his chance again tonight because Michael is away and that will happen with Tony. Tony will come in, he will cover the back four for us in any position and he will put pressure on Raven who has not had much pressure on him this season has he for his place.
" I'd like to say that me being here had some influence on him coming here, but, we did speak, he rang me up about it. I have always got on with my younger players at Blackburn, he is a big mate of Joe Garner's who is very close to me as everybody knows. "
" I had Tony for two years when I was working with him and we struck up a friendship and we have kept in close contact over the last few years, especially since I have been up here. He came up to watch Joe a couple of times when Joe was playing for us. I spoke to him about this move and he asked me what I thought and obviously I am going to push us if I think that he is worth a place, and he definitely is worth a place up here.
" We (Blackburn) have this link up with Cercle Brugge, who are in the Belgian first division. Over the years we must have sent about five or six different young players out to Cercle Bruggle, Tony is the only one who has regularly played for the first team. With Sergio Peter, who we were talking about earlier before we came on air, and Sergio went out and he played three games for them and they put him in the reserves. Tony went out, played three games and kept his place.
" His first international call-up as a youth player at Blackburn was Northern Ireland. Because again I had this thing about working with young players at Blackburn, anybody who played internationals always seemed to get into a habit of letting me have their shirts.
" Which I have still got, and I have got one of Tony's Northern Ireland shirts from when he was 15 or 16-years old. I think that he has got a decision to make about the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, I think that he will go Northern Ireland, that is where his heart and his home is. "
" I have been to visit his family in Northern Ireland who live close to the Shankhill Road. He has told me about his childhood growing up and it was frightening what a young lad had to go through in those times in Northern Ireland. He has come out of it strong though and he is an absolute pleasure to work with, and he is a pleasant young man.
" I would have hated to have gone through that as a young boy, what he went through. I spoke to him yesterday and he has still got the big beaming smile on his face, he still loves playing football and if you ever get the chance to meet his father then he has got some great tales to tell. They are not amusing or funny but they are serious and it is fascinating to talk to him about his young life.
" The fans will get 100% enthusiasm from Tony, they will get commitment, they will get a good footballer who is trying to progress in the game. They will get somebody who desperately wants to earn himself a full-time contract with another club, whether it is here, I hope that it is here, or whether it is somewhere else to get himself going and playing again.
" He has done the hard work, he has gone through the system at Blackburn, they don't think that he is going to play Premier League football at the moment so now his career starts. He has got to get himself a club, get himself playing again and I think that Carlisle fans will certainly see a very, very good young footballer. "