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JP
You have always been a player who has handled a bit of responsibility in your game, how have you found your first pre-season as a number two?
GK
To be honest with you there hasn't really been a great deal of difference to be perfectly honest. Because I was obviously the first-team coach last season and I did the pre-season very much like last season, I have done actually pre-season with the lads. After Wembley last year we spoke on the Monday, myself and the manager (Greg Abbott) and he said the role he saw me in at the football club was to be assistant manager.
So, he wanted us to work in tandem from then until the end of the season to get a good working relationship and a good understanding. It worked really well and I think that probably took the pressure off the manager because obviously I wanted to play, so I knew what my role was, and therefore I wasn't putting that pressure on him to play.
So, I know exactly where we stand this season, we have had a really, really good productive pre-season. I know that every manager will say that and every assistant manager will say that but it is genuinely the case. We have had a few additions to the squad and it is very positive.
JP
It is quite a high turnover in the squad this summer, a lot of players left of course who were in on loan, some players chose to move on, some were moved on. In your experience as a player how easy is it to cope with such a big turnover as it has been this summer?
GK
It can work both ways but I think the advantage we have had is that we have identified the players pretty early and the majority have been in from the first day of pre-season. We went to Leicester, we went to a place called Champneys Springs, we had a really good week there where we trained morning and afternoon.
We mixed and matched the lads in terms of their rooming order so that they got to know each other. There has been a really good spirit, there has been a really, really pleasant feeling around the place in terms of the new lads who have come in.
They have all added to the group, they have come in and had a real honesty and energy about the place which has lifted everybody, and as a coach and someone on the training ground today it is lovely to see that. So, we have got a really good nucleus of squad that are prepared to work for each other and want to push each other and drive each other on, and that can only be good for the football club.
JP
So you micro-managed the things right down to the details of who was in whose room then? That sounds a little bit like something that teachers used to do in the classroom at school just to try to get more productive work out of the students?
GK
No, not really, what it was, it was just simply a case of all the lads getting to know each other. We had a few new faces and we wanted to integrate everybody in, we had a night at the races, we had a night with the lads at the cinema and we made sure everybody was involved.
It is just a case of the sooner, the better the lads get to know each other as characters. It is very easy to come into a football club and do your training and go home and then not get to know anybody. I wouldn't say it is vitally important that the lads like each other but it just so happens that they do.
They get on very well, they train very well, they push each other in training, they challenge each other, they challenge each other to improve the sessions and to up the quality of the sessions. That is what we have all done and that has been across the board. We have probably got a smaller squad this season but probably a tighter knit group.
We feel it is has got more quality than it did last season, certainly we have missed one or two players, the likes of Richard Keogh who has obviously left, they made their decision to leave, Joe Anyinsah did the same. But, we have replaced them with quality we feel and given a chance I think there will be a few players the fans will really, really enjoy watching this season.
JP
As a direct comparison, where do you think Carlisle are on 12 months from last year?
GK
Well, I think it was probably a transition period last season because of the situation we found ourselves in when the manager took over and the way we finished the previous season. Last season was very much a season of consolidation, we wanted to make sure that we remained in the league, that we weren't challenging at the wrong end of the season (ed - table?).
We didn't start particularly well so lessons have been learned from that. It is coincidental that the very first game of the following season is the same fixture in the same place, obviously we are playing at home, we are playing against Brentford.
We realise we got beaten last season against them and we need to put that right, not that there is anything in that situation other than obviously we are looking to get three points. But, it is vitally important come the end of next week after we have played the three games, the game tomorrow, the game against Huddersfield on Tuesday in the cup and the game against Plymouth that we take something from all these games.
Because we don't want to be playing catch up like we were last season and you really find yourself within three or four games, two weeks of the season, that you are on the back foot. So, if we can start well and the confidence can be gained from the performance and hopefully the results, it can only bode well for the forthcoming weeks.
JP
Just finally, with such an exciting start to the season as it always is when you have been through that pre-season, just about to happen the opening game with Brentford just a matter of hours away now. How does it feel to be taking that slightly more back-seat role or are you still itching to be involved on the playing side of things?
GK
To be honest I would be lying to you if I said I am not actually bothered about playing because obviously I am. But I just understand now the role I am in, I am ready if the manager needs me, I am training, but there is no pressure from me to be putting him under pressure to play.
I understand his role, and it is funny because the position I have been in, he has probably been more open in allowing me to understand more about what goes on behind the scenes. Which has really opened my eyes to his workload of last season, he was doing an awful lot of it on his own so to speak. I was just looking at it from the point of view as a coach.
I am probably a little bit selfish as a player as well because I wanted to play, but the hours have been longer, the days have been longer, I have a better understanding now and certainly more experience of the situation. But, it doesn't stop anything come tomorrow, the buzz and the butterflies and the excitement.
You come back on the 1st of July and it seems like an age away and now it is only hours away until tomorrow. There is certainly a really good buzz around the squad, the staff and hopefully around the fans. That seems to be the case, pre-season has gone well and we will know where we are this time tomorrow evening in terms of the result, but hopefully we will have three points.
Hopefully also there will be a few fans walking away thinking we have signed a really good couple of players and there is a really good atmosphere around the place and it is nothing but positive vibes coming out of the football club.
JP
It will be interesting as the season goes on to hear more and more about how your role develops and what exactly it is in terms of workload you have taken off Greg. For now though, just all that remains is to say the best of luck tomorrow and let's hope you get off to that winning start.
GK
Well, please God I am sure we will. Hopefully everyone gets behind us and it remains positive over the course of the season.