Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 08 September 2007 By Thetashkentterror

Greg Abbott
United caretaker manager Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Friday evening as he talked about the trialists that are at Brunton Park at the moment as well as the upcoming game at home to Tranmere this weekend :


" We've got on trial a French centre-half, it's been recommended to us that we should have a look at him, Martin Ekani. He's 6'1, obviously a little bit raw in terms of our game but he's come across, done OK and we're going to have him back next week. Then we've got Darren Campion from Birmingham who was offered a contract at Birmingham but saw his route blocked by people in front of him so we're having a good look at him and he's done very well for us, he's coming again next week.

" Then we've got little Jamie Mullan who is an exciting little winger with great pedigree, he's been at Manchester United for a couple of years and he's played in the England under-19s team. We're loking forward to seeing how they progress. I think there has been a few clubs interested in Jamie, I think that a few clubs actually thought that Leeds United had him tied up but with their financial problems he couldn't agree a deal at the time.

" So a lot of clubs steered clear because they thought that he was already tied up, maybe by a little bit of stroke of luck and other club's misfortune that we have him at the club. We'll give him every opportunity to prove that he's worthy of a contract with us. As always we've lots of irons in the fire, but at the moment we're concerned in bringing better players in than we have already got, that's proving quite difficult because the boys that we have got are doing very well. We're always pursuing those avenues though and it's an ongoing process, if the right one comes along then we'll chase that one down.

" Tranmere are a good side, Ronnie (Moore) has got his team off to a good start, I think that they'll be smarting a little bit from the fact that we beat them home and away last year. It sort of dampened, or dented, their hopes of getting to the play-off positions at the end of the season so he'll be coming keyed up and eager to do well. The boys are in good spirits though and they've showed a lot of promise in training this week so hopefully tomorrow we can give Tranmere another good account of ourselves.

" Obviously when players come from Premiership clubs they are looking to gain first-team experience. Whilst though we are obliged to really consider him (Harry Worley) and try to give him games I'm not going to be held to gun-point by teams if I don't think that is the right thing for Carlisle United. Obviously we've a massive obligation to our football club and to me Carlisle United is as important as Chelsea is to Jose Mourinho. We'd like to give him games and we'd like to give him experience and as he deserves it he'll get it. "



" As regards to his performance last week, it's a tough baptism to come into League One from what Harry has been used to. He's a young player, he's a progressive player and I thought that he found last week, the first-half especially, very tough. It's a change in what he had been used to, and with his booking and the fact that he got involved with Paul Connor later on in the game I felt that it was the right thing to do to bring him off. Just to make sure that we weren't down to ten men because the game was proving as difficult as it could be with eleven.

" We want to try to play as much football as possible and a slick pitch enables you to do that. We want the pitch wet so that the ball zips off the surface and we can play quickly. Obviously though sometimes with it being firm underfoot with the good weather that we have been having then it makes a little bit slippy for some of the players.

" It's a players thing, the players prefer it like that so at the end of the day I want the players to be happy in the conditions. They are telling me to get it watered as much as we can, obviously they need to check their footing then or check their studs to make sure that they don't slip over. It's a quick surface that we want so that we can play the quick, slick football that we're looking for.

" He (Peter Murphy) trained today but not in full training, he just joined in the warm-up and the initial bits and pieces at the start of the session. We're hopeful, very hopeful, that he might join in on Monday and do 75-80% of the work, and by Wednesday or Thursday he is in full training and hopefully can join the squad for the game at Swansea next week.

" It's fantastic isn't it, from having one serious, or genuine, centre-half with obviously David Raven's performances and then Harry (Worley) coming in and Murph getting fit we've now got four. So it's not a problem I'm too worried about to be honest with you and we'll have a look at that over the next week and we'll select what we consider to be the best options from that. "