Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 23 January 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Friday evening ahead of Carlisle's match away to Tranmere tomorrow, Abbott first talking about the signing this week of trialist Michael Burns on an 18-month deal :


" He is a player that we have known about for quite some time. It has given us the opportunity to get a player in at the right age to develop and without going down the loan system all the time. We think that now we have got hold of Michael we can get his career back on track. We think that we can develop him and we think that he will be a really good player for us and hopefully go on to better things from our club.

" He is a central midfielder and he has got a really good range of passing, that is the strong point of his game. He has got good energy, he is not lightning quick, he is not like a wide player with a burst of speed. He has got energy and he is really mobile without having that outstanding pace, but his key to his game is his passing ability and that is terrific.

" When he comes into first team reckoning is up to him. He has got to come in now, he has got an opportunity to train with the first team every day and as quick as he progresses will be the point in time in which he puts himself in our first team selection.

" We are just going to extend Gavin (Rothery) a little bit longer. What we have got to try to do to Gavin is work out if we think that he can get in the first team. At the minute we are unsure of that but he has shown enough to say that he has got definite qualities and we want to just give him a bit longer to prove himself.

" You can't find goalscoring midfielders like Paul Thirlwell all over the place so we have got to give him the deal on the back of his prolific goalscoring record. He (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) has been playing with a broken toe and he has been doing fantastically well, he has had injections right throughout the season. We only have to cast our mind back to last year when we were flying and the part that Marc played in it. "



" What we are trying to do is get him through this season with his toe injury and hopefully next season and the season after that we can see him kick on and prove what a really good player he is. He is a different type to Paul though, he unlocks things, he makes things happen. By his own admissions he has not had the best of seasons but he has not become a bad player and we are hopeful that we can get him back to where he was, he will play a big part in what we are trying to do.

" There will be movement on other contracts as and when the players come back to me with answers to what we have put on the table for them. So it is one that things are being done all the time and we have to wait and see what they come back with and see what their agents advise them to do.

" I think that Danny (Graham) is just waiting to see what happens in this window period and then we will address Danny's situation as soon as it is out of the way. There has been a lot of speculation about Danny, so I think that he is right just to concentrate on his football and get the window out of the way, and then we will look at that as soon as January ends.

" We are desperate to keep Danny, ultimately Danny will get wind of big clubs coming in or bigger clubs financially coming in and he might want to do that. At the minute Danny is committed to playing for us, he has shown no sign of wanting to leave, we don't want him to leave. He is scoring goals for us, he is playing well on a regular basis so at the minute the situation is purely speculation.

" As you go through any league lower and higher every player has a price where you have got to say that it is a deal where you couldn't turn it down, or we have to hand it over to the player to give him the option. It is happening in the Premier League, it happens in League Two, it happens in the Conference. At the minute I don't want Danny to go anywhere, he is saying that he wants to stay by his performances, but at the minute we are just leaving it at that. "



" A busy time is a good time for us if we get the results but it is certainly a time where our squad will be exhausted in terms of the amount of games that they have got to play. We have got a good sized squad now though with competition near enough all over the pitch so it is should work in our favour over this period.

" They (Michael Bridges and Jeff Smith) are both going to miss out. The game has come probably a couple of days too early for Michael. We are really hopeful that Michael can be involved on Tuesday, he has trained pretty well Thursday and Friday but at three-quarters pace.

" With a hamstring injury we can't risk that and he fully agrees with that one, but we would like to think that we would have him right for Tuesday. Jeff hopefully might get training by the back end of next week so it looks like he would miss Tuesday and be ready to come onto the training ground by Thursday and hopefully in contention for Saturday.

" I have always got selection problems but it is not a problem for me now tomorrow because I have done it, I have picked the team so I am OK. It is in my head, I have got my mind around it, the players know what it is and we will get on with the job tomorrow.

" You never know if there will be anyone else coming in, with the transfer window you have to expect the unexpected. I think at the minute though we will put the window to bed, we have got a big game tomorrow to focus on, we can't wait to get at Tranmere and three points tomorrow will send us on again with a little bit more encouragement. We will deal with the transfer window as and when other things happen. "