Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 21 April 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey at Monday morning's open press conference for the local media after Carlisle's 1-1 draw at home to Leicester on Saturday, Abbott also later looking ahead to this weekend's big game at Cheltenham :



"We are getting used to what might have been, I am in a better frame of mind than I was on Saturday after the disappointment. It hurts when you concede a goal like that and it has hurt the dressing-room. I have just been in there now though, we have just had a pot of tea with boys and we have had a bit of crack and they have come in in a great manner with a great determination.

" I have read a couple of things from other managers in our division criticising their players and saying that they are not right and they are not up for the fight. That is a reason for going in there, I usually leave them alone on a Monday morning until I see them on the training ground, but I have been in today specifically to see what sort of mood they are in.

" I think that they had a look to see what sort of mood I was in and it is a much better one than it was on Saturday. We have to take the positives out of Saturday, the fight is there, without a shadow of a doubt the fans have seen that the fight and the determination is there, If you have got that then you have a chance, and we have certainly got it.

" You can't say that the Gods are not shining on us because the gentleman up there I think shines on everybody that are good people. So unless we are bad people then we deserve a bit of luck, but it happens in football. How many times can I tell you, how many examples can I give you of games turning in the last minute. "



" I remember Manchester United being down in a Champions League cup final with minutes to go and end up not drawing it but winning it. It happens doesn't it, but it doesn't make it any easier. That is why this game is a fantastic game and people follow it at every level up and down the country, not just here but all around the world. We were on the wrong side of it on Saturday, where we were on the right side of it at Leicester.

" We can't do with too many more of those though, we just need a little bit of luck. It probably is a bit of luck, we didn't think that it was a free-kick and then it hits David Raven when Ben (Williams) says that he has got it covered and he has got it covered. It is not a great free-kick and it ends up in the back of your net and that is a bitter one to swallow, but it happens and that is why the game is such a fantastic spectacle to people.

" It does depend on other people now but I think that if we win our two games, if we can just concentrate on winning our two games then I think that we are going to be OK. We could have a helping hand, we could actually be safe on Saturday, believe it or not we could actually be safe on Saturday. So we have to look at all the positive sides of things and if we are not then we have to go the last game, and if we need to win that then we will be doing our best to do it.

" Things could be made easier by results elsewhere, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't going to keep an eye on it and hope that the results go our way and make life a little bit more uncomfortable for the other teams. That is something that I think everybody at this club is hoping for and it just gives us an extra bonus. We will wait and see what happens tomorrow but we are preparing now for Saturday and if we win on Saturday then it gives us a better chance than if we lose on Saturday. "



" Chris (Lumsdon) has missed everything this season near enough, in terms of pre-season and training work and work around it. There are not many players that you could throw in with the little work that is done that would perform like Chris Lumsdon. If you looked at him in the first ten minutes he made every tackle, he got every second ball, he was fired up, he wants to do this for the cause.

" There is no ulterior motive with Lummy, his contract is up and everybody knows that is well documented. He is not doing it for an individual, he is doing it for the good of the club. Obviously that would help his situation as well but he is a good character and sometimes at this stage of the season you need all your good characters that you know will put in a shift for the cause.

" He knows that he made a couple of bad passes late on in the game, he knows that he was getting tired, and as soon as you ask him if he is done then he says that yes he is done. You know that he is ready to come off and that is the way that you are with him. You have some players that you know, some players that you trust with your life, and Lummy is one of them.

" Put contract talks to bed, forget about it for the time being. It will be dealt with, let me tell you that it will be dealt with. At the minute it is about this club surviving in this division, to me that concerns me more than anything. We will deal with that and then we will deal with the other situation. I think that you have got to expect me to say that, and we have got those players just focusing on what is ahead of them. "



" Where are we going to be? What is the point of offering contracts to players that might not be in this division. We need to make sure that we are in the division first, deal with that first and then we will deal with the players second. I think that has to be the case, the club is bigger than any individual.

" I think that everybody when times are hard looks to their family don't they. Simple, it might be a boring statement but family are brilliant, family are absolutely brilliant. My boys, my little girl, my girlfriend, my Mum and Dad who came up again to the game on Saturday and said that they would be at the last two games, and they were at Leicester.

" My Mum is really poorly, she is 67 I think she is now, she is following her son around because she cares and she worries about him. She is the lady that gives me the motivation to kick on because whilst I don't want to let anybody down, you don't like letting your family down. You feel that the situation is a tough one and it is one that I want to deal with hands on, and do you know what, they are the people that will give you the motivation and the determination to succeed.

" Then hopefully I can pass that down to the people that run this football club, the players and the supporters, but there is nobody closer to those people than me. Just like everybody here and all the players are, you feel that you are duty bound, but they are the people that pick you up. I was a miserable man on Saturday night and for most of Sunday but now I have come in and I am bouncing again. "



" I am ready to take on the task which I know is an important one, but there is a lot of support around here as well believe it or not. There is a hell of a lot of support around here and I absolutely need that and am very thankful for that as well. Right the way through the game on Saturday I thought that there was bags and bags of energy and support. Again we are thankful for that from the manager, through the players, through the people that run the club.

" All we can say is to stick in there, we are having a go, I am not going to criticise my players like other managers, I am not because I don't feel that they deserve that. We know that we have made mistakes, we know that we haven't achieved what we would have liked to achieve but it is not through people throwing the towel in. We will not allow people to throw the towel in and if they want to do that then they won't be here next season.

" If Cheltenham being relegated and deflated by Saturday was that straightforward then you would be a rich man come Saturday because you would know the result before we started. It is never going to happen is it, it is never going to happen, the unpredictability of the game is such that nobody knows what the score is going to be.

" Whether you are expected to win, expected to lose or expected to draw, there is no way that we can foresee what Cheltenham are going to be like. They might play without any fear because they are already relegated and the game be harder. They might think that they are down and that they are going to go on the drink all week and drown their sorrows and turn up like a bag of rags.

" I very, very much doubt that they will do that, I very much doubt if Martin Allen will allow one of his teams to go out and just give Carlisle three points because we need them more than them and that their season is all over. So I think the question is that it is going to be a massive game, the toughest of the season because it is the next one and it is the one that gives us our first win in a few games, that we so desperately need. "