Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 28 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 Cheltenham on Saturday, Abbott also later looking ahead to this weekend's death or potential glory game at home to Millwall :


" To be honest my job is not something that I have thought about, I really haven't thought about it. You might think that I would be worried about it this week but I am not worried about anything than getting the points to get this team safe. Whatever the board decide to do, things have been said at board level, things haven't been said at board level, I really don't mind what is going on.

" All that I am concerned about is winning football matches, winning enough points to keep this club safe. I haven't thought about my personal situation at all, I really haven't. Because I will be a very, very disappointed man if we go down on Saturday and that is all that I care about at the moment. All the permutations are sort of out of the window, we have got to win on Saturday and that is the be-all and end-all for us.

" It is imperative that something else happens elsewhere but it is imperative that we get three points, and that is the angle that we are going at. We have to win the game like Cheltenham had to do on Saturday and then you are looking for some joy from elsewhere, but the week is all about winning against Millwall. It is all about preparing a side that is going to beat Millwall and give ourselves a fighting chance.

" We are all alright, we have niggles injury-wise at this stage of the season, only the same as everybody else. We have got the long-term injuries that everyone knows about but Ian (Harte) has come through with his hand and Murph (Peter Murphy) has had a whack on his ankle in the midweek and he has come through that fine.

" So there are little niggles and aches and pains, but today we have got a full quota and we are going to have to see how we go through the week. Hopefully we don't get anything else though, Scott Dobie has got a niggle with his ankle which is long standing, and the same with Paul Thirlwell, but I think that they are both going to be OK. "



" Obviously the sending-offs, they are done now aren't they, there is nothing that we can do about those, so we are two men light there. We have got Kav (Graham Kavanagh) to come back and it is other players that have got to step up to the fore now and show that they can do a job that we require.

" We have got no alternative but to get going again, you wear your heart on your sleeve and you prepare the week in the right way. It is a big game and it will get hyped up without a doubt, but I prepare a team to win every week. We don't always win and we haven't been winning but my enthusiasm won't be dampened. We are paid to put a team on the pitch to perform in every game and that is the job that I have been asked to do.

" I will be trying that whether we were mid-table or at the bottom or at the top, I would still be trying to do that and that is what we are all about. I really enjoy the football matches, and this one just takes on greater significance than most, but it is no more important a game. The significance of it is massive but it is still a football match and it is still one that I would like to win.

" I think that if the fans said that I have had to do all the work this week and then I have had to do the motivational speech on Saturday, I think that they would be surprised wouldn't they you know. Because I would think that they would expect the players to really be up for the game and know the importance of it. So I think that I will probably have an easier job this week than I have had in other weeks, because it is all there for them and at the end of the week it is a game that they must win.

" They know that and to be fair, the preparation and the determination for the last two games has been excellent, and I can't fault the players on that and I won't fault the players on that. We haven't put the two games to bed though, we haven't finished the game off and put teams to the sword and we have not kept that clean sheet. They are criticisms of the general play, nothing to do with their attitude, the attitude and the preparation has been first class. "



" I am not making any excuses, it is not over the last game, it is over the last 40-odd games. I did say it and I have been reiterating that case, we are where we are because we haven't been good enough and we haven't kept enough clean sheets, which I did say, and we have not scored enough goals. So I am not trying to say that Saturday is to blame for anything but I thought that on Saturday we got even more of a share of our bad luck than we have been doing. Sometimes you make your own luck though and we haven't done enough of that.

" Of course we have to be optimistic, Cheltenham were optimistic before Saturday's game, they still believed that they could stay up, that is why they play with their hearts as well, they played with a lot of determination. What we have got to do is make sure that we win our game on Saturday and hope that somebody slips up.

" If people slip up and we haven't won our game on Saturday then we have absolutely shot ourselves in the foot, which is the massive thing that we must avoid. We must win our own game, and then you will be surprised, football, it surprises us enough. We have had enough surprises already ourselves haven't we with goals in the 93rd or 94th minute. So there is a surprise there that must go our way at some point and let's hope it is Saturday.

" I don't think that any player wants this on their CV, we are asking questions there and asking if the players will be alright if we go down, will they just turn up and get beat by Millwall? No they won't, listen, they won't, the fans won't let us do that, I won't let them do that, the club won't let them do that, their families won't let them do that. How many people more do we need to say will make sure that the players will give everything that they have got. They will give everything that they have got on Saturday, everything and a bit more and then we will see where it takes us. "



" We should be getting the appreciation from the crowd like at Cheltenham 45 times out of the games in a season shouldn't we. It is one thing that the fans demand, the fans here are OK you know, they see effort and commitment and determination and they clap you off. If you get beat they sometimes clap you off, we have been beaten before and got a round of applause.

" It is when they see instances in games where they think that we are not giving everything, or that we have lost our way a little bit, or something is not just right. That is when they grumble and they are entitled to do that, they are fans that pay their money but at the end of the day they are supporters, and that is what they have done on Saturday, they have supported us.

" When we are doing the right things and giving of our all that is what you get, and we will get the benefit of the doubt on Saturday because we did last week. They just want us to put on a performance where the players wear their hearts on their sleeves, show that determination and really take the game to Millwall. If we get that then the crowd will be absolutely massively behind us, that is a certainty.

" The atmosphere will be no bigger than it was on Saturday at Cheltenham, there was a hell of a tension in the ground. I don't know what the crowd was, it was nearly 5,000, but it was like 20-odd thousand. You felt the emotions and the passion and the excitement of the day for all different reasons, but it was there on Saturday and it will be just the same this week. So we dealt with it at Cheltenham and hopefully we will deal with it again, but we will have 7,000 or 8,000 cheering us on on Saturday, that is the big thing.

" We are all doing the rallying call now, we have all done it together and we have all shown that we can be together, and we are together, and Saturday was a good indication that the players are fighting for everybody. They are the ones that cross the white line so again, from top to bottom, that is supporters right up to the people that run the football club, let's have a right good go at it on Saturday and see where it takes us. "