United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at Tuesday lunchtime's open press conference for the local media, Abbott first talking about Carlisle's 2-1 win at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday:
GA
It was a nice day for me, I mean I was really well looked after by the people of Coventry and the people at the club. They knew the situation and maybe I am getting a bit of a softie in my old age but it was a nice to go there and win the game and see the joy on our fans' faces and then the see the joy on all my family's faces when I met them afterwards, and see the despair in the Railway Club at night from the Coventry fans who had just been beaten. So, it was a nice evening, an all round nice evening and I met up with some fantastic people and found out some interesting things about what has been going on in the last sort of 15 to 20 years. But, we have to move on and we are talking about Tottenham near enough already.
PN
Purely from a team perspective it was such an important result as well wasn't it and it gets you on the fringes of those play-off places and gives everybody a real lift?
GA
Yeah, I mean we have talked about this season being difficult for a lot of reasons and I have tried to, without dampening peoples' ambition and dampening peoples' thoughts of where we should end up at the end of the year, I think this year is going to be one where we have to dig deep again, try to keep the club going forward but maybe look for something that is realistic in terms of where we are as a club.
But, the players keep surprising us, and if you look at it, we have played eleven games, and if you forget the penalty thing against Preston we have lost two, we have lost twice. It is a wonderful achievement for this group of players, we know that we haven't been as fluent in our football as we might have been but Lee Miller plays a price in that. He is an important part of us playing a certain system and allowing us to have an extra man to pass through with the extra man in midfield.
But, without that you end up getting it into the front players a bit quicker and sometimes it is not as attractive to watch. But, we have only lost two games really, let's add the Preston one in obviously because of the penalties but two games in real time. We are extra proud of that and if we can get through tomorrow night with a good performance and keep confidence high and look forward to Saturday and Tuesday, two games where we should be getting some points out of then we could be in the top six come Tuesday of next week.
It is a wonderful achievement and a great start and my job is to keep trying to build on that and keep hammering the door down for the people to try to keep the squad as strong as it can be. But, I think just going looking forward and looking beyond and looking long term, because we have to have short term, and short term is to stay around the top sort of eight.
Then long term is the development of players like (David) Symington and (Brad) Potts and (Mark) Gillespie and (Josh) Todd and (Mark) Beck and you see how they progress and we might not need to do so much business next year, and the business we will be doing will be cheaper and more cost effective because we have got these established as first team players.
That for me is a real excitement going further down the line and I can't wait to see them develop and I am as impatient as anybody, I want to get Championship promotion as quickly as possible. But, you look forward and you look at where the clubs is now and maybe look back to the opening day when we lose Lee and we lose a really strong player, I think the squad is looking OK.
It still needs to be stronger but it will develop and it will get that with experience and with us doing things along the way. But, as a manager you have to take a certain satisfaction from where you are just as we speak and where we might have been if the group wasn't as honest and determined as it is.
PN
And onto that Spurs game then?
GA
This is one where everyone is going to come and enjoy it. I think as long as we are not completely brushed aside people can enjoy the evening. But, we have tried to put in a little bit of a gameplan to work as hard as we can to keep Tottenham at bay as long as we can and cause as many problems as possible. But, they will have some quality in the side, the importance of it would be phenomenal if we did get through but we are, I think I am fair to say, starting as the underdogs, I think that is fair to say.
We will be giving it a great shot but importance is if I could win Saturday and Tuesday and put us in the top six then that is the sort of competition we are taking forward, our league. But, every game to me is important and this is like the fairytale one isn't it, if we do win this then the club and everybody gets a lot of profile and deservedly so. So, it is important in a lot of respects and the revenue side of it is good as well for the club.
PN
Yeah, you mentioned the revenue side there, I mean financially it is such a shot in the arm for a club like Carlisle isn't it?
GA
Yeah, well I have moaned long and hard enough haven't I, and maybe John Nixon will come out and say at least we have got a little bit of coffers in the bank and it is a little bit easier to get some out of him when I go and ask for some more. But, I think with Joe (Garner) and Kallum (Higginbotham) they have supported everything we are doing, which is great, I think that was mainly due to them having one eye on the income they had coming in from this game. So, it has been massive for us and we keep banging the drum that if the money comes in we will be allowed to invest some of it, and Joe and Kallum have been an expensive investment for the period they are here, but the club have done it, and maybe this cup run is paying for that.
PN
How do Carlisle United go about beating Tottenham then?
GA
I think with the very fact that they come up here and don't like the surroundings, don't like the facilities, they will enjoy the pitch, I will tell you that know, that is one thing that will go against us because the pitch will be as good as their's, absolutely easily. Facilites not quite as that, the cold weather, the long journey, the very fact it is a League One side, all those things they have to deal with and if they don't deal with them then we can cause a shock.
But, everything has to go in our way, that has to happen, we have to play above our station, we have to show a great determination, we have to show a great enjoyment for the task ahead and we have to not give away goals cheaply early on in the game, and we will have a fighting chance, that is an absolute certainty.
PN
It is difficult to prepare to an extent because you can't really predict what kind of squad they are going to come up here with?
GA
Yeah, but as much as I don't know their squad, he (André Villas-Boas) won't have a flipping clue about mine, so he has got that to deal with as well. Because, I am sure his scouting reports, (Danny) Livesey's passing and heading ability doesn't come anywhere near being a threat to them does it. So, we have had a laugh about that and we do laugh about stuff and we love Danny to bits, he has scored us two goals but how AV-B is going to deal with his headers that go out of play when he appears to be looking in a different direction, I just want to know how he does that, and I will be having a glass of wine with him afterwards to find out his thoughts on that.
PN
It is a great stage, a great opportunity for your players isn't it, and especially some of the younger players?
GA
Yeah, well you are looking at David Symington for instance who is a Workington lad and he was 50-50 to get a contract. He was in tears, honestly he was in tears in my office when we gave him the deal. Within two months of that or three months he is playing against possibly some of the best players in the world if they play. Now that takes some getting over for a young player and he should be proud and excited and really pleased to be on the same pitch as those types of people and taking part in such a big game.
So, for that they are like the little parts of football that everybody loves and the young kids that are involved will absolutely adore the situation and hopefully grasp it by both hands, and if they get involved in it make sure they do themselves proud. But, it is a no lose one for them and a fantastic occasion for them.
PN
Will you have any special words to say, in particular to the young players, before they go out because it is such a big occasion for them?
GA
Not really, I mean we can't build this up because it has already been built up. I have probably got to make sure that they don't freeze or make sure they go and perform, make sure they go and play with freedom and no fear and let Tottenham worry about the occasion more than us, because they are probably under pressure to win.
It is sort of like a back up competition for them to get into Europe, so if anything then goes wrong with the league it is one of them that you would think Tottenham are probably the favourites to win this type of competition because they will be the strongest of maybe the ones outside of Manchester United and Manchester City.
They will need that back up just incase league form doesn't go to plan, so the chances are they will be keen to win it but the chances are that they will have a mixed sort of squad of regulars and fringe players. We don't really know their team to be honest, we are not sure where they will go with it, but you just know that everybody that comes will have absolute quality, and they will get respect from us but we have got to go and enjoy the game.
PN
How well have your two loanees Joe Garner and Kallum Higginbotham fitted in since they arrived?
GA
If you take their own individual performances out of if, just the impact they have on the other players and the boost they have given to the players to see some experience and players that have come in and played at a higher level before, and are coming to join us for a period and want to be here, really, really want to be here, it is really important. You haven't seen a great deal of Kallum just yet, but you have seen Joe on Saturday and that is what Joe is all about.
He has been terrific in training, he is another one, uncomplicated, comes in, loves his football, gets on with his job, terrific to have around and I think those two have been a big help for us. It will buy the time we think we need for the younger players to develop and get more experience and integrate into the group without going backwards at any point. That is really an important part of their development.
PN
Kallum is with you until the end of the year, Joe Garner is with you for just a month, is there any thought towards perhaps looking for a longer stay with Joe if he is happy to do that?
GA
Yeah, I mean Joe has got to think about Joe and obviously we have got to think about Joe and Carlisle, because Joe knows how........... One of the reasons he has come back is because he knows that I will take care of him and look after him and if Joe scores a boatload of goals or has a really positive impact he knows that bigger clubs are going to look for him and we would probably have to let him do that.
But, I think Joe is looking more the other side of Christmas, he is happy to get 12 to 15 games I would think at a club where he is liked and he enjoys and then see where he is, just to make a clear assessment of where he is. If he scores 10 to 12 goals and he has a fantastic impact there will be a lot of clubs chasing him and we probably won't be able to keep him.
We know that, but we need help right now, it is the short term we are talking about, we need Joe now. Long term we know we can rectify that situation as Lee Miller might be back and then Mark Beck will be three months further in his development, and David Symington as well. So, he is buying us some time but the situation might be that he stays here and we have him until the end of the year, that might happen but we have to wait for that one.
PN
Has Joe given you an indication he would look at that option in maybe staying longer term with you?
GA
He has certainly given us an indication he would like to stay to Christmas, I think after that it is unfair to put Joe on the spot because he has got his own future and his own career and he wants to play in the Championship if possible, because that is why he left in the first place. But, we will have to look at that later on down the line, but to be fair to Joe let's let him enjoy his next 15 games and whatever will happen will happen during that period. We won't need Joe to tell us, it will be as clear as day by his impact on his performances.
PN
One player who is staying a bit longer with you is Femi Orenuga who you have had on trial who has been training with you recently, how impressed have you been with him?
GA
Yeah, I mean Femi is another one with talent, he has got pace, slightly different to some of the ones we have got in, he has got genuine pace. The reason we are keeping him a bit longer is because we want to get him a game because of his attitude and we haven't had the chance with all the midweek fixtures to get a bounce game. So, we are hoping to do that very, very quickly and we will be able to give a better assessment of Femi from there.
PN
It is difficult to make an assessment on a player just from watching them through training?
GA
It is, and obviously the training we have done is all recovery work because we have had so many games at the minute. It is an unbelievable load of fixtures early on in anybody's season. We think maybe we could spread that out and you have got the chance then to do that, but there is a group of players that do need some football, but that is something we will look at next week.