United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at today's press conference for the local media, Abbott in the first part of a lengthy interview ahead of Carlisle's final League One match of the season talking about a long 2010-11 campaign for the Blues :
GA
It has been a long season but it is only the same for everybody else. I think the thing with us is we have had the run of away games just either side of Wembley, and all the travelling due to the games being postponed and the rearrangements of them, they fell a bit awkward for us. But, we are in the last week now, the last training session today, hopefully the last positive result tomorrow, positive performance tomorrow and we can end the season reasonably satisfied with what we have achieved.
PN
In a way is there a sense of relief that the season is coming to an end because you now fully devote your attention towards next season?
GA
Yeah, obviously the way the transfer system is set up makes it difficult for us when we probably need to inject a little bit more extra, and we have found ourselves a little bit light in terms of strength and depth this last month or two months. But, credit to the 11,12 or 13 players that have been performing all the time, they have been phenomenal, some of those players have not missed a minute of the season, which is fantastic, we have got three or four of them. Then the others have played the large part and then we have had the back-up we have had, we probably need next season to improve that, which I have made that common knowledge.
But, I think everyone is looking forward now to a break, most clubs at this stage do, they need it, you look at the likes of even the best in the world, the (Fernando) Torres' and the (Wayne) Rooneys of this world, they have been pretty ordinary this year because of the amount of football they have had, and only Wayne Rooney is probably coming back to something like, and he has been looked after all season. But, it is just the same for our players, they need that break and I think they are looking forward to it.
PN
How much of a break are the players going to be given over the summer? What date have you set for them to be back in pre-season training?
GA
Well, we are going to come back in June, which is different, usually it is July, but we are going to come back in June this year. We are going to have a meeting in about an hour's time and talk about what I expect and that such thing, and the plans and the preparation work for next year. But, generally our lads, they came back this pre-season and they were unbelievable, we had to slow them down a bit, so I don't think there will be a problem with that. The group we have got are young and they are energetic, enthusiastic, they have got fantastic attitudes and they are enjoyable to work with, so I don't see that being a problem.
PN
How much progress do you think you have made as a team, as a club over the last 12 months?
GA
I think as a club, if people look from the outside, that you have got to look at what we had, where we have come from, since day one I came in. The type of squad we have got, the type of squad that can be carried forward and the improvement in the results. Every one, and the infrastructure of the club as well, every one is better than it was. The squad is better, it is younger, it is going to get better, it has got a chance of improving even more, the results, two cup finals, improvement in year one of 14th, hopefully we can improve on that by getting a result tomorrow to 10th.
Training ground unbelievable, Dave (Mitchell) and the club have done a magnificent job, not only the main pitch but the training ground to get us a better facility. So, we think in all areas we are moving forward, and what I have said right from day one is that as long as you go forward, it doesn't matter how slow you are going, you are making progress. It is working, financially with the cup competitions and the transfer dealings we are in the good side over the past two seasons. So, things have been decent, we are not making progress at 100 miles an hour, but we are making progress.
I think the supporters do recognise that, it is what supporters hear and read that sometimes conflicts their opinion. But, if the people look at the whole thing on balance and I have not tried to dress that up, I have just purely gone on facts there, then I think the majority do see that. As fans they have every right to be impatient because as managers and players we sometimes get impatient ourselves. But, sometimes you have got to marry that up with being realistic, and in realistic terms we have actually done alright.
PN
At the start of the season when you set the targets, you have got a chance as you say to finish 10th with a win tomorrow, would you have been happy with a top ten finish at the end of the campaign?
GA
Probably, we never give away our targets because you set yourself up for a big fall, but obviously there are factors there aren't there. There is the financial side of it, there is the results side of it and then put that together and then you have got to go foward side of it. I think we are going to go forward alright with the group that we have got. I think the results have been OK on the pitch, the cup and top ten with what we have got against others, you see the top five, they are all the money people, the big money people.
Every one of them has got........ Talking about Southampton whose medical budget is bigger than our playing budget and that is a fact, it is not an invention. So, they are entitled to finish on top of us but there is always a space for a Bournemouth or an Orient or a Hartlepool or a Swindon or a Carlisle to nick that other one. But, we think we can improve next season and we can be one of those chasing clubs.
The money people, I will tell you now, the Sheffield Wednesdays, the Sheffield Uniteds, the Huddersfields, the Charltons, the people like that, the ones with the money, they will be up there next season guaranteed because that is what money gets you. It gets you the chance to buy the best players, and even now with our recruitment drive, it is we are interested in such or such a player but you will have to wait because these four have shown interest, and if these four want him then they are going to get him because they are paying more than us. So, they are going to get first choice of the best players, it gives them a head start straight away.
PN
How soon can you as a club approach a player for instance who you are interested in? Do you wait until the end of the season? Is that on the club's insistence or can you sort of make tentative enquiries at any point?
GA
The cameras are definitely switched on aren't they? We have to wait until the end of the season, let's do everything by the book, no illegal approaches, absolutely no contact with any players whatsoever, I will have another chat with you later on when the cameras are off. No, I am only joking, you do some soul searching and you do some finding out, agents are busy from Christmas onwards but we absolutely would never approach a player, never, out of respect to the managers and clubs, never. But, players get thrown at you via a third party, which is where the agents sometimes have some value, but they only tout them round to find out what you can offer. When they know there is an offer from you they feed it to everybody else, so it is a real pickled egg situation.
PN
And this is where the released list becomes interesting of course, players released by clubs, have you already cast an eye over that?
GA
Yeah, we are on top of everything, we know the type of players we want, we know who is available in our financial bracket. It is then fending off the big boys which is the difficulty, so sometimes there are three lists of Grade A Ones and Grade B and Grade C. We generally have to go to Grade B because the Grade A gets snapped up by the likes of the clubs I have just talked about.
PN
Gary Borrowdale is a player who you had in on loan, he has been released by Queens Park Rangers this week, is he a player you might pursue some interest in?
GA
Erm, I am not even going to go down the road of who we might be pursuing interest in because it just opens up so many assumptions for people and fans. We have got a real big base of players that are on the radar you know, ten left-backs, ten right-backs, ten centre-halves, twenty midfield players, ten wide players left and right, a hundred strikers, (Lionel) Messi is at the top of it, but he isn't coming.
So, we keep running down that list, but as soon as something happens we will let you know. But, we can't give our hand away because as soon as we do that we alert other clubs of who we are after. We had it last year where I shook hands with somebody (Danny Whitaker) in the room there in June or something and I read in the paper the next day he had signed for another club (Chesterfield), he actually shook hands on a deal so we have to be ultra careful.