John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview Part One

Last updated : 28 October 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Monday morning as he talked about Carlisle's dire run of form at the moment, Ward, in part one of a lengthy interview, also chatting about how he is dealing with the situation personally :


" I don't feel any better about the performance but at least I can try to do something about it, and that is where I have got to put my attentions. The weekend was the same as everybody else connected with our football club, it was pretty miserable. At least I have the opportunity though of going out with the players on Monday morning and saying that it is not good enough and that this is what we need to do next.

" So at least I can get it out of my system, the supporters can't get it out of theirs until they see the next performance. They need to see a better performance, they need to see a Peterborough United game that they saw last time here at Brunton Park. That is something that the team and my coaching staff and myself have got to put on first and foremost.

" People can blame who they wish, that is their decision, they have got to make their decisions about who they want to blame for it. People have got responsibility though, I try to take my responsibility, I go out this morning on the training ground and as long as it takes we will take that time to try to get something better on Tuesday night. Everybody has got a responsibility though to deal with the situation in the way that is best and one or two people haven't done that.

" So it is important that the first thing that we recover is the attitude and the approach and commitment towards the job that we are asked to do. It's a darn good job being in football and it something that people are finding difficult to do, and that should not be the case. We will win, we will lose and we take all those things right, but there is the correct way of doing it, and Saturday wasn't the correct way. "



" I didn't come back up today, I stayed over and it was probably worse, perhaps I should have gone back down to the Midlands for a few hours. I stayed in Carlisle though, I had a good long walk yesterday in that windy day and got a few cobwebs out of the way to try to clear my mind and try to get myself in the right frame of mind.

" Which I think that I am for today, to go and work at the next stage, I can't do anything about the game tomorrow but I can do something I feel about the game on Saturday. That is to try to get a team together that returns with that commitment and that desire, and a real good application towards the game on Tuesday night. Because that is the first thing, everything else has got to come second, that has got to be the first thing that is put on on Tuesday night.

" We all like to play, we all like the games, win or lose we like to get another game in. The players will tell you that it is better than training but they will have some training to put in today and they had better make sure that that is the case. So I don't mind having the game because it gives me, just on a personal basis, it gives me something to look forward to and something to work towards very quickly. Rather than spend all week wondering what is going to happen next.

" So for me it is a good thing, I hope that the players feel the same about it. My decisions over Sunday were to get back on, and get my attitude right and get my application as right as I can do on the training ground and then pass that into the players, we will see if that will work.

" I motivated myself, I went on my own for a walk. I am a lot older than some of these guys, some of these players are experiencing this for the first time. I have had a lot of ups and downs in my career and when you are having your walk on your own you go back over time and wonder what you did then, what can you do now, how can that apply, those kinds of things. "



" So the experiences that I and some of my coaching staff may have had in previous clubs, or previous times in our game as a player, a coach or a manager, then we have got to apply that. We have got to pass that on to some young fellows who for the first time are not getting the pats on the back that they have had for the last three or four years.

" They are getting some criticism thrown their way and we are not dealing with it very well, that is something that they must put away if they possibly can and say that this is the way forward and this is what they have got to do about it. That is where my experience and my advice has got to be passed over, which it will be. If it is taken in the correct manner by the team then hopefully we will see that improve.

" I think that there will be many squads in Leagues One and Two that wouldn't cope with six or seven or eight players being out at any given time. So it is not just Carlisle United but I think that the squad has been stretched and players who have been looking for an opportunity have been given that and have probably not taken that as well as they would have liked.

" Then again it is a tough time to come in isn't it though, you want to bring your younger players in or your players that want to play. You want to come into a good team when things are going well, but you find out a lot about each other as time moves on. So it has been stretched, I'm not sitting here saying that they are not good enough because it is a tough period for them for a number to get thrown together.

" There are one or two experienced players not quite performing as well as we would like either though so it is a collective thing. It is something that I am looking at to try to make that better, but with the selection problems I have it is not that easy. That is life though, that is not a complaint, that is a fact of life and we have got to deal with it. "