John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview Part Two

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 two of a lengthy interview, also chatting about his own FA Cup experiences over the years :


" I think that tomorrow is a bit too early for any of the injured players, so we are probably looking to later on in the week to get a little bit more numbers on the training ground. Certainly not for Tuesday though, we will have to work with the group that we have. We just picked up bumps and bruises on Saturday at Colchester but everyone will be training today.

" He (Peter Murphy) has had his operation, he had it on Sunday. There was an internal look in the knee where we found some damage to the cartilage, which we thought that possibly would be the case. Nothing major, nothing severe but enough to cause him the problem that he has been having. We are looking at anything between two to four weeks before Peter can come back into the fray. So it has been dealt with, it was something that Neil Dalton thought might be the case and he has been proved correct, so Peter goes out for the next two to four weeks.

" We had the scan which didn't actually show the nick on the cartilage but that is fine, it happens sometimes. We treated it the way that we could, we found that that was a problem, Neil and Peter were not happy with the knee, quite rightly we got him in and got it sorted. We now just need the players to look after the club instead of the club looking after the players don't we.

" You don't fancy a 0-0 draw tomorrow do you when you look at our results and Hartlepool's results. They have got players who can score, they have got a team that gets a 5-3 or a 3-3 and they have got a large number of scores against them, as we had at the beginning of the season. We have slipped in that manner though, but they are a side that can cause all sorts of problems.

" I saw them not long ago away at Northampton and they drew a blank in that game, lost it 1-0, but could and probably should have found a goal from their front players. We saw them beat Cheltenham 4-1 early in the season at home and Greg (Abbott) has seen them at Tranmere. So we have seen enough of them, we know that they have got some good players but I really have to say that all my thoughts and ideas have got to be about getting my team to be better.

" We will talk about the opposition and we will talk about players who can be a threat, but we have got to make sure that we are absolutely right first. With great respect to Hartlepool they have got to take second place in my view at the minute because my team has got to be the most important thing for me. It is the nearest game that we have got isn't it, but it is a Tuesday night, it is under lights and there is always an atmosphere. "



" There can be one man and his dog watching but under lights and on a wintry night it is going to be somewhere to go and play. It is a good pitch, everything is geared up for it, you can't look at it and find any excuses or any reasons there not to go out and perform. So both teams are going to look forward to that game, I am sure that there will be some supporters come across from Hartlepool, there will be people coming in to support ourselves and let's hope that we can give them something to go home smiling about.

" It is a different atmosphere under the lights and you have got a good pitch. I haven't seen the forecast in terms of the weather, whether it is going to be cold, it might be a bit blowy, but it is a wintry English football match you know. We are up in Carlisle for goodness sake so we are going to get that, but I like games under lights, I do think that they give people a lift.

" There can be nobody in the ground and it still gives you a little bit of a tingle saying that this is a good place to go and play. That is what I am looking for from my team, to say that this is a great place to go and play, go and enjoy what you are doing and play with a bit of freedom and go and work at it.

" I thought that we would get somebody like Dover away in the FA Cup the way that it was going. I'm fine, we need to find out a lot about Grays Athletic and we will do. My coaching guys and my scouting people are already on to it, and we will pick up the information that they won 2-0 on Saturday. Nothing is easy though, they will have nothing to lose on that day but in any cup draw you can just hope to be at home and hope that that does give you the advantage, but we will see when it comes round.

" A good cup run would take off that little edge, but it also adds I think to the season. I think that you can put league and cup results together, I hear some managers saying that you can concentrate on the league but they only do that when they are out of the cups. Yes this club could do with a cup run, I could, the team could, we could all enjoy it together, the supporters certainly could. That is something that hopefully having a home draw gives us a chance to do that.

" In 1984 I was at Watford when we got to the FA Cup final with Everton which was fantastic, I was assistant manager there, I have not had other really big ones. At Cheltenham we played Newcastle live on television, it was Graeme Souness's last game in the FA Cup, he got sacked the game after that I think. "



" They beat us 2-0, Alan Shearer and all, that was a massive game for that football club at that particular time. So somewhere along the line some nice ones, at Aston Villa, played some games up there, so enjoyed it. Probably lower down though I have not had as much as I would like so maybe we can set one up here and take Carlisle a little bit of a further distance in this one.

" I think that the Premier League boys like the FA Cup, they probably look at the League Cup side of it and say that that is not quite the one until they get a bit further. I think that you will have a look at the big boys when they come in in Round Three, Manchester United, Liverpool, they will put out their best teams.

" Just look at last year, Barnsley when they beat Chelsea and Liverpool in there. They didn't want to go out to Barnsley, you can bet your life on that, so I think that it is a big competition for all clubs. It is great for clubs like Brackley who are in there for the first time, and Grays Athletic who are coming to play us.

" They have got nothing to lose, what if they were to come here and get a result, fantastic, it would be something that they would remember for years and years. FA Cup matches get replayed over the years, we will be seeing Ronnie Radford's goal won't we for Hereford coming up again soon. So they are magnificent memories for a lot of people, whether they are lower leagues or whether they are top Premier League people, so it is a big competition that everybody wants to do well in.

" I don't think that they will pick our game for the television, they will be looking at other games where clubs are probably at home to league clubs that are going very, very well. There have been one or two other interesting draws where teams have got what we said we didn't want, one of those tricky away ones. So I don't think that they will look at ours but that will not make it any less important for me.

" Everybody has got to be responsible for their actions tomorrow night, not least the players and myself. If we can do that and start like we did against Peterborough then we will immediately get our supporters on our side, because that was what they saw. We knew that in that game that there was going to be a cracking game of football on, but that will only come if we get the attitude correct on the pitch. We have got ability but that doesn't count unless you have got absolute commitment and real attitude on that pitch to make it count. "