Neil McDonald - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 29 July 2007 By Thetashkentterror

Blues manager Neil McDonald
United boss Neil McDonald spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Friday evening as he talked about how pre-season preparations are going for the Blues, McDonald also chatting about the friendly game at Queen of the South tomorrow :


" We were going to come back on Saturday and just go straight to the game but we felt that it was just a little bit too far. So we've had a good week's training, we'll travel back tonight and then we'll head up to Queen of the South on Saturday morning which we are all looking forward to. We've done some quality training, we've had two or three sessions a day and we've been lucky enough to watch Barcelona train on a couple of occasions as well. It's been an excellent week.

" We've watched four games while we have been up as well so that has been excellent, we've seen Oldham who played Clyde, Bristol Rovers who played Dunfermline and we've seen Nottingham Forest as well. Plus as well we took in another game just to have a look at another couple of players as well so it's been a very productive week to be fair.

" We've got a couple of niggles, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson hurt his knee in a tackle so we've got to be careful of that and Shaun Vipond has got his little thigh strain back again so we've got be careful of that as well. Ged Dalton has just jarred his knee a touch as well so we'll see how they settle over the next 24 hours and whether or not they will be involved on Saturday. If not then I'm sure they'll be fit for Tuesday against Middlesbrough.

" We'll have a good idea of our first eleven by then, the games so far have been excellent and the opposition has obviously been high as well. Let's see how we get through Saturday first of all before we start giving you a little bit of an idea over what is happening with the next two games.

" We've been speaking to a few people on the telephone about new players but there has been nothing concrete as of yet. We're still looking and still watching games, we've watched six to eight teams over this week and we've seen and liked a couple of players that we have seen so far. So we'll see how that develops as well in the talks and doing a little bit of research on the players that we have just watched. "



" Everyone has seen that he (Joe Garner) was here last year, he's gone back to Blackburn and we'll see how that develops. I'm not saying yes and I'm not saying no, but we know what he is all about anyway. I'm happy to bide my time and get the right people, all the lads are training well at the minute and they have played really well in the games as well. There is no panic to get the wrong person, we've got to make sure that we get the right person and make sure that the competition is spot on because we've got good competition at the moment and long may that continue.

" I think first of all on the scouting we really, really concentrated last year, with not knowing the league itself, we were all new to it and we made sure that we were spot on with that. Now we just need to expand that little bit and with the part-time coaches we can cover a hell of a lot more games and players.

" We can start targetting it a little bit more because we still have to do our homework on the opposition that we are playing but we feel comfortable that we know the majority of the teams. How they play and how they work out so it gives us a little bit more time to try to target the next one. They (Dennis Booth and Malcolm Shotton) are very experienced, they certainly know what they are talking about and they can work out what the formations are. We can only use their experience which is fantastic.

" In Liam Atkin it's nice to see that people who have left us have got themselves fixed up and I'm sure he'll enjoy playing against the lads. We've worked them very, very hard this week and they'll probably only play 45 minutes each I would imagine so let's see how that goes. We're looking forward to the game, we've had a really good week's training and we'll try to put into practice on Saturday what we have done during the week. "