Simon Hackney - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 20 March 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Simon Hackney
United left-winger Simon Hackney spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Tuesday morning as he talked about his career at Brunton Park to date, Hackney later chatting about Carlisle's promotion prospects this season :


" It's been a great journey for me to be quite honest, I've learned so much but going back to the Conference I was only small, not that I'm that big now. It was very overwhelming to play at Canvey Island coming from Woodley Sports, just going on the pitch for about ten minutes. I think I came on for my debut, it was just great, the fans got behind me at Canvey Island and I just went out to go and enjoy my first game.

" I always remember it because I remember coming on, making a run down the line, getting nudged off the ball basically, going out wide, and then me sneaking in at the back-post and volleying one and it just got cleared off the line. So I remember it quite well, it was great and it was the first time that my mum rang me after the game saying that she had listened to it on the radio, that's the exciting part. My mum keeps me in touch with the radio stuff and all that so it's been great, fantastic.

" It meant a lot getting back into the league, you could see, I remember Lummy (Chris Lumsdon) hugging me at the end and telling me that I was part of the team. I remember not being in the actual squad at the end to play in the play-offs because I'd just joined but that's something that I do remember, him saying that I was a part of it. So I know all the lads were really chuffed to bits and they worked hard to get there.

" Winning League Two was a fantastic season, that was the season we went seven unbeaten. Times like that we just grafted away and we started believing in ourselves that we could stay up there and keep plugging away. Whereas everyone thought that we should just have a steady season, we gave it all we that we had got and we managed to win the league, which was fantastic. "



" The injury was frustrating because I'd been through it before, seven months was a long time but I remember that the first time that I did it I was out for a year. To come through two injuries is fantastic, and it's a real blessing that I have got through it. To be playing now after a long injury, I've got to take the positives out of that, touch wood, that I've not got another one.

" I'm learning new things, I'm trying to add more things to my game and to be more positive. I did say as well that people are wanting me to beat three or four men and I still can do that, that's the thing, but I'm trying to work on my defensive. Working back and adding everything together, strength, linking up play and becoming a kind of different player really, not just a one-trick pony if you know what I mean, if that's in a nice way.

" I still want to be positive, I still want to get at people because that's my job, that's what wingers are supposed to do is get crosses in and score goals hopefully as well. My mum gets on my case about scoring goals, I know that I mention my mum a lot but she is, well my family, my whole family, play a massive part in everything. My mum says that I haven't scored in eleven, twelve, thirteen now in a row.

" She does give me that pressure but if I'm going to be honest I'm my worst critic anyway. So no matter what people say, if I feel as if I've done well then I'll feel good, if I don't then I'll feel bad. It's being professional to get over those things though, and strive to do better.

" I say it many a time, people say that they are not happy sometimes and I really just don't understand it. Yes, within the last few games we have not really plugged away, well not plugged away, but not played very well should I say, but we've managed to get the results. There could be teams out there that are playing good and losing whereas we're going out there at the moment and playing badly and getting results, so you've got to take the positives out of it and that's what I always seem to do. "



" I really do think picking on Cleveland Taylor, was, well, I still think it is, a bit scandalous really. He's a good lad, he works hard, he goes to do the right thing and he's come here and got a bit of stick. To be quite honest, no-one, I say this all the time, no-one goes out there to play bad or have a bad game or whatever, but I think he's done terrific if I'm going to be honest.

" He's come to the club, he's blended in, the lads love him, the gaffer (John Ward) loves him, all the coaching staff. It's going to take a little bit of time to bed in for him but at the moment just give him a chance, that's all I'm saying definitely. Give us all a chance, it's not just Cleveland, we all have our days where we are getting stick but all of us, I count for myself as well, I think we're our own worst critics.

" So to strive on better and to do better, I think that's what we'll do but if people can lay off certain people then I think that would make the, and just get behind us, then it would be fantastic. Because he's a good lad, he's a cracking lad and he's a good player, a very good player.

" We've always had good team spirit, we are a tight-knitted squad, there are no prima-donnas, everyone sticks together. We get on, we have a good laugh, there is banter in the changing-rooms throughout everyone, Andy (Horn), Dolly (Neil Dalton), the gaffer, Greg, Dennis Booth - flipping heck. It's fantastic you know and I think that's what you need in a football club, and I think that's why we're doing so well, even if we have been slipping up a little bit, we've still been getting the results and still sticking together as a team.

" The season has just gone so quickly, it's a very important time and I do think that we have been very professional about the whole season. It's a shame, I've got to say as well, it's a shame for the likes of Joe Garner, for (Paul) Thirlwell and Jeff Smith. It's a really big shame but I know that they'll come through the injuries and they'll get back into the squad. "