Delighted to welcome back John McGee to the pages of The Exiled Robin, as he answered Stu Radnedge's questions on Carlisle United...
Ex-Bristol
City "favourite" John Ward was responsible for one of the worst runs
of results in Carlisle United's history and was replaced by Greg Abbott, who I
believe at the start of this season was the third longest serving manager in
the football league (behind Arsene Wenger and Paul Tisdale).
So why was
the club’s start to this season so bad?
That's a
good question, and one which isn't easy to answer. My own view is that Greg's
management at Carlisle had become a bit stale. He took quite a while to get
going; he was naive and made mistakes and that turned quite a few people off
him who he had never quite won over, but it's inarguable that he turned us into
a pretty good side.
His
problem was being unable to build on finishing 8th. His summer business in 2012 was absolutely
disastrous and he never recovered from it - we're still harbouring Danny
Cadamarteri and Mike Edwards on the payroll - and it's encumbered us from
improving. Beyond that he failed to recognise that we needed defensive
improvements in summer, he bought forwards and, yet again, we conceded in
bucket loads. His departure was pretty inevitable the moment Orient beat us 5-1
on the opening day.
In September
Abbott was replaced by another City "favourite" - your current gaffer
Graham Kavanagh (beat us in a Wembley final in 2000 for those unaware…).
What affect has he made?
It's still
a bit early to say. His immediate impact was great, we won three in a row for
the first time in five years, but it's been up and down since then. My
impression is that Kavanagh is an impatient perfectionist - he expects so much
of his players and can get very frustrated when they don't meet his exacting
standards. For some that's been the spur they needed, young Brad Potts has
really kicked on for instance, while others seem to have struggled - Alex
Salmon was tipped for great things but Kav's wasted no time in binning him off.
The
feeling is that he's counting time to the summer when the real revolution will
come, I can see us turning over as many as 10 players at that point. In the
meantime we should have just about enough to survive - every now and then we
see a performance which embodies Kavanagh the player and I'd venture there'll
be enough of those between now and June to see us right.
A gap has
opened up between our clubs after your victory against MK Dons on Tuesday
night. A solid victory is suggested in the scoreline (3-0). But was
it?
I wasn't
at the game, but everything I've heard about it suggests so. We're a really
frustrating side as when we get it right we can be really good, but we're very,
very vulnerable if we don't score early.
The
difference between the Colchester and MK games was probably scoring first - we
had 19 shots against the Us and they had 6, we scored 2 and they 4. By all
accounts MK were as dire as we were good, so that's a bit of a caveat, but it
shows we're capable of downing half decent teams when we put our mind to it.
Just wish it happened more regularly!
Before
last week's match against Wolves, City were 5 undefeated, but have since lost
two on the bounce with difficult away fixtures. Are your confidence levels ahead
of the match on Saturday high, or do you fear the wounded animal element will
be something to fear?
I said
before our last game that we were masters at doing struggling teams a favour -
how right was I? You'll notice a theme developing - at the moment we just don't
know which Carlisle will turn up. What I will say is that we're poorer away
from home, and allow ourselves to get pressed onto the back foot there far too
easily. I think a lot depends on whether our wingers have a good day, if they
beat their man first time it's usually a good sign.
I can't not ask
the question. Courtney Meppen-Walter signed for Carlisle in December after
being released by Man City after being found guilty of causing death by
dangerous driving. Do you agree with the decision to allow him to play for your
club?
Speaking
personally, yes I was fine with it, but it did split opinion almost right down
the middle. One or two fans have boycotted the club - fair play to them, I
think it's over the top but they know their own mind.
To clarify
a little though, Meppen-Walter was guilty of the lesser offence of Death by
Careless-Driving. That doesn't do down the gravity of what he did but it
basically acknowledges that it wasn't entirely his fault, and that he wasn't
wilfully out to endanger people. I think that's why I'm okay with it personally
- it genuinely did seem like an awful mistake with grave consequences.
I've had
the fortune, if you can call it that, of seeing the documentary which covers
the case and Courtney comes over very well, utterly repentant and full of
remorse. That's exactly how he's come over at the club too - modest, unassuming
and shy if anything, quite the opposite of how you'd expect him to be.
A few folk
tried to justify the signing using his footballing potential (which is vast)
but I found that crass - that isn't anything to do with it - he did something
wrong, awful, but he's seen justice for it and is a young lad who deserves a
second chance. My own morals don't really sit well with punitive justice.
Others thought he shouldn't be allowed to be a footballer, I think the opposite
- by remaining in the public eye he should be able to educate others, and he
seems to think the same way, which is a good thing.
What are
your strengths and weaknesses on the pitch?
Strengths
- David Amoo if he has a good day. If he's on, he can be absolutely unplayable.
Our midfield can also be outstanding if it gets a stranglehold on the game, but
it doesn't always. At their best they work well for each other, perfectly
coming and going and picking the right pass. As I stated earlier, Brad Potts is
really coming on and starting to justify the hype around him. He scored his
first goal on Tuesday and we hope it'll be the first of a few this season.
Weaknesses
- confidence. If we go behind, we usually fold. We need to score early or we
start sitting deep and hitting hopeful punts. We don't need to do that because
we have really good footballers, but we're a team of panickers. We're a little
more open without Paul Thirlwell too, and Meppen-Walter struggles with players
running at him which Thirlwell normally
snuffs out. The other problem? Scoring
goals. Our three strikers have 3 in the league between them. Prolific!
Who can
you forsee causing you problems on Saturday?
Bearing in
mind his hat trick in the reverse fixture and CMW's issues with players running
from deep, it has to be JET. See you've signed Wade Elliott too. He's pretty
handy!
Can I get
a score prediction?
Err, do
you mind if I don't? I'm historically awful at them.
Thanks to Stu and John for their time, and let's hope John's worries about helping teams on bad runs once again offers us a more profitable afternoon than we've enjoyed at the top sides recently.
COYR!
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