Below are selected highlights from Tuesday afternoon’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.
Lee Grant
Chris Nee (We Are Terriers): Lee, we’ll start, if you don’t mind, with your reflections after Stockport, please.
Yeah. So, difficult afternoon, difficult in many senses. Because not only do we not reach our level in terms of really going after the game and being successful in the things that we set out to do, but then having got the game to a stage where we, you know, look as though we’re coming away with a point and a clean sheet, we then, obviously, yeah, turn that into into no reward and zero points from the game.
So, yeah, that’s tough to take, of course, but we know internally that we have to be better.
And as it stood with the point and the clean sheet on offer, but 90+6 minutes or whatever it was, we still would have been wholly dissatisfied, I think, with how the game went.
CN: Do you understand or even share the frustration of the supporters after a game like that?
Without a doubt. Intrinsically, we understand it. I understand it. Share it, for sure. We’re living it. So we’re certainly, with regards to our level at the weekend, we’re not satisfied, and we certainly feel as though we’ve we’ve come up short, and I’ve come up short, in terms of the display that we put on show.
CN: You’ve brought in a keeper and another keeper has gone in the other direction. Can I ask the thinking behind those two transactions?
Pretty straightforward, in all honesty, in that we had to do what was right by Owen [Goodman] and of course, had to take into account Owen’s wishes and Crystal Palace’s wishes in the matter, and all of those things being considered, it was a very straightforward decision for all of us, and we did make that decision mutually, along with Owen and along with Crystal Palace.
So, yeah, we came to the decision that that was best for all parties. And then, of course, finding the replacement and doing so in in good time was really important.
CN: We saw Cameron [Humphreys] at the weekend. Do you expect to sort of see him in that deeper role more often, or is it a versatile player that you’ve brought in?
Very much so, yeah, very much. So we can use Cammy in all of the positions centrally. My belief is that across the across the you know, five months or so that he’s going to be with us, we will get an opportunity to see Cam as a more aggressive central midfielder, as a deeper one, and perhaps at times, as a more attacking outlet for us.
So yeah, we know he has that versatility and those attributes to his game, so we want to make sure we use them.
CN: It’s clearly a blow to lose a player who was in the kind of form that Leo Castledine was in. Are you looking to bring in a pretty direct replacement for him, or is that somewhere where Will Alves and Zeppy Redmond can step in?
Yeah, well, it’s difficult. I think it’s going to be difficult for us to replace Leo, that’s for sure. So Leo worked hard, and we worked really hard with Leo to get him into a position where we felt as though he could contribute significantly. And he was doing that. We found the right slot for him, and he was really consistent with his level.
So yeah, that’s a blow that’s tough to take for all of us. We also feel as though we’ve got one or two that are ready to step up. So of course, they have to do that, and we want to help them to do that.
So yeah, that’ll be the goal. Of course, if we have an opportunity to find another Leo Castledine, nobody’s going to turn their nose up at that. But as I said, I think that’s going to be very, very difficult.
CN: Is the Vertu Trophy game a chance to maybe bring a few of those players back in and give them some minutes?
Yeah, quite possibly so. We’ve got one or two now that are pushing hard to be back available and around it. You know, Mickel Miller, Marcus McGuane, Will Alves, people like those guys that we’ve not seen a great deal of recently, and then one or two that, you know would have liked to have had more minutes than perhaps they’ve had more recently, again, will get an opportunity.
But as we’ve said before every single game, it’s a really important competition to us. So you know, we’ll pick a side that we feel as though can go out there and get the right result for us.
CN: What’s the status of Alfie May at the moment?
Yeah, look Alfie, it was disappointing one, I think for all of us concerned. We selected Alfie to play at the weekend. He didn’t feel as though he was able to do that, so yeah, we have to see if he’s if he makes the cup for for Tuesday. My hope is that it settles quickly and we can have him back around it.
CN: Do you have a time frame on Sean Roughan as well?
Yeah. Sean Roughan, I think we said at the time, initially four to six weeks, that hasn’t changed. So he’s progressing along nicely.
Lynden Gooch
CN: Why do you think the the team falls a bit short against teams around you?
I’m not too sure. Obviously, the results are there to see against the top sides. And unfortunately, for whatever reason, we haven’t managed to get those results and performances that we want.
But yeah, look, I think if we finish the game 0-0 you go, ‘It’s a good point, we rolled our sleeves up and and dug in,’ which we did. And unfortunately, the last kick the game didn’t go our way. And that’s really disappointing.
But like I say, we’ve been on a really good run. It doesn’t need to be doom and gloom. We need to get back to what we’ve done well over the last month or so to get back to those results.
CN: One thing that will help that is avoiding conceding late goals. As you say, 0-0 would have been a very respectable outcome on Saturday. Is that down to concentration over the last couple of games?
Maybe, yeah, you could put it that way, I think the goal on Saturday was obviously disappointing, and we should have defended it better. We know that. So that’s that’s on us to to see the game out and and obviously against Exeter as well, in the closing stages.
So look, we, we are under no illusions how disappointing that is and how disappointing that is as a football club, as the fans would be disappointed, we’re just as much as disappointed.
And yeah, look, we want to obviously stop that routine happening and but we can’t whinge about it or get down about it. We have to be grown men and face it and try and do better.
CN: What is the mood like at the moment? Obviously, the results were fine for a while and then slightly disappointing on Saturday. But big games coming up, big month coming up, is there confidence and fire in the group?
Yeah, of course, look, confidence is still high. We still believe we can beat anyone on our day and and we’re still in a really positive place in in the division, and there’s still a long, long way to go.
When I got promoted at Sunderland, we were outside the play-off places at this stage. We fell down quite a bit and managed to get back in and go up through the play-offs. So there’s still so much to play for. It’s not over just because we got beat at the weekend.
And look, we we want to go far in the Vertu Trophy as well because winning breeds confidence and and belief, and we want to go far in that tournament as well.
