Liam Manning
Katherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds): Just to check on some team news, first of all, for tomorrow, you talked about Sean Roughan and Jack Whatmough getting a bit closer — are they in contention, potentially?
For Jack it’s a little bit early. Sean and [Antony] Evans are two that are in contention to be involved in slightly different capacities with where they’re at and what stages and how long they’ve obviously been out on back training. So they’re two that come back into contention.
KH: And am I right in thinking still too soon for Ryan Hardie?
Too soon, but he was on the grass this morning doing some good work. He’s progressing well, to be fair — it was nice to see him out striking a few balls this morning.
KH: Alfie May is not suspended for the Trophy. Do you see this as an opportunity to get him some minutes and keep him ticking over until he’s available for League One again?
Yeah, naturally, I think it makes sense, obviously, given the spread of the ban and how that looks.
It’s no secret that it’s quite likely he’ll play, to be honest. So yeah, we can keep him in ticking over which, which helps when you’re naturally going to miss a few weeks, to be able to put a good level game in. Obviously, it will definitely benefit him, and obviously keep him in a better spot when he’s able to return.
KH: Do you see the Doncaster game then as an opportunity to give minutes to players who’ve not had the opportunity to feature?
I think the first thing to probably put out there is that we want to win. I think that whatever team we decide, it will be to win the game. You create a culture, and anything I do, I want to win, whether it be with my seven year old son at home, whether it be a pre-season game, whether it be a league match — for me, that you can’t turn that on and off.
So it’s something that we have to have in our culture, where we’re hungry to win, and hungry to step up and progress in this competition. Then it’s picking a team that I think is able to do that.
With the depth we’ve got, with the competition, with I think what we’ve seen in the four games we’ve done so far in changing personnel with subs coming on and having an impact…we have got some depth. We’ve got some people that have given me some good headaches during games with the impact they’ve had coming off the bench, or people that have started.
So, yes, one of those where we’ll try and find the right blend and balance, and we’re fortunate in that position where we can make some changes and still maintain strength.
KH: Will Alves is somebody who’s not had much of an opportunity under your stewardship as yet. What does he need to be doing more of to be pushing for an opportunity back in the first team?
I’ve sat with Will and had a chat around this situation.
He’s someone I really like. I think he’s been quite unfortunate, if you look at the flow and the context of the games — the first two were red cards, and the profile of player Will is, we’ve obviously gone for a Lasse in midfield because of the defensive qualities when you’re down to 10 men.
So he’s definitely been a little bit of a victim of our first four games, in terms of what we’ve needed in-game to see a game out or to get it over the line.
He’s trained really well, his attitude has been fantastic, he will get opportunities. He’s someone that, let’s be really clear, I do like, and I think is someone that will have impact between now and the end of the season, and he’s just got to be ready when that opportunity arises.
KH: It would be easy to sulk, wouldn’t it, as a young player, you’re desperate to get your opportunity. But from what you’ve said there, that doesn’t sound like how he’s reacted to it at all.
Definitely not, and that’s something that we can’t allow in our culture. Nobody, nobody will ever be bigger than the team. For me, we can’t allow that. We won’t have it in terms of disappointments.
Disappointment’s OK, because you want people that care [if they’re not playing], but then ultimately, when you then train on a Friday, your job is to get your teammates ready for the Saturday, so you can’t sulk because you’ll be letting the people around you down.
We’re only as strong as our weakest link. It’s a bit of a cliche, but very true. So I think it’s really important, and Will epitomises [what we want] in terms of how he’s gone about it: he’s got his head down worked.
Cam Ashia, again, you see, obviously comes on [and scores against Blackpool], hadn’t featured in the first three, and things change quickly for him.
All the lads can control is being ready, and by not reacting and not training and not doing things in the right way, that gets you further from the team. Trust me, if anyone doesn’t do it properly, they won’t be involved.
Mickel Miller
KH: The league is set aside for the time being, because it’s Vertu Trophy tomorrow night, and that’s something that you’ve had great previous experience with —you’ve been all the way to Wembley twice with both Rotherham and with Plymouth.
Now that we’re at the quarter finals, do you sense a slight shift in emphasis with this competition, where it starts to get a little bit more serious as that possibility of going to Wembley again comes a little bit closer?
Oh, definitely. I always said that this, once you start off in this cup and it’s at the group stages, everyone thinks, ‘ah, it’s just the Papa John’s Trophy’, or whatever.
But as soon as you get to the quarters and you know you’re like, two games away from Wembley, it all changes. Everything shifts.
We’re in it and it’s a great opportunity to go and do something again this season, along with the league. It could turn a good season into a great season, so it’s exciting.
KH: You can’t overlook an opportunity to play at Wembley, an opportunity to lift a trophy. There’s not many players that get that opportunity, are there? So you can’t dismiss it.
No, 100%. I just think that being a player myself and being around loads of players, you see how many players actually go through their careers and don’t actually win anything, and obviously me actually winning something, I’m so grateful.
I see this opportunity that we have as players at Huddersfield, it’s a cracking opportunity to go out there and put our mark down at Huddersfield, and give the fans something, give ourselves something, our families — everyone that’s supporting us and been rooting for us. So like I said, it’s a great opportunity to go and do something.
KH: And success breeds success, so progress in this trophy can only be a good thing for feeding into the rest of the league campaign, can’t it?
No, exactly that. It’s just about building momentum. So the more we keep winning, the more we do well in the cup, we go and win the cup that this carries on to into the league. So it’s just yeah, it’s about building.
SC: You’ve talked about that spirit and how hard it is to come back from adversity…you’ve had significant adversity in all four games under the new gaffer. Does that come from the new gaffer? Is it that replacing Lee [Grant] was that just a bit of a spur for the players? Is it a bit of everything?
I think it’s hard to pinpoint. Like, you say ‘is it the change of gaffer’ and stuff like that…I don’t really want to get too much into that, but all I know is that it’s just that anywhere, when new people come in, everyone has to basically prove themselves again.
So the new gaffer coming in, he’s great tactically, he gives us loads of information, drives the standards high. I’m not saying Lee didn’t do that, he did that as well, but I just think it’s that other side now that everyone is literally playing for their shirt again, everyone needs to prove themselves to someone again. So it naturally raises everyone’s game.
SC: Just going back to that game at the weekend…I don’t want to take any credit at all away from the comeback, because I think maybe a few weeks ago, you don’t get back into that one. But is there a bit of a sense, when you reflect on it, that you shouldn’t have been two goals down? What’s the meetings been like with the gaffer in the days since?
I think we look at it from a point of view that it was basically a good thing out of a bad situation.
Of course we’re not happy with the point. We’re at home, we’re literally hard to beat at home, and it’s our stomping grounds, so no one should be able to come here and score two goals that they did.
But you know, being in that situation, getting a point from no points, that’s how we’re looking at it, and it’s just about sticking out the positives and rather than negatives.
We’ve sat down and we’ve gone through the goals and stuff like that, and the gaffer has made it clear. He speaks to us collectively, points out individuals if they need to be pointed out, and we’ve gone over that, and we’ll learn from it and move forward.
