Below are selected highlights from Wednesday morning’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.
Louis Reynolds (BBC Radio Leeds): What can you learn from Exeter a few days on?
Well, certainly we’ve got a way, I think, of making it easier for ourselves to take maximum points in that game, and that is by having more control and being the version of ourselves that we’ve shown many times this season, and being better with the football than what we were in the second half.
And then, of course, there also comes a point where, when you get late in the game where we have to shut the door, and it has to be what it has to be, and the result has to stay as it is. Probably we didn’t quite change into that mindset, I don’t think, and again, I take my share of the responsibility in that as well.
So again, myself, the group — we get to the bottom of that, we understand where we can all be better, and we look to apply those lessons.
LR: It’s going to be a big month, isn’t it? I mean, it started with the big game away at Lincoln, and Stockport, Bradford, Luton, Peterborough who are in good form…how do you look ahead to the rest of this month?
Just really excited. It’s a great month for us in terms of the sort of development we’ve had over the recent weeks and making sure we’ve fixed some of the things we wanted to fix. The group have done great on that, and I’m so pleased with how they’ve taken a lot of that information on and applied it in-game, so I’m excited to see that being really challenged now in big games away from home on a couple of occasions.
LR: It’s January, there will be questions about the transfer window. Is there any update you can tell us in terms of incomings? Is there anything going on behind the scenes at all?
Nothing quite yet, no. We’re just monitoring everything right now. We’re in a situation where I think, if I’m being really honest, I don’t think the squad will look exactly the same at the end of January to how it looks right now today, and if I was also being really honest, could I predict who, what, where and when? The answer would be no.
So it would really be pointless to me, for me to sit here and say this has happened, because there isn’t anything in the offing right now, at this moment in time.
We’re aware that everybody wants to play, so that will throw up things naturally. Of course, we’re aware that we might be an attractive option for people as well, so that might throw things up. And we’re also aware that we’re striving really hard to get to where we want to go. So if we feel like there’s something that could help us, I’m certain we’ve got a motivated football club and owner that would push to try and give us that opportunity. So, yeah, we have to be ready to adapt and move and change as and when necessary.
LR: Forgive the persistent question from myself and my colleagues, has anything changed regarding Leo [Castledine]?
I forgive you, don’t worry!
The answer is, all of that is external to my control, so I don’t put a great deal of stress or emotion into that. What I do put my stress and energy into is working with everybody, of course Leo included, helping him, making sure that he retains his importance to the team, and that’s how I’ll continue to play it.
LR: What about Owen [Goodman]’s situation? Because, obviously, you’ve been a goalkeeper yourself. He’s come here to play. Some people are talking, maybe he could return to Crystal Palace. What’s your view on that?
Yeah, it’s going to be tough. I think it’s tough for Owen, because I love him and brought him in because our feeling is that he’s going to have a tremendous career and hope, of course, as well, that he’ll be incredibly important for what we’re trying to do this year now.
Right now, I’ve got to say, I’ve been delighted with Lee [Nicholls], delighted, so that’s going to put Owen in a situation where he’s going to be frustrated and perhaps looking at ‘how can I affect my situation?’ — because you have to be selfish about your own career and situation.
Me and Owen are in constant conversation, in all honesty, on how that looks and how that will play out, and I’ve got to be fair to Owen, and I’ve also got to be right by what’s right for us as a football club.
So again, it probably falls into that category of a situation that I’m alive to and ready to react if and when necessary.
RL: Team news wise, is everyone who was involved in Exeter fit to play? Can you welcome anyone back for the weekend?
Yeah, it’s going to be difficult for Sean Roughan.
Other than that, I think we’re in a good place. We’re pushing with one or two as well. So we’re pushing with Mickel Miller, Marcus McGuane, we’re pushing with Josh Feeney, so obviously that was pleasing. So yeah, we’re in a decent place.
Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): Is Joe Low any closer?
Yeah, that’ll be right to the wire, I think, that one.
SC: We’ve not seen Joe Taylor or Ruben Roosken in your squad recently. What do they need to do to get back into your thoughts at the moment?
Ruben is another one having really good conversations — open, honest — and I think you’ve seen how much Ruben’s played for me across the course of this season. As with everybody, it’s a fight and a scrap, and there’s no guarantees.
But for everybody that shows great application and work and dedication and wants to do the things that we think will help him and the team, whoever that may be, there’s always opportunity. So for Ruben, no stress, he’s played a lot and will continue to play.
For Joe, it can be frustrating if you’ve got that chain above you of one, two and three and all playing in that position, and perhaps one or two playing really well in that position. So it can be really frustrating.
Joe, again, has contributed significantly over the course of the first six months while I’ve been at the football club.
I’m also aware that every situation is different, every context is different. So again, despite my own wishes, I have to be alive and fair and across what might be different from one individual to the next.
Joe’s situation might be different to Ruben’s, for example, and again, we have to treat them specifically. We have to treat them like: ‘right, OK, what’s right for Joe in this moment’, and what’s right for Joe from all angles — for the football club, for his development, for us trying to achieve our goals.
We have to weigh all those things up, and we will continue to do that across the course of January. I don’t have any worries about Joe and him being in a position to contribute, I really don’t, because he’s shown us that he can.
SC: Is there a possibility he (Taylor) might leave during this transfer window?
I don’t know. I don’t know. I really don’t.
Like I said, I think there’s probably several obvious ones where you can look at and say ‘well, if he’s not playing, I don’t know how that situation continues to be as it is’.
So that’s an obvious one, and there’s maybe one or two others like that, where you can look at and go, ‘well, that probably doesn’t work for the club or the player or the manager or anybody if that one’s not not going in the right direction’.
So again, I’ll try to look at all of those ones individually as and when.
