The manager ahead of the Accrington game
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us ahead of the season opener against Accrington Stanley at his Friday press conference.He said: "Things have been much more intense this week because it's a game we all want to win tomorrow.
"Over the whole period I've been very pleased with a lot of things and the only down side has been one or two niggling injuries. They are starting to resolve themselves now and there are only Paddy Madden and Rory Loy who will be missing for a little bit longer.
"We've found out a lot about the group and they look in decent shape again. We're now looking for a flying start so we can lift the optimism around the place and push on even further.
"The thing with the cup competitions this season is that they are going to play a significant importance in terms of bringing revenue in. We are where we are in terms of what we have and the key areas of the club for bringing money in are your league performances, your cup runs, your player sales and your commercial performance. We all know how tough things are out there at the moment and we know what we need to do to help to make all the figures add up.
"Accrington will feel the same way. I know Paul Cook really well and he's a decent football person. I've known him for a lot of years and we bumped into each other last week, ahead of his game against St Mirren, where we had a long chat about different things we were doing.
"He's really proud of what he's achieved at Accrington so far and he's faced a lot of obstacles in much the same way as we have. There are a lot of things he's doing behind the scenes to try and make the football club work in the right way and he's as proud of that as we are of how we've done what we've done here.
"After tomorrow I wish him all the luck in the world because it's a difficult job he has there. He plays the game the right way and his team will play with energy and determination. They'll try and pass the ball and they'll try and make life difficult for us, and I think this will be a good game.
"Our home record last season after the Hartlepool defeat was phenomenal and that tells you that there is bundles of stuff going right at the club. There are always things to improve but if we can do that again this season then we'll be right up there and fighting in amongst it once more ... and that's exactly where we want to be."
United Player subscribers can see a video interview with Greg Abbott later today. To find out more about United Player, and to subscribe, click HERE.
