Stuart McCall interview

Lancashire Post

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00:00You enjoy being back in Stuart? I know you were so excited when you got the call to come.

00:04Yes, that's right. No, yes, I certainly am. I mean, listen, it's natural in any walk of life,

00:09but the more positive results, the better you feel about yourself and things. But,

00:13you know, we're coming back from Millwall on Saturday and I said, Paul, you know,

00:19hopefully, we've got to look forward now. Hopefully, Wednesday night we can have a

00:22smile on his face. And that's football, the ups and downs of it. So, I mean, enjoying it,

00:26absolutely loving it. It's a really good football club. We've got a good group of players,

00:30good group of staff. Everyone, you know, the training facility is excellent. So,

00:34yeah, it's positive. The support has been very good and got behind the team. But it does help

00:40when you can start putting some wins on the board and that's what we've got to aim to do.

00:44You know, we've had a reasonable start. You know, look at certain things. As I said,

00:49the two disappointing performances away from home and get a good point at Borough,

00:54they've shown what they can do recently. I'm sure they'll be in the top six.

00:58The Blackburn game, I think if we'd have kept, you know, 11 men on the park, we would have gone

01:02home to win it. Who knows? But that's what I would have thought because I thought we played well in

01:06that. And obviously, two good performances as well. So, it's all about putting building blocks

01:12in there. We're still getting to know the players and, yeah, but it's got to be onwards and upwards

01:17and we look forward to every challenge. How much do you learn about what you've got and

01:22maybe need in six weeks? Does it just go like that really quickly? No, no. Even certain things,

01:30some players are better playing coming from a wide area. They're better playing as a tenner.

01:34They're better playing as an eight. They're better playing as a back three. You know,

01:37all different things go through it when we're watching players and then you get a couple of

01:42suspensions or a couple of injuries and that changes. But the mindset has always got to be

01:46the same. You know, we're coming here to learn. We're learning every day. We've come to improve

01:51in this training and then ultimately, we've come to succeed and that's what we want from everyone.

01:56So, I think the values that me, myself and Paul have will never change and they're the same.

02:05Hard work. You've got to have a real desire about you if you want to succeed. You can't just do it,

02:11turn up one minute and, as they say, put the tap on and then when you go the next game away from

02:16home, be flat. That won't be accepted. We don't want that. If we're going to lose, there's a way

02:20to lose. You know, you've got to go from the, as I say, first whistle to the last whistle

02:26and regardless of the scoreline, if you're winning three or losing three, whatever the case may be.

02:31But yeah, listen, it's enjoyable to be back in football but certainly enjoyable to be back here

02:36because it's a good club. It's a good environment to be involved in. Does being back with Paul feel

02:42right? I think he said this was the right time for him to come back to work. Have you seen him back

02:47at his full self? Yeah, certainly sure. I think it was getting upstage. There's no doubt, I think

02:53straight after our departure from Sheffield United, we could have gone back in to a couple of clubs

02:57straight away before Christmas and it probably wasn't right then. But then it goes into the summer

03:02and when you're hoping to get back in, it doesn't happen. And then fortunately, you know, this job

03:08came up and it was one we were both desperate to get our teeth into and hopefully it can be a

03:13long-term project and we look to succeed. You spoke about environment a lot when you first came. Do

03:18you feel like you're slowly but surely creating that? Yeah and it's like everything even in life,

03:24you're going away and you're going along steadily and you think and then bang,

03:28no-all happens and that was just like, we've got to make sure that's out of character for us.

03:32We lost, not in one definite fact, we lost some disappointing goals and didn't perform

03:37particularly well. It was a matter of it, as we've talked about the high intensity running,

03:41how flat we seem to be. But all the best teams have them but you've got to make sure it's only

03:46once or twice a season that you're sort of off it. You will get beat, there's no doubt about that,

03:51of course, that's natural. But there's ways, as I said, to get beat and we've got to make sure

03:56if we're going down or losing a game, we go down fighting and scrapping and make sure it's

04:00difficult for the opponents. Are there any areas of the job you feel you really excel in? I'm sure

04:06you do a bit of everything but... Refereeing, five of sides, I don't think they like to say that,

04:11that's for sure. No, just an enthusiasm. I think you've got to come in, you know, I said when we

04:18first came to the club and said to the players, you know, regardless if it's wind, rain, whatever

04:24it is, you should want, the environment should be that you can't wait to get into training,

04:27you can't wait to come and learn and improve, as I keep saying, and succeed.

04:31And that's the case for me, I wake up every morning and think, brilliant, I'm in a job at

04:35a good club and I can't wait to get in here on a morning and, you know, get to work. It was the

04:40same like it's fun because when you have a defeat, like the Millwall game, you carry that with you,

04:46a defeat, until the next game. Whereas when you win a game, I went back to the hotel last night

04:51and I was looking at Burnley, you know, clips and highlights and that until about two o'clock

04:55in the morning. You forget, you're partly with the victory, then you're on to the next game,

04:59but when you have a loss, you seem to keep that with you. But, yeah, so, no, just an enthusiasm

05:06and energy and a desire, really, and that's, as I said, that's not just in the games, it's,

05:12you know, day to day. You know, the lads come in, want to train two or three hours a day,

05:16you know, it's the best time of their life, being a professional footballer, so come and enjoy it,

05:20even if you're going through difficult times on and off the park, this is your release valve,

05:24come in and do everything you can to succeed. The early kick-off aside, Saturday's set up

05:28well, isn't it? You've just won on Wednesday, gone into Turf Moor, you've got the Royleys up there.

05:33Yeah, that's right, yeah, listen, we said they're obviously second for a reason and they've,

05:38you know, got a good manager and a good, you know, squad of players, but I'm sure that

05:44performance of the night will give the lads a lift, but we do know we've got to improve as

05:48away performances, there's no doubt about that, and that's what we aim to do.

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