Newry City manager Barry Gray spoke last night following his side’s 4-1 defeat at home to Ards. He discussed what has been going wrong of late and the pressure he is facing as manager.
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00:00Yep, very obviously another tough defeat. Just want to get the thoughts on tonight's game
00:04Yeah
00:06It's
00:08It's it's a hammer. It's a scoreline hammer
00:12started game very well
00:14to
00:15terrible goals to concede
00:17Changed the complexion of the game out the second half. We make a fist of it
00:22I'm fairly confident at that point that we can
00:25Do something in the remainder of the game when we go down to 10 men?
00:30Finishes the competition and leaves the players to left on the pitch at that point
00:35hugely exposed
00:36We often we puff and we make the best of what we can at that stage
00:41And inevitably at this level, you know when you go down to 10 men the scorelines not in your favor that
00:47You're not going to get out the other side with anything. So that's the way I panned out
00:54It's very much a case of what we've seen a lot now we don't make excuses
01:00Performances, we're lots of players short tonight
01:04And again the 10 months
01:06Scenarios frustrating for me as manager and it's not the finger point any individual player
01:12Collectively you can see the confidence is really low
01:15We're trying our damnedest in the background to try and pick that up, but we keep losing senior players
01:21We keep losing players to injury and unavailability tonight
01:25And
01:27Just when you need everyone and you need everyone to come together and be together and give it all in our pets on the pitch
01:35We're lacking in that
01:37Lots of young players tonight young Arsene Koeman 20 years old just turned 20 coming in the team tonight first time first time and
01:44Very difficult circumstances was outstanding and that's that's that's a bright spark for some, you know
01:51Having it right back. There's a coming on young players
01:55We really need to see our senior players there and see us manage through games and see can we be a wee bit more
02:01Stealing, but it's frustrating
02:04Fans tonight frustrated
02:07Naturally, but brilliant at the end still have the appetite to applaud largely
02:13Applaud players and staff and myself off the pitch in very tough circumstances tough as it is for us and the players
02:19it's it's even tougher when you're sitting on the other side with no controller to
02:24To do anything on the pitch. So
02:26We share the frustrations and we appreciate their frustrations
02:30And we know from their point of view that it looks tough and it feels tough
02:37But there's no other way out of this
02:39without just
02:41working as hard as we possibly can to get our senior players back fit and on the pitch and
02:46I'm trying to get a win because at this minute in time, it looks a long way off
02:50That's just the reality of it and the fans spectators will back me on that but
02:57We need to stay focused and players
02:59Particularly need to stay focused and concentrate in the next game and see can we can we break the mold?
03:05Look, it's probably a very broad question
03:07But over the run of form that you're on already put that down to you
03:11Can you put your finger on what exactly is going wrong? Yeah, listen, we've was 13 new players brought in the summer
03:17To one reason or another a lot of them players came from levels
03:22of inexperience younger players
03:25players that have never played senior football before and
03:28Coupled with our own senior players that are in the squad
03:32We haven't had our seniors players available to all of you available for one single game this season so far
03:38Again, these aren't excuses, but they're they're factors that we need to consider
03:44We're relying on a lot of them young and inexperienced players
03:48To perform like experienced players and not having enough experienced players around them
03:53And we know in football when the mood goes low. We started the season relatively well
03:59Results didn't go away
04:00But performance levels was we're we're quite high and quite good and then as confidence starts to drop and that's very much related
04:08to
04:10Availability of the players have been here before and the fact that results go against us
04:14So every team every club
04:16Then aren't winning games we can make out go through the same factors and we're no different than that
04:20and the only way out the other side is
04:24To stay together and stay focused and and keep trying to root towards a one direction
04:29Look, it's just an uncomfortable question, but you're not naive
04:32You know how football works is there pressure sort of mounting on on yourself and the other coaches? Of course there is
04:39My job is to deliver results
04:42And to push Newry back to Premiership or to challenge to go back to Premiership next year that hasn't gone away
04:49We're ten games in now
04:51We're sitting at the wrong side of the table
04:54Performance levels have dropped so and listen
04:59my best wishes
05:00if the Newry board decide that I'm the man to continue with and move forward and I hope to do that because I think
05:07me and the rest of staff have a lot to offer moving forward, but
05:12It's what's best for Newry and I'm I don't make decisions and what's best for Newry as a club just for us as a team
05:18so
05:21The rubbish rumours the players inside are massively behind me as a manager
05:25I can't fault them for that not in any way shape or form
05:29And the board and the committee here and and the spectators largely behind the scenes have been supportive
05:37I know we've had our
05:38moments and our groans and our grunts and I
05:42Appreciate that it's a results-based game
05:45And if the club decide that the best course of action is to change the manager, then I won't challenge that
05:51I'm very privileged to be Newry manager and I'll continue to be privileged to be Newry manager and I'll work my damnedest
05:58regardless of whether we have one minute left here or whether it's the rest of the season and
06:05And that's not a defeatist attitude
06:08Like you say it's a statement of fact
06:10I know the situation of senior football have been here before and I know that when results don't go your way
06:16The first person that gets looked at is the manager and unfortunately for me. I'm in that hot seat