Graham Kavanagh: I'll draw on Giggs and Neville experience

January 28, 2014
Posted by Steven Tan | Source from newsandstar.co.uk
Boss Graham Kavanagh says he’ll use the experience of working alongside Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville on his coaching course to inspire Carlisle United’s escape from relegation.
 
Kavanagh is working towards his UEFA Pro Licence – the top coaching qualification in Europe – and spent three days of last week in a lecture theatre and on a training pitch with some of football’s biggest names.
 
The Blues manager now plans to put what he learned into practice and attempt to guide his side away from the League One drop zone.
 
Carlisle go into tomorrow night’s crucial home clash with MK Dons sitting just one point above the bottom four, and aiming to restore credibility among their own fans after a 4-2 defeat at home to Colchester nine days ago.
 
Kavanagh said: “It was great to get away and bounce ideas around with other people.
 
“They give you their experiences and what they’ve done, and there were elements of the course like the leadership part that I’m definitely going to use.
 
“It was a very good three days and I probably needed to be away. It gave me time to think and mix in a different environment and come up with some solutions that will benefit us going forward.”
 
United’s run of five defeats in six games has left them unable to climb out of trouble near the bottom of the League One table, leaving their manager desperately searching for the winning formula.
 
But Kavanagh remains confident his side can escape relegation, and denies tomorrow night’s game has taken on extra significance because of Carlisle’s perilous position in the table.
 
“We are in a relegation battle, there’s no two ways about it, but we are more than capable of getting out of it,” he said.
 
“The thing that I have to stay in touch with and remind myself of is that we are not in the bottom three. We are a point clear and with a game in hand.
 
“As negative as I was after the Colchester game, there was a realisation that we are where we are for a reason.
 
“I haven’t got a magic formula. I know when I took over we had four or five fantastic results, but I knew we were always going to plateau. The fans have been fantastic, although there were one or two rumblings after the last game, which I understand. It is going to be a tough game against MK Dons as they are a good side with good players, but it is a game where we are capable of getting results.
 
“I’ve set the lads a target over the next 20 games that is going to hopefully keep us in the league.
 
“I haven’t spoken to the players about the importance of a win. I haven’t put anymore pressure on the players than they haven’t put on themselves. I think it’s important.”
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