00:00First of all, just injury updates if you wouldn't mind on ahead of Monday.
00:06To be honest, everything's all right as it was.
00:10A couple of knocks and niggles a little bit coming out of the game that you'd expect.
00:16But Patrick's back, well he's not back, he's working his way to being back.
00:22I don't want to get ahead of that one, but he's certainly making good progress and back closer to training
00:29with us, which is positive.
00:31So that's good news.
00:33Lenny, will he be back for Monday?
00:36We're still working on that one, so there's a possibility, but at this stage it's not 100% sure.
00:44The cushion you've built to six now has naturally led people to look ahead to the summer, whether that be
00:49signings or your own future.
00:50But you've obviously done a fantastic job since arriving in January.
00:54How much would you love to take the role beyond the summer?
00:58I've said it many times, I enjoy being here, I enjoy the role I'm in.
01:05We've had some good results and we're in decent shape.
01:07I think there's a lot to go, we still want to keep improving.
01:13There's layers that we want to get to really.
01:16I'll see, I'll see.
01:20I keep saying the same things in front of you every week.
01:22There's only so much I can say in terms of that.
01:24But I've said it many times again, I enjoy being here, I love being here.
01:29It's a real privilege to be in the position I am, but thriving with the responsibility that we've got.
01:36When are you expecting clarity?
01:39I'm not sure, to be honest.
01:42And it's not, genuinely it's not something in terms of deadlines that I'm really chasing.
01:48I think it'll become clear when it's going to become clear.
01:54I'm here at the moment to help the team and help the club get results.
01:58At the moment we're doing all right, we're doing all right.
02:01We can keep pushing and getting better.
02:03So really that's genuinely all I'm focused on right now.
02:08Afternoon Michael, you talk about enjoying the role so far, I know there's a lot of football to go as
02:13well.
02:14But so far, what have you enjoyed most about your return so far, being a player for so long?
02:19Has any part of the job surprised you?
02:25I wouldn't necessarily think surprised.
02:28I've kind of been here for quite some time and seen quite a lot.
02:34Some ups and some downs.
02:36So your kind of experience helps you a lot in situations.
02:41So I wouldn't say I've been surprised by it.
02:45Working with the players is what I enjoy.
02:46You know, and that's a big kind of passion of helping them develop and ultimately getting results and getting results
02:55and sharing with the supporters.
02:56You know, when you get important wins and big wins and you have moments to enjoy them moments.
03:00It's what we're all here for right in the end.
03:02So you've got to make the most of them as well.
03:05Just on terms of the job long term, when it is brought up outside the walls of Carrington,
03:12sceptics kind of bring up Oli's time at the club in terms of comparisons to your term at the moment.
03:18Just wonder your thoughts on that comparison.
03:21But also, do you find maybe that discussion sometimes disrespectful to maybe your own development as a coach over the
03:27last few years,
03:28but also to a good friend in Oli as well?
03:31I don't think it's disrespectful.
03:33I think I've got the utmost respect for him.
03:34He's a close friend of mine.
03:36So I mean, I worked closely with him when he was here.
03:37So I was quite attached to that and I thought we did a lot of good things really and became
03:45close.
03:45And in the end, obviously, it changed and it went a different direction.
03:48That's football.
03:49I think comparisons, you could compare to all sorts of different situations and managers and coaches and teams over the
03:55years.
03:56It just depends on what you want to choose to compare.
03:58But it's irrelevant, really.
04:00It really is.
04:02And that's not a negative or a positive.
04:04It just doesn't really have any link at all.
04:07I think we're a different team now, irrespective of me, who's in charge.
04:14It's a different team.
04:15It's a different time.
04:16So I don't really think comparisons literally make any difference at all.
04:22Can I ask you about Bruno?
04:24He's many people's favourite to be player of the season.
04:27And in terms of his attacking stats, he's a mile ahead of pretty much everybody else in terms of goals
04:34created, certainly.
04:36So I'm just wondering in terms of if you can explain to us, since you've been in here, when it
04:41all seemed to change,
04:42exactly what you've facilitated or the club's facilitated to push him to those levels again.
04:52Certainly, personally, I think giving Bruno the platform to go and perform, like all the players,
04:57I think we're trying to create the structure and a team set up, really, to try and bring out the
05:03best of everyone within that.
05:05There's obviously limitations in terms of everyone's got to sacrifice a little bit for the good of the team.
05:13But for me, I like seeing Bruno in attacking positions with a little bit of freedom.
05:20He obviously, again, plays for the team and he's a big responsibility within that.
05:24And I thought he did that ever so well, especially on Saturday without the ball and the defensive work that
05:29he did.
05:30So he's got a big responsibility within that.
05:32But trusting him, trusting him, you know, he's a very good player.
05:37He sees things, he's creative, he's got a really good brain.
05:39And he's a big part of the group as well and a big influence.
05:42So a lot of it's in trust and trying to put him in a position where we think he can
05:46make the biggest difference, really.
05:47I was going to ask you about the various qualities that he's got.
05:50Is there any particular that have impressed you since you've come in, now that you've seen it at closer quarters
05:56and why?
05:58I've known Bruno a long time and worked with him when he was here, when he came to the club.
06:03So I wouldn't, again, it hasn't surprised me.
06:06I knew exactly what he could bring.
06:08I think over time you kind of evolve and experience helps and you can certainly see that he's grown as
06:15well in a real positive way.
06:17So he's just a big influence.
06:21He's had a big impact and he's playing ever so well at the moment.
06:23So we're delighted with that.
06:26Michael, obviously since Saturday, the seniors lost his job.
06:30I just wonder, as a young English coach, how you view management at the moment.
06:35I was working it out.
06:36The time that you were at Middlesbrough, there's 20 managers currently in work who have been in a job longer
06:42than you were at Middlesbrough before.
06:44And there's been 20 managerial appointments since you've been appointed here.
06:50I just wonder how you go about...
06:51You're going to do a bit of maths there, aren't you?
06:53Go on.
06:53I can't count it.
06:55I can't count it.
06:56Go on, there's a whole man who's left.
07:00How do you do that job?
07:02Because you don't get time to build anything in the way that you used to do.
07:09No, there's obviously two sides.
07:10I think there's definitely instant results in the next game being as important as ever.
07:17But there's definitely the responsibility and certainly our thinking as a coach and staff and as a club of what
07:24the future looks like and trying to make that better in the bigger picture.
07:31You can only be positive and look to what's achievable.
07:34That's how I am.
07:35I think there's all sorts of negatives or setbacks or what might or what ifs in the world anyway.
07:42I think I like to live my life in a positive way and what can be achieved every day, to
07:47be honest with you.
07:48So ultimately, at the end, it's some sort of success for us until now, at the end of the season
07:53and then see what happens after that.
07:54But I don't think about what could go wrong.
07:59We get balanced, obviously, because we've got to make decisions on that.
08:01But I don't live my life like that.
08:03It's more of a case of what can be achieved.
08:05I think that's a much nicer way and positive way to look at it.
08:08Does it not affect your thinking, though, when you know that in two months' time, if results don't go well,
08:15not you specifically, but a manager can be out for a job just over a very short space of time?
08:23Not massively.
08:24It doesn't date a day, my thinking, or how we work with the players, or how we set teams up,
08:29how I approach it, my mentality to working.
08:32And the role I'm in, it genuinely doesn't.
08:35I think it's the world we're living in some ways, but I really don't think like that.
08:42I just keep thinking about what we can achieve, what success looks like for me personally in some ways, but
08:49more about the group, the staff, the players in the club.
08:52I think that's the most important thing.
08:56It's such a big difference, half full, half empty.
08:58What do you focus on?
09:00Some people naturally focus on different things.
09:02For me, it's all about what we can achieve and how we're going to get there.
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