ARCHIVED INTERVIEWS. No.21: NOTTS FOREST
Kick Off were invited to the City ground last week just before Nottingham's last Kick Off Cup game to interview manager Adam Pyke on the season so far, here's how the interview went.

Well, where do I start? 

Firstly, this season hasn’t gone how I hoped it would for one reason or another with poor results or injuries but to be honest, we haven’t been up to the task.

I feel that the squad I have are very talented and there should be no reason why we can’t progress next season, I am currently arranging deals to improve the squad and sell on players who are now surplus to requirements. 

By saying this, I didn’t feel at the start of the season that we could challenge for promotion as the squad didn’t exactly know where they stood when I took over. Since then, I have managed to restore confidence in the squad and they all want to pull on a Forest shirt every Saturday. 

This is what I like to see when I am a manager of a team with a great history, any player I bring in will have to want to play for the team otherwise they will be sold on, no matter who they are - no player is bigger than the team. 

For the rest of this season now, I am focusing on improving the team I have and maybe bringing in a player or two. This may prove difficult as I have been advised by the chairman that I have to sell before I buy so don’t expect that I will definitely bring in a couple of players before the end of the season. 

With regards to my recent purchase, Johnny Curtis, I have been monitoring this player very closely for a number of weeks and I think he can bring a lot of quality and experience to my team with his cultured left foot and superb Arial ability. I would like to thank the Manchester City boss JP Thompson for making this deal as swift as possible and I think I have got a bargain. 

Finally, I would like to thank all the Forest fans for their superb support and I promise I will give the fans something to really sing about, as I know they have been starved of success in recent years. 

Thank you, Adam Pyke.

ARCHIVED INTERVIEWS. No.22: SUNDERLAND
In the first interview in a couple of weeks, Sunderland boss Chirag Mehta agreed to met the Kick Off news crew and speak of how things at the Stadium of Light are going at the moment.

I would firstly like to say how much the fans of the club have helped us through our difficult time, when we were bottom they still turned out in their thousands 2 support us and everyone at the club is grateful for their commitment. 

After the disappointing run of results which put us bottom we started playing some superb football an lifted ourselves up the table. Also our cup form as been fantastic with us getting through a tough group containing Liverpool, spurs and Wimbledon and after beating Arsenal in the quarter finals I think we have a great chance of winning the Cup. 

Also on the transfer front I have recently brought the legend who is Des Walker and Patrick Suffo. I think I needed these players to back up the squad and add some class to our defense. its early days but I think both of these players will be vital squad members in the next few years and with des walker adding some badly needed experience to our defense we should be much stronger defensively than we have been this season. 

A disappointment this season has been the board not releasing the amount of funds that would have allowed me to add even more to the team but because our transfer funds are limited we have to sell players before we can buy in better players. 

But despite that the current squad has done brilliantly with Matt Holland and Gavin McCann in midfield, Titus Bramble and Michael Gray in defense and Thomas Sorensen in goal have all improved dramatically in the last few months because of the hard work and effort they have put in. 

So finally I just wanna add that the team is getting stronger all the time and I expect us to do very well at the end of the season. Also I would to thank Matt of Sheff Utd boss Matt for loaning me Heald while Sorensen is injured. Thank You Chirag

ARCHIVED INTERVIEWS. No.23: BIRMINGHAM
Kick Off have invited Birmingham City manager Owen Griffiths this weekend for an interview, read on to find out what he has to say. 

How do you think your season has gone so far ? 

At the start of the season I wasn't impressed with my squad and I think most people know that by all the transfers coming in and out of Sty Andrews. In fact only one player from that squad is still here at St Andrews today and that's I_Bennett, all credit to him. My season has been up and down to be honest. I lost my first 3 games then my squad started to take shape and then we had great runs in the Kick Off League and the Kick Off Cup. The past 3 weeks have been a bit dodgy, I must confess we have been inconsistent so far. 

So where do you hope to finish in the League ? 

4 weeks ago I would have said 2nd place but now I must face the fact of 3rd or 4th place and that isn't going to be easy with Barnsley, Man City and Sheffield Wednesday all having great squads. 

And what do you think of your squad? 

My team have beaten Leeds and Blackburn in the Cup so we must have some talent in our squad. I think with one or two signings I might go far next season. A_Nielsen, R_Vega, L_Hendrie and G_Doherty have all been outstanding performers this season. My strike force J_Defoe and E_Gudjohnsson have scored 26 goals together and they will work wonders next season I hope. C_Roussel my other striker has also put in some good performances from midfield and attack and scoring the odd important goal in crunch games. All my team have performed better than I hoped to be honest. 

Are you optimistic about next season ? 

With two teams dropping from the premiership its going to be hard for Birmingham City to challenge them for promotion next season. There are also teams in division 1 that are already very good and they will be challenging us too next season. So its going to be very hard for us and I wouldn't say I'm too optimistic about next season. O and Good luck to Matt Birch and Mike Overill in the premiership next season.

ARCHIVED INTERVIEWS. No.24: ARSENAL
An interview with the recently appointed new boss of the Arsenal Gunners, Gabe Frail.
 
So now that you've had a few games as the new boss at Highbury, what do you think about your Gunners squad?
 
GF- Well, to be quite honest, I didn't feel I got a fair impression of the team's abilities until this week with all the injuries and suspensions we have had to deal with.  I definitely see potentional, but I've also had a good look at the areas that needed attention.  With the influx of capital from the leagues new television deal, I feel we've filled the areas that I found to be lacking.
 
What areas did you feel were in the most dire need of attention?
 
GF- We were very thin on defense.  Not so much in depth but in talent.  Another area I felt uneasy with was our midfield.  Being a former midfielder myself, I am probably overcritical of that area.  The problem has not been the talent, however, it has been fielding the talent.  Partick Viera and Edu have both missed a few matches, as well as few other key players.  Fortunately I have found Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord to be great professionals at the head of my attack. 
 
With the aforementioned influx of capital, have you made any moves to improve the weaknesses you have seen in your club?
 
GF- Actually you could say that we rather scorched the transfer market today, and I hope the Highbury faithful will remain patient with some of the moves that I authorized.  I could go into great detail, but the key signing have been the young Brazillian striker Ronaldinho from PSG and the brilliant Polish keeper Jurek Dudek from Feyenoord.  The list is qute lengthy.  Two midfielders and a much needed defender were added to the mix.  All in all, I'm quite happy with our business today and I believe we stand as a much more formidable opponent than before.
 
Was anyone sacrificed to land this wealth of talent?
 
GF- Unfortunately, with everything there is give and take.  I was torn by the decision, but ultimately the great David Seaman departed Highbury to make room for Dudek.  Also dealt were Robert Pires, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Ray Parlour, Edu, Lee Dixon, Gilles Grimani, Nowankwo Kanu and Silvinho.  Although this may seem like we have gutted the Arsenal midfield, defense, and youth movement, the players signed today will soon make the Highbury faithful forget about what they've lost as they are wrapped up in our run at the Premiership title next season.
 
So is that your prediction for next season, the Premiership title?
 
GF-  Well I think that ideally every team believes it can have a run at the title at the beginning or the season.  If you don't, why bother.  But with our additions, I believe that Arsenal has a better shot at the title than most teams will have come next season, and I think you will see that fact play out as this season winds down.  I feel very confident that we have addressed all our concerns now, which should allow the newer squad members to fit into the team chemistry before next season. 
 
Well, Mr. Frail, thank you for your time and good luck with the upcoming campaign.
 
GF- No, thank you!
 
Despite his confidence, only time will tell if the infamous, transfer-happy antics of the new Arsenal boss will bear fruit.  But as this interviewer can attest, there is no lacking for enthusiam at Highbury."
ARCHIVED INTERVIEWS. No.25: LIVERPOOL
INTERVIEW WITH SIMON WALTON LIVERPOOL MANAGER!

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON LAST SEASON SIMON?

All in all I was very pleased with the season in general, I mean you cant complain at coming runners-up and lifting the Kick off cup in one season! The only downside was the last result of the league where we had a terrible result against Blackburn coinciding with the Man Utd result we were all very disappointed and I fully accepted the Timmy award! But the lads all redeemed themselves with a tremendous result against Man Utd in the cup which left us all on a high!

WHO WERE THE PLAYERS FROM LAST SEASON WHO IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST?

Obviously all the squad impressed me but there were a few players who did stand out in my eyes! I was very impressed with Sander who had a good solid season in goals and his future at the club is very secure. In defence Cafu was a great signing and proved what a class act he is and I am looking forward to him playing alongside new signing T_Bramble this season. S_Gerrard was my player of the season and has proved himself to be the best midfielder in the game receiving awards from both club and league. And finally A_Shevchenko proved he was worth the money spent on him by scoring 29 goals coming second only to Nistlerooy and being part of one of the most formidable attacks in
the country!

HAVE YOU ANY NEW SIGNINGS IN MIND AND IN WHAT POSITIONS?

I have a few names on my mind but I wont divulge them at this time but what I can say is that my main aim is to get a top quality midfielder! The signing at the end of last season of T_Bramble gave me the defence I wanted which left me all my transfer money to buy a great midfielder!

WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR THE COMING SEASON?

Obviously I want to go one better in the league and if I get the players I want I feel that we will achieve our ultimate goal! I feel that this season will be a lot harder though with all the money that was injected into the teams the standard will be a lot higher! Obviously Man Utd will be the main opposition but I also feel that Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle will be very tough games as they all have very strong squads and money to spend! I have no idea who will be relegated at the end of the season because there are no really bad squads in the league and the two promoted teams have adequate squads to stay in the division! I think the two relegated teams will bounce straight back but Man City will give them a good run for their money!

AND WHAT ABOUT THE CUP?

As the holders I feel that teams will be out to get us more than last season and games will be a lot tougher! With the new ruling coming in I feel that a lot of big teams may come unstuck and the league section of the cup could prove to be more important than the knockout stages if there is a group of all Premier sides. So we will be aiming to win every game from the off and will be hoping that some of the better teams don't qualify!

Last of all I would like to wish all the managers good luck for the coming season!

WELL THANK YOU TO SIMON AND GOOD LUCK TO HIM WHO I FEEL HAS A GREAT CHANCE IN FULFILLING HIS DREAMS AND GAINING THE DOUBLE