"I've been here six weeks now and I am all settled in after moving house into the area as well.  It was important to me to make that move, I try to do it at every club I go to.  I don't like to travel in every morning so we move to where the club is, the wife is up here in the North West with me and once everything is settled it makes me happier.

Pre-season has been good, its not been too tough but I've had a few problems with my back but it has been good.  We've done a lot of ball work and a lot of games, plus some very good games.  It's been a good pre-season for all of us.

I don't want to jinx anything, but we are playing some nice football and things are looking good.  It's very strange at the same time because there could be as many as eight or nine debuts on Saturday, but pre-season has been good and things are looking good.  Everyone has clicked together, we've done a lot of work on shape, its all gone very well and does look good.

Pre-season has been a lot different to the one's I've done at other clubs in the past.  A lot of managers go the other way and run you into the ground and you don't see a football for two and half weeks, but this time we had the balls out on the second day.  It was hard but when you've got a football at your feet, you do enjoy it that bit more.It was still tough but enjoyable.

The 24 hours with the army wasn't the best, but it was still a good laugh and it was just what we needed with team bonding.

I don't know an awful lot about Port Vale at the moment, but I fancy us to get the result.  Its important for us to get off to a good start.  The first five or six games are really important, but we are looking to make a good start.

We have to work ourselves into games, its all new and its the first game of the season.  It will be a lot different to the pre-season games.  We've just got to keep our heads and do what we have been doing in pre-season, hopefully it won't be a problem.

The mood in the dressing room is good and all the boys are enjoying it.  They are a good bunch of lads who like a laugh.  There is a lot of new faces in there but the banter is fantastic, you'd think we have been playing together for a couple of seasons, everyone has just sort of clicked, there's no outcasts in there, there's no clique's.  Its a really good camp.

We've got a touch start with three games in seven days, but its the same for everyone.  Everyone feels fit and raring to go.

The 4-0 win over Leeds in pre-season was a little sweet for me, it always is against one of your old clubs, but especially as they had a strong side out.  We were just better than them on the day, but it would have been nicer if was a cup game rather than a preseason game, but they all count, it was a good performance.'

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