 Brought to you by DIS, keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions. Come on, City! Mark, good to meet you. Good to chat with you for the first time. Can I start by asking you how the last 24 hours have been for you? What have you made of it all? As you know, obviously a little bit crazy for me and Conor. We've had to, obviously, given the news, we just had to get straight into planning and having a look at the opposition and the best way we can help this group of players get a result at Crawley. What was your reaction to the initial news of Stuart Sacking? Obviously disappointed. He's a legend at a club. The things that he's done for the club has been fantastic. It was disappointing news for everybody, the players, the staff, because he's made an impact on everybody. It was just a disappointing news for us all and, obviously, I've given the opportunity to try and prepare these lads for Crawley. Were you surprised to get the call? A little bit, yes. I didn't think it was coming, to be honest. When I got the call, it was a surprise, but obviously I've got a job to do. I'm happy to come into this role until another manager's in place. How has that been for you, trying to prepare for a game so quickly and do your homework on the opposition? Yes, it was difficult. It was a long day yesterday in regards to watching and taking what we need, in regards to what's right in terms of preparation, how much we need to watch of different games. Because Crawley looked to play different shapes. We had to work together, use the staff around me to give ourselves, again, the best opportunity to prepare these players for tomorrow's game. Naturally, you'll have kept an eye on how things have been going in the senior side for the majority of this season. What's been your take on how things have been, and now you've had a bit of time to work with them as well? Yes, some good footballers. They play some really good stuff and the gaffer, obviously, Stuart was keen on the style of play, on getting on the ball because they've got the footballers. For my transition from the youth team to the first team, it was quite easy in regards to the style of play that was being played. There's some good players in the building, it's just obviously the performances haven't gone the right way. Ultimately, that's why Stuart moved on. It's up to us now just to try and motivate these players and bring some confidence into them to perform tomorrow night. Is that being your main priority, more than anything, really, just to try and instill some confidence and some positivity in what is quite a difficult situation? Obviously, the players were upset as well of the gaffer leaving. It's up to me and Conor and the staff in the building to pick them back up and motivate them and making sure that they're in the right frame of mind to perform. The good professionals at this club, so I'm sure they will be prepared and be focused and ready for tomorrow. How has it been with them this morning? What's it been like and have you spoken much about about the situation? No, just straight into football analysis on Crawley, from delivers from loads of staff and then straight on the training pitch and we're leaving in a couple of hours. It's just been straight football for me and the players. From a footballing perspective, will you keep things simple? Will you persist with the formation and the system that Stuart and Kenny have been playing or will you look to try and change things up? You can't change too much but potentially there might be changes but let you say it's just more about the mindset of the players that I'm looking at this moment in time. Numbers wise, Mark, how are you fixed up? Are you able to welcome anyone back? I know that there was some hope that Gareth Evans and maybe Billy Clark will be back in time. Obviously, no back fit, so he'll be involved in the squad. Apart from that, no, there won't be anybody else returning to the team. I asked the same question to Leah who we've just spoken to but what performance will you ask of the players given the current situation? What do you want to see from them tomorrow night? Obviously, what the fans want to see as well. We want to be competitive. We've got to show that desire to compete and win our individual jewels and earn the right to play. That's what they've done in a lot of games but we've got to see that more than ever because Crawley's style of play and we've got to be ready for that. We've got to be ready to compete and then we can get the ball down and look to play from that but ultimately we've got to compete and show it showing as much kind of desire and commitment to which the fans want to see and that's ultimately what first thing we'll be looking for in the squad. Finally, from me, Mark, obviously there's a lot of talk about who the next person will be. The club have said in a statement that they're welcoming applications for the vacant position. Are you putting your name into the hat? No, no. Ultimately, my job is hopefully trying to get a result at Crawley and then who knows from there but I'm just focusing on one game at a time. Thanks for your time, Mark. Good to chat with you. Thank you. Obviously, our football teams are a unit and there's a continuation from all of the different areas of it but how much did you actually know about the first team? Have you seen the play recently? Yeah, I've been to the games after the youth team games. A lot of the players have been here a season or two so I know the players and I've seen as many games as I can if it didn't clash with the youth team games. I know the squad, I know the strengths and the witnesses and the players so it was an easy transition in terms of knowing what I'm going to get from these players. Have you spoken to Stuart or Kenny since the decisions were made and you were put in charge for tomorrow night? I haven't known at this moment in time. I will do but it's just been such a quick transition that I had to focus on the game and I'm obviously preparing the players. How much are you having to rely on the players, particularly the senior ones? Yeah, like any squad, I think the senior players are important so the people like Novak, Rich or Donald, they're going to be important in that changing room before the game, half time on the pitch to obviously drive them standards and make sure that we're competitive in the game tomorrow. Cheers for that. Good luck tomorrow. Thank you. You were saying, Mark, about obviously the mental side of it being so big. I mean, having a different voice on the training ground this morning, even obviously someone they know very well, do you think that might help? It just sort of breaks things up a little bit? I think for some players, yeah, I think kind of a new voice but obviously however the new manager is going to be, they've got to perform so yeah, I think a couple of them could have been refreshed in a way that something different. I don't think I'd be exactly the same as the gaffer so yeah, I think it would be new for a few players and it looked like today that the players enjoyed the session and took everything on board. So I think people underplay the, as you say, the mental side of it, don't they? You can get in a rut where you're losing and it becomes sort of, you can get into your head, don't it, a little bit? Yeah, definitely, so it's, you know, like I said, it's that mental side and making sure that they are confident going into the game and to know what the rules are, both in and out of possession. So, you know, ultimately that's my job and that's what I'm going to try to achieve before the game, preparing the best I can do. Yeah, obviously it's a great opportunity for yourself but the circumstances always make it very difficult on the end and when you look at that league table it's pretty nasty reading at the moment, doesn't it? It does, but I can only focus on what's next and that's preparing for Crawley and hopefully performing, that's the key thing, giving it a good performance and then hopefully we get a result. So we're not going there to obviously sit back, we want to be competitive, we want to try and get a result. Like Stuart was saying after the game and I think we all see that one of the big issues this season is about, you know, the couple of teams being conceding goals, obviously you're up against the Crawley team who score quite a lot. I mean, that presumably is one of the biggest challenges, trying to keep them quiet while trying to get something, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. You know, the game on Saturday, they've created a lot of chances, so you know, I think we're going to create chances tomorrow, so it's just important that we've got our structure right and you know, we're well concentrated and ready for what Crawley throw at us and we are prepared for it, so yeah. And then you've got a lot of players there that need to get back in the supporters good books as well, haven't you? You know, there's a lot of frustration out there at the moment. Yeah, there is, you know, like I said from the start, it's about performances and the players have got to perform, you know, as a team and individually, you know, and ensure that commitment and desire and I'm sure they will tomorrow. And very quickly on the team news, Bryce Hasana, what was that with him at the weekend? If you're going for a scan, so we'll obviously find out a little bit more on that, so I'm not, I want to say something like that, that's kind of, you know, telling you a lie, so you know, I need to find out from the physios in regards to that. But you're not expecting him to be involved tomorrow night? No. Cheers Mark, best of luck anyway. Thank you, Han. Can I just ask Mark, obviously the quick turnarounds are a bit of a nightmare for you in terms of doing all the preparation, but do you think for the players, the fact that they haven't really had time to stop and think about it and dwell on it, might actually be a good thing? Yeah, I think, I don't think obviously the big thing is obviously the manager change, but in terms of their preparation, you know, it's exactly the same, they knew that this game were coming up and yeah, the players' preparations stayed the same, so yeah, I don't think obviously they were disappointed this morning when they heard the news yesterday, so well, like you say, they've got a job to do and that's to perform tomorrow. And obviously Simon talked a lot there about the mental side of it, given the quality in that squad, man for man, do you think if you can get the right mental side, you know, with all the preparation bits around it, there's no reason why the team can't get back up the table? Yeah, 100%, you know, there's a lot of quality like you said, there's a lot of quality in this club, so it's just finding that balance of keep attacking, keep being positive, but also just making sure we cut out any errors and we've got that structure as much as possible behind the ball. And obviously it's a while to go now, but how do you think you'll be feeling okay, do you think you'll be nervous? I know, I don't show too much nerves, so no, I'll be fine and I don't want to show it, I wouldn't show any nerves anywhere to the players, but no, I'm confident in the preparation for, you know, with the players, so you know, they've been brought to you by DIS, keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions. Come on, City!