Today is certainly 'welcome to Deepdale' for the staff and myself, we couldn't ask for a bigger first home game.
Games like these are why you choose to be a footballer. You don't often get the chance to play against world class players, and there's no doubting that some of them are world class players. It's a challenge you have to grab with both hands and you have to enjoy it. These opportunities don't come along often. We have to respect them for who they are, but we can't go out there and fear them too much, we have to play our own game - that is important. We will respect them, but we have to make sure we are at it and we have to play to our maximum.
This game is the inspiration for why we want to get out of this league. Today we have a full house, we are on the television and you have it all in front of you. This is the challenge, this is where we want to get to; we want these games every week and that is the inspiration we will use to hopefully kick us to the position we want to be in. It has to be the aim for everyone. We want to be in the Premiership. It isn't going to be easy, the Championship is a really hard league to get out of, but from what I have seen at the training ground and if we can freshen it up a little bit, I know it is a really exciting challenge for me, because this is a really good football club.
It is a great game for the Club; it is a great game for you, the fans, and I am really looking forward to it. It is a great game for the players. If you don't look forward to these sort of games then you shouldn't be playing. Everyone should be chomping at the bit to get going. We know what Chelsea are all about, we know it is going to be a difficult game. Since Carlo Ancelotti and Ray Wilkins have gone there, they have done very well, but you only have to look at Reading beating Liverpool and Leeds beating Man United and use them as examples to show there are some shocks.
It's been two and a half weeks since I became manager now and you need time to adjust and to adapt to different people, but it is going well. The week leading up to the Bristol game was positive. We managed to get a bit of time at Carrington and although we didn't get as much time on the grass as we would have liked, it went really well. It was really positive before the game, the lads were really buoyant and enjoying the training, but, as everyone saw, to go two nil down after ten minutes was a kick in the teeth. I thought we played some good football after the goals for 25 minutes, but the third goal killed the game. There were positives; we had 17 crosses and 16 shots at goal, but we've been done by three set pieces, which is unlike us really, considering the size we have in the team. It was a disappointing result and we can't get away from that and whether you've been in a day or a week, you want to win.
We want to win every game, but the game certainly helped me learn more about the players. Sometimes things can be camouflaged with a victory, but on a Saturday when you are watching a game, in the cold light of day, your opinions are confirmed to you. That is the bread and butter and where you can make your decisions and Saturday clarified to me some things and there are areas we may have to freshen up.
This week has been the first chance to get out on the pitches at Springfields - it is brilliant to be training on the grass. We have done a lot of work this week and it has been good. The pitches are excellent; the groundmsan has looked after them, even though we've had a lot of rain and the weather has been like it has, so we have had a good week.
The staff who have come in with me have settled in well with the players as well. I know what they are all about; I know what work ethic they bring to the table and the quality of work they do. David Unsworth has also come into it and he is first team coach, so he is an equally important part of the set up, along with the youth people and physios.
It is a combined effort, it is never about me, or you or us, it is a team effort and that includes you the supporters. You were great on Saturday at Bristol. I applauded you before and after the game and you are going to play a big big part in things and it important you back us. I am sure you will, because when any new manager comes into a club there are changes, but the bottom line is that you want to see effort, commitment, and winning football and that is what you will be getting - you will get the effort and commitment and let's hope we win the games.
This is the sort of game where we hope we can put on a performance and everybody here will come back again. People want to see players who want to sweat for the shirt, you want to see them run around and if you see everyone giving plenty of effort then you will no doubt give everyone a chance and that's what I want to see. When I put a team out they have to give me 100 per cent and I know they will. They didn't stop battling at Bristol. They kept going, even though we conceded some bad goals, they kept going and on another day we could have come in level and got something out of the game.
I would like to congratulate Conor McLaughlin on his first professional contract. Conor has been very impressive in training, he has trained with us all week, as has Adam Barton and Danny Mayor. We have some good young players. We stuck Danny on against Bristol and if they are good enough, age is irrelevant. You have to look after the young players. If you chuck them in too early you can harm their careers, so you have to develop them in the right way. You have to know when to put them in, but the lads have trained very very well and are part of the squad.
Finally, as I finished these notes, the youth team have beaten Sunderland in the FA Youth Cup. It was absolutely fantastic. The whole lot of them deserve credit, the coaches, staff, but mainly the players because they were just superb.
As ever, be loud and be proud to be Preston North End.
