Keith Millen has both short-term and long-term aims since arriving at Carlisle United earlier this week.
The immediate goal is looking at what the team can do for the next 10 games, and then see where that takes them and plan accordingly.
The January transfer window is clearly going to be important and Millen has already had initial conversations about using it.
He said: “I’ve had initial conversations about the January window and there will be money there, but I don’t spend owners’ money if I don’t have to.
“Recruitment is so important at any level, you’re almost gauged how good you are on your recruitment.
“I’ve obviously got a lot of connections in the game so we’ll see if I can pull a few favours, but we’ll have to wait and see.
“I need to get to know the players individually over the next few weeks. I need that relationship with them to help me get the best out of them on the pitch and off it.
“They need to trust me and understand that if I’m telling them that something isn’t good enough it’s for the right reasons, it’s never personal. I’ve had it in my career where it gets a little bit personal, and you can’t do that.
“It takes time to build those relationships. I can only start 11 players on Saturday so there will probably be another 11 who will be disappointed. That’s why I need to try and get to know the squad very quickly.
“We’ve got the FA Cup then the Morecambe game in the trophy coming up which might give me an opportunity to have a look at the majority of the squad.”
Millen also has clear guidelines on how he can attract better players through the loan system.
He said: “I want to get a reputation here of playing attractive, attacking football, because that will help to persuade clubs to let us have their better players.
“If clubs see us as a place that doesn’t help to develop players, you won’t get them to come here in the first place. It’s important that we’re seen to be coaching them well and playing a certain way, because you’ll then have more chance of getting a couple of loan players and things like that from bigger clubs.
“I have got a big contact list in the game, which is really important. I obviously know the London market really well. For us to bring someone up from London is something we can look at, we’ve already spoken about how that might work.
“It might be a case of bringing in two from the same club, or something like that. The first thing is that the players need to be comfortable coming here, then we need to look after them.
“We’ll see, we’ve got ten games before the window and the squad looks like a good squad. I’ve got to get the best out of them in the next ten games then see where we are. After all, we might not need to add any players at all if those here kick on and start to settle into their season.”
