I CAN’T really get away with starting on any subject other than the gaffer with him being linked with a move to Gillingham.

At the time of writing this, Justin is a big favourite with the bookies for the position, which is only a reward for the work he’s done here.

If the gaffer says there has been no contact that’s good, we’ve started to build something here and want him to stay and help us get promoted.

It will probably all depend on finances, the ambition the club has here, the ambition of the clubs who come in for him, but whatever he decides to do, he’s earned the right to be talked about and linked with jobs in higher leagues.

He’s been helped by Jimmy Dack and Wayne Hatswell, he’s signed good players and it’s all gelled, it is something we don’t want to see broken up.

But if the gaffer does decide to go, we will all have to muck-in together and if I was asked to help out, I would do so.

But hopefully it won’t come to that, because we want Justin to stay.

He’s an honest guy, someone who has got values and he’s shown a lot of faith in me personally.

I respect the gaffer hugely, he’s probably the best man manager I have ever worked with and I’ve had a long career!

What he’s done over a sustained period is amazing, he’s always honest and open with the players and we can always go and see him and talk about things.

It’s a big compliment, because I’ve worked with so many different managers.

I had Peter Taylor who was an England manager, Stan Ternant who was a tremendous tactician, Paul Jewell, Ronnie Jepson, Stuart McCall, Phil Parkinson who is doing a great job at Bradford, Lee Clark, but I think the gaffer eclipses them all.

He is the number one, he’s the best I’ve worked with, he’s got terrific values and I hope to be able to work with him for a long time, I really think that highly of him.

A day after all the speculation started the gaffer came and watched the academy boys and his interest in their development is testament to him.

We played Torquay and should’ve been 5-0 up at half time and ended up losing 4-1 but the gaffer saw every minute of it. We played four U16 players and the future of the club was on show and the gaffer wanted to see us.

We were bullied in the second half and disappointing, but I was glad the gaffer was there to see how well we played in the first half. That’s the relationship we’ve got and it is massive for me that he has such big belief in what we are trying to do.

On the pitch, it was great to get the win in a big game against Portsmouth and move into the automatic promotion places.

It was a big win for against Portsmouth, a massive game and to be fair, I think they came for the draw, they packed the midfield and put eight men behind the ball and made it very difficult for us.

But getting the first goal made them come at us and it’s a credit to everyone from the strikers to the goalkeeper that we were able to keep a clean sheet, it shows how well we are defending as a unit.

Our forwards work harder than some clubs’ defenders, they work their socks off and it makes a big impact, the work they do doesn’t go unnoticed and allows us to build on the way they want to play.

Beating Portsmouth twice is a big statement even if they are in League Two now, we are higher in the league and it’s a big win in terms of keeping the pressure up in the race for promotion.

Now we get ready for Cambridge and hopefully they’ll have their eye off the ball and be thinking about the Manchester United game in a fortnight, if teams want to give us any advantage, we’ll snatch it off them straight away!

But realistically, that isn’t going to happen.

Cambridge won’t be allowed to do that, the manager will make clear they are playing for their places against United and will want to do everything to impress.

But we won’t get there with anything on our minds other than getting three points. We were excellent against Cambridge at home and only drew and that should be on our minds.

We are in high spirits and there will be no holding us back.