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I think Pearson has done an important job. He’s largely stabilised us, brought down the size of the squad, bought two quality players from the lower leagues and integrated some younger players and it feels like he has made some changes to the infrastructure too. All of this needed to be done and was going to be a shitshow for whoever did it. In that sense, I think he has been a good appointment and I don’t think it has been a mistake in any sense to give him the job. At the same time, it sometimes proves the case that the person brought in to clear up the mess isn’t the person who gets to enjoy the benefits of the mess being cleared up. I think we saw that with SOD. It is very hard to look back at his time in charge with any fondness but I don’t think Cotterill could have done the job he did if he had replaced McInnes straight off the bat. It may be that Pearson ultimately does not succeed and, if that were the case, I would love to see someone like Ryan Lowe get the chance. But I think, whenever they are appointed, our next manager will be far better placed to succeed with what they inherit from Pearson than they would have been with what Pearson inherited from Holden or what Holden inherited from Johnson. I have no idea if Pearson will succeed in the long term but I think the job he is doing will help the club to do so.

*looks back to July comments about just being happy to be away from a relegation fight* October and someone calling for Pearson’s head when we’re not in a relegation scrap ‘yeah that sounds about right’

It’s was absolute suicide for him taking this job and I’m amazed he even bothered, let’s face it we’d be lucky to get anyone with any calibre to replace him! The mess left by LJ and MA and overseen by SL is nothing short of a disgrace, no money, no prospects, league 1’s a certainty and it’s not the fault of the manager!

I think his metaphor misunderstands the fundamental concept of buses. Aside from that, he is making no excuses and saying the right things: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/i-feel-for-the-fans-pearson/

Pearson isn’t the problem imo it’s the mess of a squad he’s inherited and lack of budget to address it

I think any manager at this time who accepted the job would struggle at Bristol City.

Nahki Wells played very well last night I thought . The guy gets criticised a lot but he deserves some recognition and support. Let’s show him the love folks.

I typed out a few things on various platforms last night, but deleted all of them. They ended up being a bit random and bitter. So I'll try and organise my thoughts a little better this morning. Firstly I thought we did ok first half, touch and go whether we deserved 1-0 , but not a massively undeserved scoreline. Scott was excellent (apart from that miss), and the midfield hadn't looked as weak as I'd expected. Defence looked good, Baker was old school Baker (Johnson looked terrified) and we were well in the game with noses in front. Not sure what was said at half time, you expect them to calm out quickly, but it looked like we had been told to try and hold what we had. We never got any foothold in the game, no forward momentum and definitely no control. I hate that we bring everyone back at corners, at one stage it allowed all 10 Forest outfield players in the final 3rd, the keeper acting sweeper near half way. When we cleared it comes straight back, leave someone anyone up front, just to keep defender honest and give us chance to get out. We have, for ages , defended too deep at the end of games. Now this has been, pressure from teams chasing a goal, fatigue meaning players drop deeper to cover plus the simple fact we cannot put a series of passes together to keep the ball and so see the game out. Last night that started from the kick off. Even if you play on the break (which I'm not sure we do by design, more being dominated constantly) , you need to be able to look after the ball. Wells made some good runs and that chip (I actually mentioned there was a chance 5 minutes before) shows his eye for goal, but we didn't have the control to get a decent pass away. Martin had got some good headers and flicks in but he looked like he was struggling a bit so I thought HNM was a good move. Though I expected Scott might have been first because of Nige love of Martin. Forests control and dominance made it hard for Masengo to make a real impact, though he did some nice twists & turns and nicked the ball a few times. Again because we were so deep, space was rare so Scott had become a little less effective, plus cramp , Palmer turned out to be equally ineffective. Still we were defending well, if too deep ( I may have mentioned that before) and Forest seemed to be getting desperate with long shots. The change of Wells for COD was strange, yet not so. I though Nhaki had a good game, and if anyone was liable to nick a goal it would be him. Then again, he had lost his footing a few times, looked frustrated, and more to the point service had all but dried up as we couldn't get decent possession. Now I can see the reasoning, COD is a good runner & Pacey . Get it to feet and he could have caused their defence real problems . It just didn't happen. One thing I will say, it was not a nailed on Pen. I've seen them given, but on first view it looked like he went down easily. The Ref seemed to point at the ball, so I guess he thought the defender got a touch, but also he didn't book Scott so I imagine he thought there was contact. TBF Baker had been excellent, but I sat down as soon as Baker started to dive in. I didn't need the Ref to give the decision, even from 80 yards away it was obvious. Not only that, I was waiting for the 2nd goal. Defend like that, after chasing shadows for 45 minutes and you just just can't change your mindset and get out on the front foot. I wanted to be seeing ALL the touchline staff screaming to get out as soon as we started defending from our own area. We had started to see signs of improvement, and I do think in many ways we are better than we have been previously. But sadly the one thing, the main problem is exactly the same as it's been for over 2 years. We don't keep the ball, we don't control games and so we can't defend leads. Now IMO, it's partly mindset, though Pearson had started to address that with James & King. Partly nerves and partly the ability to pass to our own players in space and a big part of that, is lack of movement. And there is the catch 22. Because we lack movement we can't find the easy pass. Because we can't find the easy pass we tend to go longer. Because we go longer, we lose the ball more. Because we lose the ball more. Because we lose the ball more, we end up chasing the ball more. Because we chase the ball more, we tire quicker. Because we tire quicker we lack movement repeat to fade. It's not a new thing, we suffered the same under Johnson, we suffered the same under Holden and , so far, Pearson has struggled to change it. Maybe having Williams fit might make a difference, but I don't think it's down to players, totally. It's coaching and mindset , as soon as a player passes the ball it seems like that's his job done. What we need is for that player to just move a yard to give the option of the ball back, while others do the same. We are static. When a Forest player was fronted up, and we never really got tight too often, he had an option. If there wasn't one there, someone would make a run. Again they were streets ahead of us on the ball. The 2nd half was Bournemouth levels of dominance and if Forest had their levels of quality , Forest would have won much earlier. Make no mistake, this is a big, big job. One that, sadly may be too big for Pearson. I apologise for the ramble, but at least it's off my chest now. I shall now pretend I don't like football for the next few days.

Now I’m as equally frustrated on here as the next person but how the hell can Pearson legislate for Baker and Bents soft hands and a missed handball. Forest had no shots on target until pen in 2nd half and if we hold on for a 1-0 then Pearson would be lauded as a tactical genius as game plan worked. Fine margins & whilst gutted as it’s déjà vu after Blackpool &Luton some of the reaction on here is way OTT. The biggest mistake was not getting a striker in on loan in last window as zero options from bench or to rotate. I can direct some anger towards that !

I think you might have brought him in too late in a sense. For both yours and his sake, had he been with you when he was at Leuven things probably would have been better all round because he may well have been able to influence a better structure that meant you didn’t spaff millions on some of the dross that you’ve had. Leuven didn’t work out for many reasons, I think he said himself he made big mistakes and took his eye off the football trying to be involved in too much at the club. Leuven fans will also say he was naive to the division and for a long time it was pretty grim - that he almost took them down is pretty bad, had he done that would have been scandalous for their budget in that league. But also he’s clearly taken the wrong jobs. He said he should never have taken the Derby job, and looking at Derby it’s not hard to see why that might be, Watford was never going to suit him (although he did ok there) and Leuven, sits between. Idk whether he can succeed but he has to be given time to stamp his mark on the side. He’s had a summer operating in a structure that has blatantly failed and has only been able to bring in 3 players that can play plus 2 more bodies. Culture was so vital to what he built at Leicester that he will struggle to succeed anywhere where he doesn’t get the chance to stamp his mark in that respect. I’m not saying you’ve got a bunch of wrong ‘uns but he was fortunate at Leicester that he a)had some of his players left from his first spell and b)was able to spend a bit of cash early and add his bodies quickly, getting pretty much spot on too. The home form is rotten, there’s no excuses. It’s worth saying we had some dire spells with him in charge too. 12/13 where we won about 3 games in 20 at the end of the season, bottling promotion and culminating in the Deeney moment. The Great Escape was also not possible without the 3 wins in 26 or whatever it was before that. For me, from what I’ve seen, the squad he has had consistently available just isn’t quite there. Players like Palmer and Bakinson remind me of players like Neil Danns and Matt Mills who Pearson wanted shot of cos they’re just not right for the environment he wants. Players like O’Dowda are just a bit meh. Martin scored a few but I’m not sure what else he offers Having said that I think Williams (not seen a huge amount of admittedly), James and Massengo could be a really decent midfield 3 if they got consistent time on the pitch together, Bentley is a decent keeper, and the options at CB are alright. It’s around that there’s a problem, both in the first 11 and the depth. Just a real lack of pace, power and technique. It’s a squad that is where it probably should be, it’s not miles off but needs some upgrades and the thing is, even with the transfers that didn’t quite work out, I struggle to fault the recruitment during either of his spells at Leicester. Whether that was just right man, right place, right time or whether he can replicate it, idk

Caught a radio interview with her this morning in a segment on hypermesis gravidarum(HG). No I’d no idea either, but, apparently, it’s a really severe illness during pregnancy. Sounded a complete ordeal- vomiting 20-30 times every day, bleeding and repeated hospital admissions. Apparently so severe that 25% of the women who get it contemplate suicide. At the risk of sounding like a patronising old bloke- not that difficult in my case- Michelle came over as an extraordinarily resilient and courageous women. Certainly will prompt me to think of her with renewed respect when she rocks up at the Gate for Sky or whoever.

If the papers are to be believed, we were being quoted £1 million for a Martin-standard striker from Rotherham. I have no doubt strikers were out there but we have proven several times in the past how easy it is to sign a player for the sake of a signing who does not then improve the squad. We need to move on some of those signings before we have got space to shape the squad to where it needs to get.

Everyone was prepared to accept Lee Johnson’s 3 (8) transfer windows. But it seems the same patience can’t be afforded to Nige by some people. The cupboard was very much bare when Nige moved in.

Bristol City FC is a poison chalice for any manager currently. Badly run for years. All been said on here many times. As stated in the thread above, Ashton & co emptied the piggy bank. There is nothing left to spend. There are players that need to be sold ASAP but noone wants to buy them. I was slated for saying it after the 1st game but this is a relegation fight all season. Barnsley home game is looking like a key game to me.

You don’t think we’re in a relegation scrap? I’m sorry, but I think we are. Unless we start winning at home, we will be relegated. You cannot stay up if you cannot win home games. No way will we be able to accumulate enough away points to compensate. If Pearson can’t get us winning at home then we will go down, end of story, and at present we are just stumbling from one disaster to another. Talk of three-year plans is all very well, but does that include going down to League One? Ultimately Pearson is the man in charge and has to carry the can. All managers lose their mojo eventually, and perhaps Pearson has lost his already. I would love to see him turn it around but we simply cannot afford to end up in League One. It’s unthinkable.

Throw the lot at it and go for Pep, Jurgen Klopp, Joey Barton, Alan Dicks ? No, I'm sure you can come up with a few serious contenders to take us forward, HR. Thanks, but I think I'll stick with supporting Nigel and co and to try not to act like a big baby every time there is a set back.

I have to admit that when you are defending a single goal lead ending up with two of our weakest players on the pitch, Palmer and O’Dowda didn’t make sense. If Wells was shagged I would honestly have rather seen Pring stuck up there and told to run around like ****, take the ball to the corner when he got the chance and sink a couple of tackles. Make no mistake the kid would at least try to do that if he was asked and would have come off the pitch blowing after his cameo. Because enough is enough, wtf does O’Dowda give us at ANY time? 1 goal in 20 says pretty much **** all to me. Similarly with Palmer who manages something one-off a few times per season but that’s it basically. They don’t run around, they don’t tackle and they aren’t good enough to be luxury players.

He has no choice. We were left with a squad that is inadequate whilst Uncle Steve realised his favourite nephew Mark had emptied the piggy bank. It’s a perfect storm. Our lack of options up front coupled with a midfield who are to slow too transition into attack, is the problem. Our defence actually looks alright, with Tanner and Atkinson looking like just the right additions. Its seasons long now ?

Kid, I think his role will change in time here, more onto a General Manager / DoF type (ignore the name of the role for now), with a younger manager beneath him, taking more match responsibility.. Its who Lee Johnson needed, someone to tell him to cut the crap, etc. I don’t know the timeframe, but the “plan” is more than a manager’s responsibility and I see Nige having a side remit at the mo’. That remit will narrow in time. I think it will suit his work / life balance which is important to him, especially after illness. I think we have to accept this team isn’t his….and I feel the project doesn’t end with Nige as first team manager, but that’s not saying the club doesn’t succeed in his time here….it’s just gonna be with different responsibilities. Tonight is gutting. Weathered a 10-12 minutes spell first half by Forest to take the lead. They came out flying, we weathered it again. Scott gets brought down (imho) for a penalty, Samba makes a brilliant finger tip save from Wells (tipped it onto the post, ref gives goal kick. They start to go long. There switch with Mighten coming on gave them fresh impetus. Rush of blood from Baker who was brilliant tonight, Bentley palms a ball out onto Taylor’s arm. Its a bit unlucky isn’t it?

Only one man to blame for the mess were in and that’s SL, he can’t stick to a plan and chops and changes his strategy with every appointment. He got Holden so badly wrong that he couldn’t then go and get a Lowe, he was pushed in to his own corner with the NP appointment. However, I’m not moving from my stance that this is a free hit season for NP to sort the shit out that’s needed. Anything other than relegation was acceptable for me This season

Firstly, it’s a penalty. Their bloke trips Scott, who might tumble theatrically but it’s a foul, so it’s a penalty & if the ref really thinks not, then why doesn’t he book Scott for diving? So if we score that (not a given with our record, though as we are coming up to a year since we had one in the league then that isn’t based on too much), we are 2 up & I reckon we’d have held on. Secondly their winner is as clear a handball as you can get, poor by Bentley, we also should have done far better to stop the cross but I can’t believe that it was given. None of this excuses the result but we could certainly do with the rub of the green in a game at BS3.

i wont a new manager. 17 games without a home win is Pathetic. i know i will take stick for saying this but so what. fed up with going to Ashton gate to see this week in week out. surely i am not on my own thinking about a change.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-ceo-premier-league-6088808 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10111625/Bristol-City-chief-Richard-Gould-parachute-payments-targeting-Premier-League-promotion.html Wow absolutely bang on Richard. Football for me is rapidly losing it's appeal with a mini league of clubs between the Prem and Champ every season

Got to love him. That’s all

Play him centrally and give him a run of games IMO.

Think quite a few players played well, Wells included. Actually think the performance was no where near as bad as some are saying. As of 89 minutes, we deserved to be winning IMHO. Shame about the final 5 mins!

He's better off out of it.

How is League 1 a certainty? 8 points above the drop last time I looked?

Which is why I still think Pearson is the best option to bring in, he’s been there before, and you get the impression is not afraid to point out the problems before him. It’s clear that the entire football side of the club needed change, and that’s never going to be an overnight success, and I suspect the benevolent owner may not have liked some of the things he’s been told, but you get the impression he’s prepared to listen. I genuinely don’t believe that we’re about to enter a relegation fight, and I do believe we’ll eventually win at home this season, but we’re going to have to score 2 or more to guarantee it. still bloody annoyed about last night though even after a night to sleep on it….

Our current trend of 1.23 points per game? That’d give us 56 points. Not sure a team has ever been relegated with 56 points…. So NO WE WON’T.

Absolutely right. Nige has a three year project and we’re only 13 games into his first year. When he was appointed most us said that we’d be happy with a mid table finish this season. There will be ups and downs every season as there would be with any manager but hopefully progress every season. Stick with Nige and we’ll be ok.

100%. Last night in the absence of Williams, King & Semenyo who would have all made the squad, he only had Vyner at his disposal who he is deliberately leaving out. I don’t think any of Bakinson, Palmer or O’Dowda would be involved in the 18 if we had anyone else to select from. This Britton stuff is hilarious, he hasn’t been starting games for the U23s yet is suddenly the answer, dream on.

Classy.

Maybe all the older lot got killed of with covid ?

Baker - failure? You having a laugh? He’s played pretty well almost every game he’s played so far. Yep he’s a Pearson signing in effect….a free transfer on a significantly reduced wage based on incentives.

Wish I could get sacked for £8m

Perhaps he's talking about O'Dowda who, for the second game in a row, was useless? O'Dowda might reasonably turn around after last night and say "but I'm not a striker, whose bright idea was that?" (although he may decide discretion is the better part of valour). Perhaps Weimann who was using those concrete boots he sometimes wears? Although Weimann might reasonably say "yes but I'm not a midfielder". Perhaps Martin who had less impact than usual? Although Martin might reasonably say "yes but I'm not a Sat-Tues-Sat type player". Perhaps he's talking about the fact he has to include players in every matchday squad he's decided are a waste of a wage and so aren't a realistic option when he turns to the bench for help? More likely, I think he might be making a general, over-arching point that where we are as a club at the moment, in this division, with the current resources, we need all 11 players plus the subs to be at the top of their game week after week after week if we're going to get results but if even just one or two are off their game on any given day, we're not good enough at the moment to grind out results in this brutal league. And there were one or two off their game last night. Playing strikers in midfield and midfielders as strikers and flogging Martin to death doesn't help though. Nor does the absence of Semenyo.

Motivate the players. Teach them not to constantly surrender the ball in the last thirty minutes and go back and back. We could all see it, why not Pearson? Baker’s tackle was reckless but the issue was that we were letting Forest have the ball and run at us all the time. How many City supporters believed on the 85th minute, say, that we were going to win that match? We were inviting Forest to come at us. Baker was just the fall guy.

I noticed he said our home form is almost embarrassing now…. Nige with respect, it’s been embarrassing for as long as I can remember. Long before you…

Not tonight. The manner of the defeat tonight was shocking, exposed some individual flaws and really really sucked. But. Saturday for me was far worse. No semblance of fight in the team, near on nothing created and nobody played well. Tonight, Scott, Wells, Tanner, James all played really well, we created chances, we had Wells running in behind, Scott should have had a penalty, Wells hit the post, and (possibly controversially considering the last 2 mins) we defended well for most of the game. With a few better decisions from us and the ref we would have put that game to bed. We will beat Barnsley.

It’s going to take time, I’m confident we’ll get there under Pearson.

Of course there’s every chance he can’t turn this ship around, I would accept that. My ire is more with how we ended up in 2021 with a bag of shit squad and all the money squandered to the point that FFP was looming like the grim specter of death.

I still think he's probably the best person available to turn this mess around, and let's be honest it was a huge mess. Our league position flattered us last season and Pearson was quite right in saying that had the season gone on another 10 games we'd have gone down. However, it's not just his record here: played 28, won 6, drawn 8, lost 14. It's Watford: played 22, won 7, drawn 5, lost 10 It's Leuven: played 56, won 18, drawn 15, lost 23 It's Derby: played 14, won 3, drawn 5, lost 6 Those appointments span the last 6+ years and in each job he's lost more games than he's won. I haven't totalled it, but I'm guessing Pearson's last 120 games or so in charge of a football club wouldn't make for pretty reading. There's about 34 wins there I think. There is a nagging doubt in my mind as to whether we've got this manager in too late and his best years, which were at Leicester 2011-15, starting over 10 years ago, are behind him.

Pearson inherited an absolute shambles. 12? players out of contract, a fair bit more deadwood with no funds for mass upheaval. I'm disappointed Pearson hasn't had more of the "new manager bounce", there's been almost none which is rare for a new manager. I thought his presence and experience alone would give us a lift. I still think he's the best manager we could have attracted in terms of a "name", and probably the biggest we've had in my time watching City. Names don't win games though, so although I still back Pearson and I really want him to do well, I'm starting to get nervous about where we are heading

Spot on... The money spent on the 3 Chelsea boys was huge by our standards and 2 out of the 3 have been a big disapointment for me. I know alot of people rate Jay DaSilva (and he is technically decent) but he hasn't produced anywhere near enough to justify his fee. Palmer has been a disaster and whilst Kalas has done ok, the reported 8million fee still seems high (although the world was in a different place then). Our squad is bottom half Champ and recruitment has been poor for quite a few years.

NP never promised to be a miracle worker but he has improved us considerably. Yes it's extremely frustrating, annoying & possibly upsetting but I feel confident he will get us through this .

If Pearson isn't the answer I'm not sure who is it's just going to take some time.

You get more stick for your grammar than the content ... back to school ....

Ryan Lowe was the man we should have got, but he wasn’t a big enough name for most on here. His record speaks for himself.

Watford were relegation fodder in the prem at the time and did he not get them out of relegation zone only to be sacked?