The Dolman Pragmatist

Well said mate.

I have the utmost respect for Pearson and always have had. I was merely commenting on the statement that ‘he saved us from relegation’, which has little substance. Unlike you to get so personal, Dave. This forum really is turning into not a very friendly place.

With respect, when Holden was sacked we had 39 points from 30 games and were closer to the play offs than the relegation zone. After he was sacked, we took 12 points from our remaining 16 games (W3 D3 L10), including 0 wins, 3 draws and 7 defeats in our last ten games. I’m not saying there shouldn’t have been a change of manager, Holden was after all on a poor run of six defeats in all competitions, but the notion that Pearson saved us from relegation is far-fetched in the extreme. Only 44 points were needed to avoid relegation that season and we already had 39 when Holden was sacked so we actually only needed 5 more points to be safe. What happened was that our position deteriorated considerably after Holden was sacked, but thankfully not enough to see us relegated.

Got to say Dave that the poor results under Pearson are very clear facts, and not at all my subjective opinion. What was it, second lowest percentage of any City manager? When he was sacked we’d won 3 league matches from 10 this season (30%); I believe that Manning’s record is 9 from 23, so just under 40% win percentage. As far as I can see almost nothing I’ve said was particularly subjective, but anything not praising Pearson to the hilt seems to be met with a flurry of face palms and other negative emojis. Oddly enough polarisation was what I was trying to avoid, but it doesn’t seem possible to have any sensible discussion on this site any more, sadly.

Good post. I’d met and talked to Nigel Pearson before he was appointed at City, and have a close friend who is a Leicester City supporter and who absolutely worships Pearson, so I really would have liked to see him succeed. But the stark fact is that for all Pearson’s good work behind the scenes, the football under him was dull and the results were pretty awful. I think he was given a good time to turn the results around, but it just wasn’t happening. I therefore felt that his dismissal was justified when it came - our season was rapidly going nowhere and there was a strong case for a change of regime in order to prepare for 2024/25. What surprises me most is that there are those who either ignore Pearson’s dreadful record in terms of results; who make excuses for it; or who believe he could have turned it around. Manning seems to me to have been a very reasonable shout for a new head coach, and needs to be given time to build something that might actually be competitive next season. In football you move on, and we’ve moved on from Pearson.

I was at school with a boy with the surname Tew. His nickname was ‘Munch’. His younger brother was known as ‘Nibble’.

I was fortunate as a child to see the West Indies play Glamorgan in Cardiff. Glamorgan where building the side that would go on to win the county championship (including the left arm fast bowler Jeff Jones) but the West Indies played almost their full test team - Sobers, Hunters, Butcher, Gibbs, Hall & Griffiths, Murray, etc. I’ll never forget the sight of Wes Hall starting his run on the boundary rope and thundering in…

In that case Mike Proctor wins hands down, and I watched him for several seasons as a Gloucestershire member. I think he was the only cricketer I’ve ever watched who could make you believe that he could hit any ball for six, or take a hat-trick in any over. I also saw him and Barry Richards play at Shirehampton when they were schoolboys, and remember several windows in the golf course clubhouse over the road being broken that night.

I’ll challenge you on that one. I think he was as good as any of them. Certainly better that Flintoff (by some distance) and Kallis (I assume that’s who you mean), probably Stokes and at least on a par with Botham. Gary Sobers still the best all-rounder of my lifetime though.

If I remember correctly, we put the ball out because of an injury to a Charlton player and Minto didn’t throw it back, and then laughed about it.

He’s gone … Grateful Dead

Ah, Knebworth. I was at the first one in 1974: Tim Buckley (Jeff’s father), the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Van Morrison, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Doobie Brothers, the Allman Brothers. Happy days.

I’m not sure. I agree he doesn’t seem to be able to beat his man, but I think he does have pace and he does seem to make things happen. I suspect that defences don’t like playing against him, and he can be a clever player (look at the assist against Southampton). I understand the reservations about him, but I do think he offers possibilities. I certainly think he’s worth persevering with for now.

Dazed and confused was 60s too (written in the 60s, originally played in the uk by the Yardbirds).

Sorry, but he was absolutely shocking out there today, and you can only comment on what is before your eyes. Mebude was right in front of me in the Dolman today and what I saw was a player having a horrifically bad time. Hardly surprising that people are reflecting what they saw. He was dreadful.

The Cat Came Back … Tom Waits

Trucking’ … Grateful Dead

Liverpool 1977, no question.

‘Neither Arsenal NOR Liverpool…’

Why on earth are people still banging on about this? We won. If Manning had done something different at half time we might not have done, who knows? We’ve been on a poor run, but three points at Middlesbrough is a real tonic. COYR.

He was great for us. As a result, won’t hear a word against him.

Fulham?

It used to be said that the mark of a good team is that they can play badly and win… I’d be more angry if we played well and lost.

True though…

…usually grow tomatoes. Those in glass houses however…