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44 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

Who in particular are you talking about?

Who have we got that we could even recoup our transfer fee on?  I would suggest very few if any, so that would give the answer on how successful LJ and MA’s transfer dealings have been.

Added to the number of transfer fees written off through players ending last season OOC and it’s safe to say that SL has not only had his pants very firmly pulled down, but his arse has also been soundly slapped by that pair, who have cost this club £millions.

Never has this club spent so much money, to be left with so little, imho.

 

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4 hours ago, Red Exile said:

Hang on - what sort of question is 'and Taylor Moore as well we guess'?

If he'd thought Taylor Moore had played well he'd have said so. Who on earth would guess from 'I thought player x played well' that what was meant was 'player y also played well.'

It's interviewing designed to get a reaction and a quotable line. Treated with the contempt it deserved.

The question was about both centre backs, so to only answer addressing one obviously leads to the question of what about the other. Maybe Gregor's second question should have been "are you only happy with Tomas, what did you think of Taylor?"

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9 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

The question was about both centre backs, so to only answer addressing one obviously leads to the question of what about the other. Maybe Gregor's second question should have been "are you only happy with Tomas, what did you think of Taylor?"

It is exactly that I think - what comes over to some as petulance or throwing TM under a bus could be a reaction to Gregor essentially trying to put words into his mouth (intentionally or otherwise) by some poor wording of the follow-up. If he worked on getting the follow-up question better worded then we might have ended up with an explicit bus-throwing or we might not - but the way the answer is worded it reads like one. So a poorly worded question led to an ambiguous reply that implies displeasure.

We know from other interviews mainly with Dave Barton that there are a few who are not (yet?) bought into the new regime. TM might be one of them or he might be trying his hardest and just not able to achieve what is being demanded. For me the fact that we are demanding higher standards from everybody is the important thing that has changed under NP, something we have needed for a while

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40 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

The question was about both centre backs, so to only answer addressing one obviously leads to the question of what about the other. Maybe Gregor's second question should have been "are you only happy with Tomas, what did you think of Taylor?"

In which case I suspect the answer would have been something non-committal. To me it seems obvious he wanted to praise players, not run them down. He thought Kallas played well...what he thought of Taylor Moore he was keeping to himself!

I guess my position is that simply because a reporter - or indeed a supporter - wants an answer to a question the manager doesn't have to supply it. 

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5 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

I figure that in this market, a signing of 1.5 million is roughly worth 3 million in a non covid market of 2019. he spent that on atkinson when we desperately needed a goal scorer, so he had money, but spent it all on a position where we already had cover.

Spent it on a position we had poor cover at . Baker will get injured at some point , cundy will probably never be a first team candidate and Taylor moore is not good enough for the championship 

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5 hours ago, ashton_fan said:

I will start judging after 10 games but it's not just this season, we've only had 2 wins out of 16 since he took over so you can't blame people for being upset

Absolutely fans / posters can be upset, but what we are seeing is very little balance to the debate.  It’s not black and white is it, there are mitigating circumstances, but if you focus purely on results then you will probably reach  the wrong conclusion.  That sounds harsh, but you’ve only got to look at the “LJ year on year improvement in league position argument”….how does someone looking at that as black and white then react when it changes and we drop 8th to 12th….then 19th?  We are very silo’d in our reasoning….yet funnily enough posters with an alternate view are said to be the ones with blinkers on.  There is middle ground / grey areas.

If fans want to base their view purely on results that is fine, each to their own, but expect others to challenge / disagree / explain why they might have a different view.

4 hours ago, Selred said:

Part of me agrees, and then part of me thinks NP has brought in;

King, James, Simpson - all must be on decent wages.

Resigned Weimann, Baker - know Baker took a pay cut but still fairly decent wages.

Say we are paying these players £12k a week on average for example, are they not some youngsters we could of got for £8k a week? Would save £200,000 a year per player. 

For the record I'm very happy with James. The rest I'm on the fence with.

James might be on a decent wage…I doubt the other two are (imho).

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1 hour ago, Wiltshire robin said:

Spent it on a position we had poor cover at . Baker will get injured at some point , cundy will probably never be a first team candidate and Taylor moore is not good enough for the championship 

I see NP's signings as building the spine of the team, starting from the back, and why wouldn't he as an ex-defender.

He knew he had a decent keeper in Bentley, but he's now gone out and brought in two new CB's (Baker and Atkinson), and two midfielders in King and James.

I suspect if he had the funds, he would've brought in a striker also, but as it happens, he needs to flog someone to bring in that money.

Nagy or Massengo are probably the two prime players to let go in my opinion because we can lose them without having to bring in additional cover, whereas if we lose Kalas, we'd probably need to bring in someone as cover. If we lose Taylor Moore, we may get away by not bringing in cover. Jeeze, maybe even a midfielder could cover as CB !

Overall, thats why NP needs 2 to 3 years. He needs time to bring in his spine of the side, and also then bring in the fringe players i.e. the wingers and full backs, but for the moment, the money he has only allows him to recruit two thirds of the spine.

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1 hour ago, beaverface said:

I see NP's signings as building the spine of the team, starting from the back, and why wouldn't he as an ex-defender.

He knew he had a decent keeper in Bentley, but he's now gone out and brought in two new CB's (Baker and Atkinson), and two midfielders in King and James.

I suspect if he had the funds, he would've brought in a striker also, but as it happens, he needs to flog someone to bring in that money.

Nagy or Massengo are probably the two prime players to let go in my opinion because we can lose them without having to bring in additional cover, whereas if we lose Kalas, we'd probably need to bring in someone as cover. If we lose Taylor Moore, we may get away by not bringing in cover. Jeeze, maybe even a midfielder could cover as CB !

Overall, thats why NP needs 2 to 3 years. He needs time to bring in his spine of the side, and also then bring in the fringe players i.e. the wingers and full backs, but for the moment, the money he has only allows him to recruit two thirds of the spine.

I remember reading lots of posts and tweets saying Nige would make 10-12 signings when the released list was decided.  Was never gonna be the case, in a Covid climate, and I very much suspect he also saw risks with trying to make too much change too quickly…and some if this season will be to further evaluate future recruitment needs.

He’s made 4 (as you state).

We might not like it.  I’m okay with it, but I think he’s willing to see if the likes of Vyner can save him buying a RB (Simpson is cheap cover).  If by Xmas it hasn’t worked then I’m sure he will adapt the plan.

Ditto, at LB, can Pring provide the necessary cover for Jay Dasilva, or is Dasilva even what he wants.

He’s prioritised what needed to be done immediately.  It’s not the end of it, some dependent on moving players on too.  Some weren’t available to him last season, were under contract, so he’s at least giving everyone a chance.  Far better than the scattergun, clubs in bag approach that got us into a mess.

I’m not sure a group of fans have really listened to what he’s said and / or thought of the financial situation beyond thinking it’s a game of Football Manager!  He’s been pretty clear and consistent…and honest.  For some that is a stick to beat him with.

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9 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

I figure that in this market, a signing of 1.5 million is roughly worth 3 million in a non covid market of 2019. he spent that on atkinson when we desperately needed a goal scorer, so he had money, but spent it all on a position where we already had cover.

Did we , who ? Moore isn’t good enough , that was clear a couple of years ago. Plus I’m not so sure on your calculations , it’s obviously a guess. We got rid of shit loads of players to balance the books . It’s not anywhere near comparable to the money LJ spent 

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1 minute ago, steviestevieneville said:

Did we , who ? Moore isn’t good enough , that was clear a couple of years ago. Plus I’m not so sure on your calculations , it’s obviously a guess. We got rid of shit loads of players to balance the books . It’s not anywhere near comparable to the money LJ spent 

Its not comparable but we sold tens of million quids worth of players under johnson, so of course he spent a lot more,,, problem was that it was mostly dross that was brought in.

all im saying is that pearson was given money to spend and it all went on one defender, who may or may not turn into a top championship defender, when we clearly have issues scoring goals.

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5 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Its not comparable but we sold tens of million quids worth of players under johnson, so of course he spent a lot more,,, problem was that it was mostly dross that was brought in.

all im saying is that pearson was given money to spend and it all went on one defender, who may or may not turn into a top championship defender, when we clearly have issues scoring goals.

but like it or not, strikers cost more that we shelled out on that defender, or good ones at least. NP has been quite clear that he's not going to bring somebody in that isn't better than what we already have. For a striker that will cost...

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The very same posters moaning about pampered players 8 months ago and saying we need a manager who won’t take shit and tells it how it is now don’t like it when a manager hints under stupid questioning that one of his players wasn’t up to standard. If he’d said Moore played well they would be responding “if he thinks that then he’s clueless”. Perhaps NP should do the LJ trick and send his coaches out for interview half the time……

Its a fact that 3-4 years of taking his foot off the gas  by Steve are coming home to roost. Compete, see out games, take charge of games…..all baby steps this squad has to take. Step 1 is on its way, we need to get to Step 2 sharpish to pick up points whilst we are work in progress and we are miles off Step 3.

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30 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Its not comparable but we sold tens of million quids worth of players under johnson, so of course he spent a lot more,,, problem was that it was mostly dross that was brought in.

all im saying is that pearson was given money to spend and it all went on one defender, who may or may not turn into a top championship defender, when we clearly have issues scoring goals.

We had issues in all departments . Apparently ,he’s identified the striker he wants but there’s not enough in the coffers , hence why we have to sell . We don’t know if atkinsons price was the only money we got, I doubt it . As I said though we haven’t got enough for the quality of striker we want . From what I’ve seen of Atkinson , james & king so far , I think he brought decent players in.

my original point was. After the mess we were in , in the summer & the rebuild needed  . There was no way we were going to be in contention for the play offs this year . Although sum are already chucking their toys out of the pram . 

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1 hour ago, Simon bristol said:

Its not comparable but we sold tens of million quids worth of players under johnson, so of course he spent a lot more,,, problem was that it was mostly dross that was brought in.

all im saying is that pearson was given money to spend and it all went on one defender, who may or may not turn into a top championship defender, when we clearly have issues scoring goals.

⬇️⬇️⬇️

57 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

We had issues in all departments . Apparently ,he’s identified the striker he wants but there’s not enough in the coffers , hence why we have to sell . We don’t know if atkinsons price was the only money we got, I doubt it . As I said though we haven’t got enough for the quality of striker we want . From what I’ve seen of Atkinson , james & king so far , I think he brought decent players in.

my original point was. After the mess we were in , in the summer & the rebuild needed  . There was no way we were going to be in contention for the play offs this year . Although sum are already chucking their toys out of the pram . 

Yes, big difference between “we spent it all on one player” and “we’ve spent some of it on a defender and haven’t got enough to get the striker he wants”.

Pearson has told us he prioritised the signings, and has told us he’s happy to develop what he has.  To that point, it’s fair to say he thought signing Atkinson was a bigger priority than a striker.

He also could be biding his time and has a bit of money up his sleeve if the right PL comes up who isn’t in the 25 man squad list.

Just under 3 weeks left in the window.  We can review then.

 

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13 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

Read his interview in the mail. Where he says about a fractured dressing room last season . Which was down to Ashton . He’s had no money to spend , so he’s assembling a squad on a shoestring , certainly compared to the multi millions LJ was given. 
so he’s had to turn around the mindset of the dressing room & try to get a decent side with no money. If you think that happens with a click of the fingers then you haven’t got a clue. 

So true give the man the tools to work with its obvious we need a winger that stays fit and a proven goalscorer until this happens were screwed 

 

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I really do not know what our fanbase wants at times.

We basically went on a three year spiral of over-faith and belief in Ashton and Johnson and then Ashton and Holden, and during that time we haemorrhaged expensive transfer-fees on players not up to pushing us on, or who were over-valued and with little to no sell-on value, hence tens of millions walked out of the club two months ago.

Pearson has been entrusted with a rebuild the likes this club has not truly seen for the best part of 40 years as the foundations that we were built on by the previous spin-laden regime fell apart quickly and dramatically after the disastrous and disingenuous appointment of Holden, by Ashton, unfortunately sped this process up.

Pearson is now having to build without the money to bring his own team in or bring his own players in, and try and maintain Championship status whilst reversing an inbuilt culture of “cosiness” and a mediocre mentality that was glossed over by the media friendly soundbites and an emperors clothes facade fed to us for years, coupled timely distractions in the guises of a nice new stadium, state of the art training facilitynand a glitzy yet ultimately self-implosion causing League Cup run.

All the while he is having to humour a local media who had become spoilt by stuff to print that sounded good mainly through self-indulgent rhetoric by LJ and MA.

I suggest we all dig in and get behind him as there are many of equal or lower profile than Pearson that would have turned this shambles down as too big a job.

All those not focussed on what he is having to try to achieve as a true football man needs to have patience for him and the club.

This year was always going to be a struggle. We have to trust him long term as too many of us have believed the wrong things in the not too distant past and look where that got us.

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9 minutes ago, TomThumb84 said:

I suggest we all dig in and get behind him as there are many of equal or lower profile than Pearson that would have turned this shambles down as too big a job.

 

That's far too difficult a concept for a loud minority on this board to understand when it's far easier to constantly moan, cry and criticise when things go wrong. It's the deliberate lack of perspective that gets me. "We haven't won for 5 months" - almost two of those months we didn't even play a competitive game. Just say we haven't won for over 3 months which is still a depressing thought and experience for all fans whether supporters of Pearson or otherwise but it isn't 5 months of competitive football so why put it in those terms if you don't have an agenda? We all know if the truth is told that there were ridiculous circumstances around our horrendous form that go far beyond just a Manager but if that's not your agenda then you simply ignore it.

You are quite right in that there are both better and worse Managers than NP who wouldn't have touched us with a barge pole given the money situation (a nice training ground and main stand means sweet fa to a football man if you haven't got the players to justify it and the funds to bring the players in) and if Pearson is hounded out or if Steve is pressurised into sacking him I could very easily see Steve saying "that's it, I can't take this any further, enough is enough", replacing with someone cheap who NOBODY is keen on (again) and significantly bringing forward his own exit strategy and letting someone else take the football side on.......maybe a hedge fund interested in maximising returns on the property aspect of the AG development or something and certainly not that bothered about the football.

Never has the saying "be careful what you wish for" been more apt at this football club than it is right here and right now. Unfortunately patience and understanding is not a tablet that can be slipped into the pint of the person sat next to you who demands instant gratification after 2-3 years of steep decline.

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I find NP’s disdain for journalists uncomfortable. He needs to realise that the average fan doesn't just go to the game. We listens to the podcasts, watch the YouTube content, check twitter and read the local paper.

When Gregor asks questions, we want an answer. Not a smart-ar*e critique of the question.

Unfortunately this kind of behaviour is condoned by most clubs as local media are seen as an annoyance. They would much rather let their own media team run things.

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2 hours ago, TomThumb84 said:

 

I suggest we all dig in and get behind him as there are many of equal or lower profile than Pearson that would have turned this shambles down as too big a job.

 

Me and @Numero Unotook the same highlight….

The rumour is that Paul Cook thought it was such a shambles of a interview when asking his questions of Ashton and JL that he tried to talk himself out of the job.  Obviously don’t know if true, but would be covered by “not as good a fit as the man already in BS3”.

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Mainthing NP gets the team ok and starting winning. His attitude towards press is arrogant. He is the manager of Bristol City and even If the guestions not in his taste I Think he should deal better with them. For me he sounds like a bad loser. LJ , Ashton, signings and so on, nothing to do with his way of beeing in pressconference. So far it gives me a bad taste in mouth, Really hope he have knowledge and feeling to handle the team If we will be in a bad run.

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8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Me and @Numero Unotook the same highlight….

The rumour is that Paul Cook thought it was such a shambles of a interview when asking his questions of Ashton and JL that he tried to talk himself out of the job.  Obviously don’t know if true, but would be covered by “not as good a fit as the man already in BS3”.

And look how that's worked out for him....

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4 hours ago, Garland-sweden said:

Mainthing NP gets the team ok and starting winning. His attitude towards press is arrogant. He is the manager of Bristol City and even If the guestions not in his taste I Think he should deal better with them

 

13 hours ago, TomThumb84 said:

 

I suggest we all dig in and get behind him as there are many of equal or lower profile than Pearson that would have turned this shambles down as too big a job.

 

I'm between the two views stated above.

Ultimately Pearson has joined us at a crucial time where the culture of the club clearly has not been working and needs a rebuild. Pearson is the person who has been trusted with rebuilding that culture and we've made decisions around signings, staffing and releasing players based on Pearson's vision for the club. We also know that Pearson played a key role in changing the culture for the better at Leicester so can do that job. That's not going to be an overnight process and things are not going to run smoothly all the time.

It might even be that, in the long run, the person who starts to change the culture is not the person who can also get results on the pitch whilst doing it. We've found that before when O'Driscoll started to make changes behind the scenes and put some foundations in place but lost his job due to poor results and Cotterill was able to build on the work SOD started. However, whether Pearson is the right person in the long run or not, making a quick decision on Pearson is going to take us back to Square One and means someone else has to start a rebuild from scratch.

I also don't think it is necessary. I've no major issues with the players Pearson has brought in, or moved out, and he's giving young players a chance too. We all think more changes are needed (but maybe not affordable) but I think the signings of Atkinson and James takes us forward rather than backwards. I'm still not sold on Simpson but he is on a one year contract. 

All in all, I think Pearson needs to be giving time to do the job he has been brought into do. We can review where we are as the season goes on and make changes if we absolutely have to but we're nowhere near that point yet.

At the same time, I think Pearson's attitude to Gregor and the press is deeply unhelpful. I'm not saying MacGregor is perfect but he's a far better local journalist than I suspect the Post deserve based on what I imagine they are willing to pay for a local journalist and he is ultimately trying to do his job for the benefit of fans of the club. I have no doubt media duties are frustrating for managers - especially after a defeat - but Pearson himself has talked about the importance of local journalists and I don't think he covers himself or the club in glory when he takes his frustrations out on someone who is simply doing the job they are paid to do. 

I might be wrong but I suspect that Pearson's frustration with Gregor is, at heart, the fact that there is a lot that Pearson would like to be able to say about the internal workings of the club but that it is not helpful or professional to do so. However that is not Gregor's fault, or the fans or media's fault, and - much as I want him to continue in the role - he doesn't help himself in terms of getting fans onside by looking like a moody arse when talking to the media. 

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I've been in Gregor's situation when I reported sport for Radio West/GWR (remember them?). David Williams was the Gas manager and thought it was very funny to humiliate me in front of his sidekicks every time I went to interview him (ie weekly). Thank christ Terry Cooper was the City manager and a sweeter man you couldn't wish to deal with. My point is that it will be very difficult to row back from the Nige/Greg aggro, my only criticism of Gregor is he seems to open on the negative and probably stick on the negative side too long. Nothing wrong with softening up your interviewee, but I suspect it is too late to repair.

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On 11/08/2021 at 07:13, Hampshire reds said:

Dreadful comment when asked about the centre backs. i wonder what the lansdowns think of what is going on. dont get this with Pat Lam and the Bears.

Pat Lam is working with some very good players, purchased specifically to bring success.

Lets hope Mr Lansdown follows suit with NP.

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16 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Me and @Numero Unotook the same highlight….

The rumour is that Paul Cook thought it was such a shambles of a interview when asking his questions of Ashton and JL that he tried to talk himself out of the job.  Obviously don’t know if true, but would be covered by “not as good a fit as the man already in BS3”.

Are you able to provide any more info on this? I mean - how can you get an interview THAT wrong? Presumably Cook would've been talking himself out of the largest salary of his career (if true)!

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On 11/08/2021 at 07:58, exAtyeoMax said:

Really? I only read the transcript but it sounded a bit petulant from NP. 
 

How about your centre-backs this evening? Did they do well enough against Jamille Matt, who caused a lot of problems at times? 

I thought Tomas [Kalas] was good tonight, he did very well.

And Taylor Moore as well we guess?

No, I said that I thought Tomas did well tonight.

Not read all of the thread yet, but what really is wrong with that answer. A bit petulant yes, but if he told a load of lies and pussy footed around the answer then he would get slated for that. It's obvious and well known NP doesn't like doing the media stuff, so when you have the opportunity to do the media stuff, why not ask him some proper footballing questions, prove you have some good knowledge about the game. Gregor has said Matt caused a lot of problems, but still asks "did the defence do well enough". Is NP expected to say yes, they were superb to keep a few happy?

As for giving the manager marks, if I read that correctly - seriously WTF 

Shame we don't have more people in this World telling the actual truth to the media, rather than just spinning everything to suit themselves or their mates.

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