Press

[Dolman_Stand]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Which makes me wonder why go on the radio at this point.  Why not leave it at the club video he did earlier?

Because he then gets the Mark Ashton treatment on here......

[Bodiesaffer]

6 hours ago, !james said:

Has been… out dated. 

[phantom]

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Which makes me wonder why go on the radio at this point.  Why not leave it at the club video he did earlier?

Totally agree, seems very odd goings on 

[fairweather]

I am not sure it’s a given that Shakespeare would want to come to City as his next move

I dont think it’s a given he would want to work under NP again. Peoples careers develop and he would likely want to work with different managers

[chinapig]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

probably highlights we need someone between the CEO and the manager who understands both sides of the fence and can be objective on both parts.

So GT should have asked why this is not the case and hasn't been since Ashton started infesting the club.

[chinapig]

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Which makes me wonder why go on the radio at this point.  Why not leave it at the club video he did earlier?

Perhaps under orders from Steve because he thought it would shut the fans up? In which case a serious error of judgement.

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

Out of interest what were you hoping for? Pearson to be sacked? If not, and given the illness he has, what were you expecting?

I think it’s more that RG requested the interview, but hadn’t really thought through the answers, or more how his answers would be interpreted / misinterpreted.  It’s ok giving strong opinion from a club that they want Nige to continue, but he could be equally strong that Nige wants to continue too, but will be dictated by his health….even if either side of that coin aren’t strictly true.  It’s not like he’s been caught with no preparation time.

Thats my view anyway.

 

[robin_unreliant]

5 minutes ago, chinapig said:

Perhaps under orders from Steve because he thought it would shut the fans up? In which case a serious error of judgement.

I think that's a good shout. They were worried about the crowd reaction on Saturday and felt the need to say something. Normally it would be the standard backing for the manager. It is an extra messy situation due to Nige's illness and nobody really knows where it will go. Not an easy gig for RG. 

[Loco Rojo]

1 hour ago, bredwood said:

Is it OK if I point out that we are as close to the play off places as we are to the relegation zone or as that something that people don’t want to hear at the moment?

It's a fair point. We'll ignore the form then. Playoffs here we come.

Edit: just to qualify my point (which I know you got), when you combine the picture of the form table, together with the quality of performances on the pitch, likely damage to the moral given the nature of the recent defeats, impact of the reduction in coaches plus now the manager out for an unknown period of time. To me, it only feels like the gap to the playoffs is heading in one direction. 

I admire your optimism though.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Loco Rojo

[The Original OTIB]

5 hours ago, The Original OTIB said:

Not a coach in sight...

Maybe, work it out yourselves lads ...

[Bs4Red]

3 hours ago, !james said:

To be fair to the OP a quick look at his posting history shows he started the Baker thread when he re signed and knew the opening fixtures etc before they were released so obviously some ITK... Everyone gets duff information from time to time but I hope he doesn't stop people posting what they have heard

Cheers mate, like I said, I trust the bloke. He’s got 1 thing wrong but a hell of a lot right. 

It happens and will probably happen again, I post on here because I love city like many people. 

Whether it happened today or not certainly made for interesting reading and a lot of interesting points.

 

As you said, Baker, Tammy, Fixtures, LJ etc 

He has been very very reliable 

Apologies though, wasn’t starting a rumour mill just passing on what is 99% of the time solid information. 

You reds, we go again 

[YGBjammy]

2 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Nigel Pearson leaving the club is Twitter speculation ‘at this point’.  
 

Does this mean he continues as manager? ‘That is what we want’

Very political responses 

These really stood out to me too; especially the second one. Surely you just say "yes"

[Mr Yoda]

Apologies in advance if I've missed this, but why did the club feel the need to set up the interview if there really wasn't anything concrete to say?

Felt like RG was floundering as he clearly wasn't able to talk openly and honestly. 

Don't see the point unless something has changed last minute....but if that's the case, surely they'd pull out of it with a lame excuse? 

Baffling.

[GlastonburyRed]

Why are things never, ever simple at City?!

[Phileas Fogg]

1 minute ago, Mr Yoda said:

Apologies in advance if I've missed this, but why did the club feel the need to set up the interview if there really wasn't anything concrete to say?

Felt like RG was floundering as he clearly wasn't able to talk openly and honestly. 

Don't see the point unless something has changed last minute....but if that's the case, surely they'd pull out of it with a lame excuse? 

Baffling.

Agreed. All a bit strange and a very odd PR strategy. Say what you like about Ashton, and I’m delighted he’s gone, but I don’t think he’d have handled that in such an uncertain way. 

[cheese]

10 minutes ago, Bs4Red said:

Cheers mate, like I said, I trust the bloke. He’s got 1 thing wrong but a hell of a lot right. 

It happens and will probably happen again, I post on here because I love city like many people. 

Whether it happened today or not certainly made for interesting reading and a lot of interesting points.

 

As you said, Baker, Tammy, Fixtures, LJ etc 

He has been very very reliable 

Apologies though, wasn’t starting a rumour mill just passing on what is 99% of the time solid information. 

You reds, we go again 

But I suspect we had different sources.  In fact, I'm sure we did!

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, DaveInSA said:

I'd be sick as well if I had Nige's job.

Recruitment

Manager

Coach

No budget

Players who aren't good enough

He's like a blindfolded, one-armed man, in a gun fight, armed with a butter knife.

 

He’d still fight off those dogs in Transylvania!

1 hour ago, JonDolman said:

Did Gould actually say it's long covid or did it say it might be?

GT - Nigel, how is he health-wise?

RG - he’s not been well, clearly, he’s missed 3 games, and he’s been, yeah, he’s missed a few weeks for us, he’s spending some more time away at the moment and we are hoping for a full and quick recovery

GT - bless him he’s had Covid twice, what is the nature of his illness?

RG - I mean, argh, uhh, who knows with long-Covid…even the doctors aren’t clear are they…in fact…Nigel is normally so full of energy and enthusiasm, and he’s a strong character….and when you lose your energy for whatever reason, it hits you hard.

Just played that bit back.

[Bodiesaffer]

The vote of confidence speech gone wrong to me.  Basically, NP is not in good Health, or that’s what we are being told.   I get the feeling they already know the answer that he’s not returning, but don’t want to tell the world until they’ve got a replacement.  The excuse works for both parties.

[Ronnie Sinclair]

9 minutes ago, GlastonburyRed said:

Why are things never, ever simple at City?!

the club is infested with incompetence, from top to bottom

[Phileas Fogg]

3 minutes ago, Bodiesaffer said:

The vote of confidence speech gone wrong to me.  Basically, NP is not in good Health, or that’s what we are being told.   I get the feeling they already know the answer that he’s not returning, but don’t want to tell the world until they’ve got a replacement.  The excuse works for both parties.

Agreed, got that impression also. It could be Gould’s style, but that’s the impression I got.

[Tomo]

I don't think we will see Nige back unfortunately (or fortunately for some), 

The defining "NO" answer from RG when asked whether they had any plans of potentially bringing in Craig Shakespeare points to NP not returning. Just my opinion. 

I think Nige would want him at the club, now he is a free agent!

 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, HappyClapper said:

Just watched the club interview with Gould on YouTube. Basically talks through the situation in a measured way. Interesting and things I picked up.

Gould

1. Nige hasn’t been around much since the last international break 

My take

Seems that everyone is a little shaken by it. Destabilising and might account for the malaise of the past few weeks.

Gould

2. Looking to improve the squad from within and through recruitment. The current situation means that some plans will be brought forward, but still looking for value.

My take

So some recruitment in January if we can get the right players. Sounded like they might have targets identified for the summer but will see which, if any they can bring forward. 
 

Looked absolutely aghast at the prospect of relegation, so at least we won’t sleepwalk towards it without measures being taken. 

Point 1 is much more informative than what he said on radio.

Will watch later.  Thanks

[054123]

26 minutes ago, Bs4Red said:

Cheers mate, like I said, I trust the bloke. He’s got 1 thing wrong but a hell of a lot right. 

It happens and will probably happen again, I post on here because I love city like many people. 

Whether it happened today or not certainly made for interesting reading and a lot of interesting points.

 

As you said, Baker, Tammy, Fixtures, LJ etc 

He has been very very reliable 

Apologies though, wasn’t starting a rumour mill just passing on what is 99% of the time solid information. 

You reds, we go again 

I appreciate Nige hasn’t ‘gone’ today. But I think it’s been a funny day to put it politely and the interview did nothing to suggest that Nige definitely wants to, or indeed is, staying.

Maybe yours and @Davefevs source was passing on good information at the time? It’s not an unrealistic assumption.

Edited November 8, 2021 by 054123

[Numero Uno]

18 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I think it’s more that RG requested the interview, but hadn’t really thought through the answers, or more how his answers would be interpreted / misinterpreted.  It’s ok giving strong opinion from a club that they want Nige to continue, but he could be equally strong that Nige wants to continue too, but will be dictated by his health….even if either side of that coin aren’t strictly true.  It’s not like he’s been caught with no preparation time.

Thats my view anyway.

 

I understand where people are coming from but to me that's all fancy stuff in terms of how the message is conveyed and it doesn't really matter right now because what does really, really matter is happens next at the training ground and on the pitch. We have a Manager who is out of action for the foreseeable and if he is to have a future here needs to be given the correct amount of time to improve his health. This leaves an Assistant Manager running the show plus Alex Ball. That is our First team Staff on the management and coaching side and it's a first team that needs a hell of a lot of coaching right now together with a lot of one to one conversations between staff and players to re-focus minds, Saturday made that plainly obvious. We can't be giving the gutless tossers we have playing for us days off because we have hit a bit of a tricky situation. The ones left in Bristol need to be in working......and working bloody hard.

We are in a bit of a pickle now and this is the first test that Richard Gould has had to deal with........and it's about as hard a first test as you could ask for in truth. We need to see a plan delivered quickly and clearly implemented over the next 6 weeks and that means reinforcements on the coaching side of things. If we do things the usual Steve Lansdown trademark way of pretty much **** all for 6-8 weeks and then act out of desperation when it's far too late we will end up sleepwalking our way out of this league with barely a whimper.

[Bristol Rob]

So, several hours in and aside from no pressure conference, we are all still none the wiser and speculating.

Love it.

Hope the big fella makes a full recovery and does whatever is right for him and his family. Hopefully that includes a fully fit and focused NP continuing to manage the side, but if it isn't right and his doesn't want to be living and working remotely and alone when feeling shit, you can't blame him.

 

[E.G.Red]

1 hour ago, OddBallJim said:

It is concerning, to say the least, that NP is unwell enough to be on 'indefinite leave'. I wish him a speedy recovery, but the cynic in me says that we have seen the last of him as manager.

As I mentioned earlier, this is giving me nightmare-ish déjà vu from the totally bizarre period of time leading up to (and including) Steve Coppell's departure - which IIRC was also mired by huge amounts of speculation but ultimately attributed to poor mental/physical health?

Unfortunately 'indefinite leave' appears to be a common feature for many with long covid. You feel better and then you are knocked back again.  You only have to look at Steve Cotterill .

Edited November 8, 2021 by E.G.Red

[Dunc]

10 minutes ago, Dolman_Stand said:

At this moment in time that "problem" would be nice to have!

At the moment Lansdown can't know which way to turn, he won't be able to or probably doesn't even want "sack" Pearson but can't let this drift on and on...who knows when NP will be back and even if it is within the next month this situation may well happen again this season.

One option would be Colin till end of the season but given we wouldn't have a long term commitment with him are the players really going to buy into his way of management (given there performances to date I doubt Pep could get them going), also who signs the players in January? What if NP / NW can't agree on the recruitment process, who does SL back?

The other option would be to bring in Shakespeare as his trusted right hand man until NP is back but if we go down it's another compensation we need to pay.

Absolute fucksmuddle of a situation that from where I'm sat is likely to end up in some kind of legal dispute, my gut feel is the club is hoping NP makes the decision for them but time will be running out in a week or so. I would imagine there are all kinds of conversations going on at the moment behind the scenes about which way to go hence RG's holding interview tonight.

Run out of likes but spot on analysis in my view. I don't envy anyone involved. Not an easy solution.

[ChippenhamRed]

Deary me. Just caught up with the interview. Not exactly Churchillian was it. Where’s the rallying cry? The inspiration? The enthusiasm? The determination?

No doubt Jon Lansdown will be along next, sounding like he’s about to cry like he always does.

It’s all so flat, so uninspired, so dull, so cosy and comfortable. We are a club bereft of good, strong leadership. That transcends the manager of the football team and is a big part of our problem as a club.

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I understand where people are coming from but to me that's all fancy stuff in terms of how the message is conveyed and it doesn't really matter right now because what does really, really matter is happens next at the training ground and on the pitch. We have a Manager who is out of action for the foreseeable and if he is to have a future here needs to be given the correct amount of time to improve his health. This leaves an Assistant Manager running the show plus Alex Ball. That is our First team Staff on the management and coaching side and it's a first team that needs a hell of a lot of coaching right now together with a lot of one to one conversations between staff and players to re-focus minds, Saturday made that plainly obvious. We can't be giving the gutless tossers we have playing for us days off because we have hit a bit of a tricky situation. The ones left in Bristol need to be in working......and working bloody hard.

We are in a bit of a pickle now and this is the first test that Richard Gould has had to deal with........and it's about as hard a first test as you could ask for in truth. We need to see a plan delivered quickly and clearly implemented over the next 6 weeks and that means reinforcements on the coaching side of things. If we do things the usual Steve Lansdown trademark way of pretty much **** all for 6-8 weeks and then act out of desperation when it's far too late we will end up sleepwalking our way out of this league with barely a whimper.

Playing devils advocate, thinking out loud too….lots of posts about Nige unable to motivate, unable to set a game plan, etc.

Lots of two plus twos coming up.

Could the reason be that he’s not been around much as per @HappyClapper’s summary of the club video (I haven’t seen yet) and the players have missed his direction.

Was the feedback that KD and PS couldn’t step up, hence they’ve gone.

Was that why CF was made permanent to keep the message clear, even if Nige not there.

Was that why Alex Ball has stepped up, because he could deliver what Nige wanted, having spent some time covering PS earlier.

Obviously hoping Nige makes a full recovery, but in a perverse way feel more comforted by the video comments than the radio interview.

[BasSavage88]

4 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

No doubt Jon Lansdown will be along next, sounding like he’s about to cry like he always does.

Like **** Master unqualified comes out at a time like this 

Hes been hiding for months