Pearson

[JoeAman08]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

They’re still trotting out the season on season progress….where did it get us?

HERE.

A club fighting for its Championship status with eff-all money to recover.  A CEO long gone, courting investors for another club whilst working here.

I’m fed up of the entitlement of certain posters every Saturday evening when they come on here demanding the manager gets sacked.  I want us to play better, but we are still in recovery mode.  We should be grateful we have a manager and CEO with zero-Ego trying to recover this club.

I don’t think some of our fans deserve them.  
 

We don’t deserve them? How can you justify them deserving us? 24000 at sunderland. 13000 season cards. 1000+ and hull and wigan away. 
 

I don’t think there is an entitlement. We want to see some tangible progress on the pitch. No doubt the club has been up against it and it has gotten better off the pitch. Surely that is Gould’s credit then? NP has gotten players he has wanted for 2 summers now. We still have the same problems in the league. 

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Possibly,  who knows. 

Our "better manager" now at the helm isn't really pushing your cause forward as a shining example of 2hat can be achieved with a bit more experience. 

LJ had to go,  come the end - but my god,  wasn't it nice to actually turn up to games thinking that we might be able to win them,  rather than having to settle for the odd,  very seldom,  scrappy victory..? 

That experience has bought us another season in the second tier.

[cityexile]

12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

They’re still trotting out the season on season progress….where did it get us?

HERE.

A club fighting for its Championship status with eff-all money to recover.  A CEO long gone, courting investors for another club whilst working here.

I’m fed up of the entitlement of certain posters every Saturday evening when they come on here demanding the manager gets sacked.  I want us to play better, but we are still in recovery mode.  We should be grateful we have a manager and CEO with zero-Ego trying to recover this club.

I don’t think some of our fans deserve them.  
 

Three games is to small a sample this season for sure. Today we were second best in the second half for large parts, but looking back, Conway hit a post and arguably had the best chance to win it. Thought we kept working to the end.

First half, they really should have been down to ten and Conway had two decent shouts for a penalty. I though both could have been and the second was. We all can play football manager...for me he is not great with the subs when players are clearly tiring, 

No real complaints today. Plenty of struggling sides say this of course, but we do need a break. The art is getting through this season, Don’t know if we will, but that is the aim.

Edited August 13, 2022 by cityexile

[hollydog]

39 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

I think anyone with an ounce of grey matter will acknowledge that Pearson has had a difficult job. Trim the wage bill, not much wriggle room in bringing in players he wants.

I am concerned about how very basic mistakes seem to be happening over-and-over and our shape isn't great and to a degree (with a notable Austrian exception) we don't even seem as fit over 90+ minutes as other sides. 

I confess I do worry about the coaching. I had gone with the received wisdom that Pearson could coach a decent player and make him special, but we seem to not really be developing but accepting that we are one of the weakest sides in the division.  Maybe it'll all click into place with Semenyo and Kalas's return, but fans seem to be very accepting of mediocre results against not-that-special sides.

If the end of last season gave me hope, the beginning of this one is filling me with a vague sense of foreboding.  I don't even want to ponder where we'd be this season if Weimann gets injured. 

This is a good summary.

My worry is that we look much the same as we did last year. Poor defensive unit with individuals prone to mistakes. Inability to keep a clean sheet or protect a lead - we’ve been ahead into the second half of all three of our league genes - and over reliance on Weimann’s goals and apparent lack of fitness in late stages of games. 

[Davefevs]

Just now, JoeAman08 said:

We don’t deserve them? How can you justify them deserving us? 24000 at sunderland. 13000 season cards. 1000+ and hull and wigan away. 
 

I don’t think there is an entitlement. We want to see some tangible progress on the pitch. No doubt the club has been up against it and it has gotten better off the pitch. Surely that is Gould’s credit then? NP has gotten players he has wanted for 2 summers now. We still have the same problems in the league. 

Certain OTIBers aren’t 24k for Sunderland and 13k season cards.  Some of them might be amongst them I guess.  The wallow in negativity Joe.  They can’t wait to jump on and apportion blame.

[Bar BS3]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

And it cost us millions of pounds for that failure.  Someone had to pick up the disaster-zone….whilst the two main protagonists are elsewhere.

We sold millions aswell as spend them - but yes,  agreed generally. 

If you are satisfied with the job NP is doing & think we are showing signs of progress & recovery from the Ashton debacle,  then that's great. 

I envy your lack of stress at watching us the utterly infuriating tripe that NP has produced,  despite having some perfectly decent players at this level,  for the past 18 months. 

[The Fat Controller]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

But never went more than 4 games winless.

Progress is slow.

I enjoy it more than boom and bust of the previous regime….that failed in its objectives…because that’s why they kept getting another player….just one more Steve, one more, then we’ll be alright.  We kidded ourselves.  They conned SL and us fans….and we harp back to it and great.  It wasn’t.  It was a disaster that caught up with us.

 

Where do you draw the line under the previous regime?

[Banjo Red]

We look great going foward at times but equally lack a cutting edge when on top. Defensively we are a shambles we keep conceding poor goals through unforced errors. 

Pearson has got the wage bill down and players out, but seems to be sticking with a system that isn't working. Time will tell if he is the right man but it is looking very deja vu to last season.

 

[One Team]

21 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

(Piggybacking on you Q…but to all City fans on here, not you per se)

A manager who was happy to take on a shit-fest of a situation, have players leave OOC with little to no money to reinvest.

There’s your answer.

He deserves loads of time imho.  He’s rebuilding a club for the club…not himself.  People should be a bit more grateful.

The CEO pissed off, remember that, courting a set of owners for another team…don’t forget that.

We are competitive under Pearson, it’s hard work getting points in the Champ.  We are fighting an unknown transfer window, hoping to be in-tact when it ends.

Get behind him, be grateful we finished in the Championship last season, rather than going down…that’s the history of Bristol City, get into Champ for a few seasons then wallow as a 3rd tier club too big to be in it, but who takes several seasons to get back up.

We are so entitled.  We can’t wait to blame a player, we can’t wait to blame the manager.  Have a word with yourself.  

Bravo, standing ovation from me sir!

[Numero Uno]

4 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Possibly,  who knows. 

Our "better manager" now at the helm isn't really pushing your cause forward as a shining example of 2hat can be achieved with a bit more experience. 

LJ had to go,  come the end - but my god,  wasn't it nice to actually turn up to games thinking that we might be able to win them,  rather than having to settle for the odd,  very seldom,  scrappy victory..? 

Bullshit and rose tinted. The last 18 months of Johnson’s reign was a borefest. We regularly got battered and won games. The truth is we are paying the price for the Owner getting fooled (no other word for it) by Mark Ashton. Johnson started to pay the price, Holden continued it and now we have an experienced Manager and CEO picking up the worst financial situation we’ve had under Steve Lansdown who has made a complete horlicks of things.

I bet Nige wishes he could sign players on £20K per week like yer best mate Johnson was able to.

[Numero Uno]

5 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

We don’t deserve them? How can you justify them deserving us? 24000 at sunderland. 13000 season cards. 1000+ and hull and wigan away. 
 

I don’t think there is an entitlement. We want to see some tangible progress on the pitch. No doubt the club has been up against it and it has gotten better off the pitch. Surely that is Gould’s credit then? NP has gotten players he has wanted for 2 summers now. We still have the same problems in the league. 

No, he has brought in players to fit our budget not the same as bringing in the players “you want”.

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, sinenomine said:

Where do you draw the line under the previous regime?

Where?

or when?

(serious question btw)

Where - somewhere between the LJ going and MA going….probably MA going if I’m being honest. Absolute Charlatan.

When - probably next summer when the contracts of all those players are either renegotiated or complete, and we are genuinely with Pearson’s players, I.e. the ones he wants, not those he inherited.

Hope that makes sense.

[MarcusX]

1 hour ago, Andy082005 said:

‘Yesterdays manager’

Football has moved on in the last few years. Managers who got success a few years ago have not evolved their styles and they can no longer cut it 

Time to move him on. This team look worse now then when he took over . He’s been an absolute shambles

I couldn’t go past this without commenting, no way are we worse now than when he took over.

[Bar BS3]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That experience has bought us another season in the second tier.

I'd say that Andi Wiemann having the season of his life gave us that,  despite NP's input,  rather than because of it. 

NP has had the luxury of players like Wiemann being fit throughout his time in charge - as opposed to Holden,  who had a crippling injury list to contend with aswell as all the other problems that you've previously mentioned. 

Whats baffling me is,  if we are just treading water until all our older players run their contracts down,  then why not stick with Dean "cheap option' Holden to do that - rather than get a higher profile manager in to do it,  whilst accepting the inconsistent dross that he's responsible for...? 

 

[Davefevs]

Just now, MarcusX said:

I couldn’t go past this without commenting, no way are we worse now than when he took over.

Thank you….people forget we went backwards massively that summer….to go forward.

[maxjak]

26 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

LJ also had to sell every decent player that we had..! 

Come on,  you know that aswell,  surely. 

Just saying that LJ spend loads of money is a very one sided,  lazy,  cock eyed version of reality. 

Very true........I really do not blame LJ.   The problem all along was SL allowing Ashton to turn our club into his own personal  Fiefdom?  How the hell could Johnson bulld a side capable of promotion, when every important and outstanding squad member was sold as soon as a bid was made?.................... Reid, Webster, Kelly, Bryant, Brownnhill.......the list goes on and on?  If he could have kept our team together, who knows what he could have achieved?   .  LJ had no chance! 

Edited August 13, 2022 by maxjak

[bearded_red]

Is there any level of financial mess we could have been left in before some people still fail to realise just how absurdly the club was run by the chancers Ashton and Johnson.

 

[Numero Uno]

12 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

We don’t deserve them? How can you justify them deserving us? 24000 at sunderland. 13000 season cards. 1000+ and hull and wigan away. 
 

I don’t think there is an entitlement. We want to see some tangible progress on the pitch. No doubt the club has been up against it and it has gotten better off the pitch. Surely that is Gould’s credit then? NP has gotten players he has wanted for 2 summers now. We still have the same problems in the league. 

Thinking a draw away from home in the Championship is a disaster does smack of entitlement, no doubt about it.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Numero Uno

[GrahamC]

26 minutes ago, RudiRed said:

How much of an impact have Pearson signings had? How much has he improved the players he has.....weimann semenyo no doubt, the others? Have some regressed under him?

He hasn't had the resources of other managers, I never said he did, my point was whether he was making the best of what he does have, not for me.

So, let’s go though them;

James, not exactly popular on here, but boy do we miss him when he doesn’t play.

Weimann, where do you begin? Was close to joining Stoke last summer, the very astute clincher of a third year stopped all that, on his way to being remembered as an all time great, 25 goals in his last 49 league games!

Baker, personally I wouldn’t have resigned him, but no-one could have predicted what has happened, just a sad story.

Atkinson, only significant fee paid, looks like he is a very smart pick up, at 24 could easily be a big money sale in a year or two.

King, cheap, clearly known by the manager, struggled with injury but as today showed, could still have a part to play.

Tanner, promising L2 defender, he looks ok to me.

Very early to judge Naismith, Wilson or Sykes (Bajic hasn’t played at all), do I look at any of them & think on a free transfer they don’t make sense? Nope.

Edited August 13, 2022 by GrahamC

[MarcusX]

9 minutes ago, cityexile said:

Three games is to small a sample this season for sure. Today we were second best in the second half for large parts, but looking back, Conway hit a post and arguably had the best chance to win it. Thought we kept working to the end.

First half, they really should have been down to ten and Conway had two decent shouts for a penalty. I though both could have been and the second was. We all can play football manager...for me he is not great with the subs when players are clearly tiring, 

No real complaints today. Plenty of struggling sides say this of course, but we do need a break. The art is getting through this season, Don’t know if we will, but that is the aim.

It’s fine margins. In the play off final season we put out some poor performances it’s just more often than not we got the bit of luck or the right side of that fine line, late winners / equalisers seemed quite common.

Dont get me wrong that team had a lot of fight but a lot of luck too. No one really talks about performances when you win though, certainly not years later

[Red Exile]

5 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Possibly,  who knows. 

Our "better manager" now at the helm isn't really pushing your cause forward as a shining example of 2hat can be achieved with a bit more experience. 

LJ had to go,  come the end - but my god,  wasn't it nice to actually turn up to games thinking that we might be able to win them,  rather than having to settle for the odd,  very seldom,  scrappy victory..? 

To your last point - yes...but let's not forget that we went on seemingly endless and inexplicable losing streaks, how can anyone account for the collapse after that Wolves match? Streaky Lee - he joked about it. There are no guarantees of anything but a more ambitious owner would have gone for someone with a track record of achieving what he said he wanted to achieve. Lee Johnson was given the job, and kept in it, because he was Lansdown's family friend. He had no experience of achieving promotion at any side he'd ever managed - and still doesn't! 450+ matches.

Look, we're all City fans and want the best for the club. I watched City walk off the pitch having been relegated from the top flight over 40 years ago, I've travelled the length and breadth of the country watching them since. A full working lifetime later they're nowhere near a return. The Lee Johnson/Mark Ashton era was the opportunity - a massive opportunity blown.

Pearson is managing a totally different situation. As I'm sure you appreciate.

[JoeAman08]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Certain OTIBers aren’t 24k for Sunderland and 13k season cards.  Some of them might be amongst them I guess.  The wallow in negativity Joe.  They can’t wait to jump on and apportion blame.

Maybe. I know from my point of view and the lads I watch city with are just frustrated with the lack of progress. We never expected top 6 but more to be a bit more solid and still be a goal threat. At the minute the defending is no better while the goals are fine. Naturally blame will be directed at someone(Vyner, Martin, Pearson) but again I believe that is frustration for 99% of us on here. Maybe there are more on here that like the negativity and I am naive. Just feel like you can’t blame a lot of people being frustrated after 3 pretty poor seasons and a pandemic. 

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

Is there any level of financial mess we could have been left in before some people still fail to realise just how absurdly the club was run by the chancers Ashton and Johnson.

 

None so blind as them that won’t see.

[Bar BS3]

4 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Bullshit and rose tinted. The last 18 months of Johnson’s reign was a borefest. We regularly got battered and won games. The truth is we are paying the price for the Owner getting fooled (no other word for it) by Mark Ashton. Johnson started to pay the price, Holden continued it and now we have an experienced Manager and CEO picking up the worst financial situation we’ve had under Steve Lansdown who has made a complete horlicks of things.

I bet Nige wishes he could sign players on £20K per week like yer best mate Johnson was able to.

Yes,  I bet he does wish he could do that. 

Maybe if he could get something out of the players he does have at his disposal,  or could get senior players to sign new contracts,  or gave anyone,  anywhere,  any faith that he has some kind of game plan - he'd probably feel more confident in asking for a better transfer budget. 

Anyway - genuinely bored of the discussion now. 

I don't think that NP is doing a very good job. 

You do. 

Great! Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

[The Fat Controller]

Just now, Davefevs said:

Where?

or when?

(serious question btw)

Where - somewhere between the LJ going and MA going….probably MA going if I’m being honest. Absolute Charlatan.

When - probably next summer when the contracts of all those players are either renegotiated or complete, and we are genuinely with Pearson’s players, I.e. the ones he wants, not those he inherited.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks. I did mean when. 

I'd argue that that is too long though. All managers have to deal with players they don't want. Many managers have to deal with a lack of funds. 

Pearson has signed lots of players he does want and has a number of very useful inherited players. He has to take some responsibility for the way we continue to drop points from winning positions, the way we sit deeper and deeper and invite pressure - which is surprising given the way he was as a player. 

 

[Edgy Red]

25 minutes ago, mozo said:

A very 2022 thread; polarised.

I'm more in the middle. 

Yes, NP inherited a shitshow.

But he also hasn't been perfect. Some decisions have been odd.

He's perfectly deserving of both praise and criticism, in moderation. As are most people. 

The most balanced post on here by a long way

[Numero Uno]

4 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

I'd say that Andi Wiemann having the season of his life gave us that,  despite NP's input,  rather than because of it. 

NP has had the luxury of players like Wiemann being fit throughout his time in charge - as opposed to Holden,  who had a crippling injury list to contend with aswell as all the other problems that you've previously mentioned. 

Whats baffling me is,  if we are just treading water until all our older players run their contracts down,  then why not stick with Dean "cheap option' Holden to do that - rather than get a higher profile manager in to do it,  whilst accepting the inconsistent dross that he's responsible for...? 

 

So Weimann having the season of his life is no credit to NP but his previous 6-8 goals per season was no fault of LJ either……………..

[real_bristol]

He asked for 3 years and signed a contract to that effect. That contract expires at the end of next season. We’re all expecting an improvement on last season and that still might come. I would imagine we would need to be on a  significant run of losses for SL to even consider paying off his contract (keep in mind our finances). Lansdown appears to have promised him time and I for one support that as of now.
Today was a weird game. If Conway finishes we could have won it. A point away at Wigan, who have momentum from being L1 champions, this early in the season, is not to be sniffed at. A draw is an improvement  on the last two games and based on that we could be on an upward trajectory. A few things need to click in place on the pitch but I don’t think we are far from seeing that. Sacking him now would be a backward step.

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Yes,  I bet he does wish he could do that. 

Maybe if he could get something out of the players he does have at his disposal,  or could get senior players to sign new contracts,  or gave anyone,  anywhere,  any faith that he has some kind of game plan - he'd probably feel more confident in asking for a better transfer budget. 

Anyway - genuinely bored of the discussion now. 

I don't think that NP is doing a very good job. 

You do. 

Great! Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Will do.

[Loosey Boy]

3 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

So, let’s go though them;

James, not exactly popular on here, but boy do we miss him when he doesn’t play.

Weimann, where do you begin? Was close to joining Stoke last summer, the very astute clincher of a third year stopped all that, on his way to being remembered as an all time great, 25 goals in his last 49 league games!

Baker, personally I wouldn’t have resigned him, but no-one could have predicted what has happened, just a sad story.

Atkinson, only significant fee paid, looks like he is a very smart pick up, at 24 could easily be a big money sale in a year or two.

King, cheap, clearly known by the manager, struggled with injury but as today showed, could still have a part to play.

Tanner, promising L2 defender, he looks ok to me.

Very early to judge Naismith, Wilson or Sykes (Bajic hasn’t played at all), do I look at any of them & think on a free transfer they don’t make sense? Nope.

Good post @GrahamC