Merrick's Marvels

As a big Pearson fan, I don't want to believe there's a serious rift between manager and owner! Pearson might accuse me of being an ostrich though !!!

I completely agree. Is it playing games though or trying the same with Bell as he did with Scott? Just shows how good Scott is

We would but most of the reasons for that would not be of Pearson's making but due to problems he inherited. Given enough time he'll sort those problems. We have a massive summer ahead of us. Get that wrong and we'll be staring down the barrel.

I know what you're saying and, if you looked at today's game in isolation, you'd have no argument from me. But maybe the manager is looking at the big picture, trying to balance winning games now with taking the long view and find out which of our youngsters will be our future. We are safe from relegation, after all. And when else is he going to have the chance to play the likes of Bell in a meaningful fixture, anywhere in the team never mind in his preferred position up front? He's attempting an unenviable juggling act, trying to square the circle of results now and developing youngsters at the same time. And today's defeat wasn't just down to Bell surely? But in isolation, I agree Bell at full back is madness. Was at the Cov game and saw enough in that to decide I'd personally never play him there again. But his selection is about more than winning any given game at the moment. Bloody rubbish result but there we are. Shit result shit season but we ain't going down.

You could have asked that question at any time in the last 40 years, in fact any time since 1909. So what's your point? Come on, spit out.

Decent team that, about the best available. Add a couple of full backs and we're in business.

What is the handball rule these days? Darned if I know.

And then there were... even fewer nodding dogs. Thanks for your service.

Agreed. Still feel it was a bit soft and our young uns might have done a bit better but that's what you get sometimes with young uns! And there's no denying the quality of the finish - I thought we'd got away with it for a second because he didn't control it perfectly... but then he buried it, beautifully! The bastard. As for the defence splitting pass - remember them??? No, me neither!

There's always 2 sides to every story. Over in Coventry they're drooling about a "defence splitting pass" and a striker who "finished with aplomb". Sometimes you're just undone by good play. Albeit, the sight of Benarous and Bell looking at each sheepishly after the goal went in, as if to say "was that your fault or mine?", is still fresh in my mind and it did feel a bit of a soft one to concede! Hey ho, onwards and upwards.

Dare we dream of Williams and James on the same pitch before the end of the season?? OK let's not be greedy - maybe not a full 90 just yet - but what's not to like with that combo: technique, nous, aggression! Add Alex Scott and we're cooking on gas.

Splendid news.

I agree completely. But how was he going to find this out, without at some point picking O'Leary??

It's called competition for places. Now we just need it in every other position too.

This is factually correct. We could take some sustenance from it, if only just being in the Championship was the height of our ambition. But no, we are constantly told top 6 is the aim, the Premier League is the aim. We are told this by the owner himself. Curiously, whenever the owner fails to deliver on his stated aims, it's always someone else's fault, someone else who gets the sack. Curiously, criticism of the owner for failing to deliver his own stated aims, after 26 years having a go at it, is frowned upon. But yes, being a Tier 2 club for 13 out of the last 15 seasons is - historically - good going for BCFC. If just being a Championship club is what floats your boat.

Huh? That's what I said!

My question would be - why would anyone trust what MA says? I strongly suspect this is how it went down: 1. SL tells MA to add LJ's name to the shortlist of candidates for new manager 2. Reading the room correctly, MA understands LJ is SL's preferred choice 3. So MA interviews LJ 4. Amazingly, MA pronounces LJ the standout candidate and MA has no hesitation in recommending him to SL as the new manager (knowing full well SL wanted LJ all along and would have over-ruled him anyway even if MA had been daft enough to propose an alternative candidate (Appleton) - but MA isn't that daft, he knows what's good for his own position) 5. SL appoints LJ

I don't think there's any doubt about the highlighted bit above, at all. He's the owner's mouth piece, just a more acceptable one to our ears than his predecessor.

My initial reaction, too. Think we might be blowing this out of proportion on here. Certainly hope so, anyway. Pearson's "bonkers" comment seemed light hearted and throwaway rather than a deliberate, provocative rebuke of his employer - he might be straight talking but he isn't looking to get sacked! And I agree with you about the Chairman - I think his comments about us under-performing might have been him speaking as a fan (he is one too!) and expressing, perhaps badly, his exasperation at the leads we've squandered and the goals we've conceded late on, without which we'd be much higher in the table. An exasperation we all share - including the manager. Fingers crossed it's that, anyway. Would be madness to lose such a highly qualified manager whose professional attributes are just what we need right now, even if his personality sometimes rubs people up the wrong way. The BCFC family + Nigel Pearson both have so much to gain by making this journey together work. If we hit bumps in the road along the way, we need to smooth them over, not throw our toys out the pram - the prize at the end, for both, is too great for that.

Good info. Thanks. Ed Pearce spent most of his career at Gloucester but was a fine player for Bristol in the all too brief time he was here. I can only hope his cousin makes the same sort of impact as Ed did, should he join.

Good to hear this is being addressed. Was worried the cost cutting might include skimping on the obvious area we need to invest in - a proper, fit for purpose recruitment team headed up by a professional, not a wannabe with a laptop.

I admire anyone who speaks truth to power. The fact it's to his employer makes me like Pearson even more.

Which might give him some insight/expertise about the matter? Don't get me wrong, I have no time for him or this radio station but @chinapig nailed it - it's special pleading on our part. Our excuses are just that - excuses. My question to Jon Lansdown would be - "so which player(s) were you going to sell for squillions of quid, then, if only it hadn't been for that pesky covid?" We've dug a hole for ourselves, we need to get ourselves out of it - most likely that will mean selling someone we'd rather not. I don't blame him for trying to avoid this by making the arguments he is. I just don't think he'll be successful. Perhaps once every club has published their accounts, more clubs will be singing the same tune and our argument will carry more weight and we might even win the day. But how long might this take? Too long I suspect - we can't wait indefinitely, we have to get our books in order asap, i.e. sell someone in the summer. Perhaps the strategy is to let all the ooc players leave in the summer - plus offload Wells/Palmer or both - and squeak inside FFP this season. Then spend next season making our case to the EFL that we should be allowed greater covid losses, an argument hopefully supported by several other clubs who find themselves in the same boat as us. If that argument still fails, sell a valuable young un next summer. We're an easy target at the moment, having published accounts well ahead of most others who are still to show their hand. I still think our argument is special pleading though.

Nice lad, good attitude, decent technique, full of potential but... weak, passive, error prone and has failed to "train on". Who am I referring to? Answer - too many of them but certainly Moore, Vyner and O'Dowda. Please do the decent thing, put us all out of our misery, and retire to the library with the service revolver.

I sincerely hope you're right but why do you think he won't be at City next season? He's under contract and I can't think of a single club who'd want him, not at the level he'd be interested in playing at anyway.