Piercy article in the Post

[Davefevs]

32 minutes ago, RalphMilnesLeftFoot said:

Thanks for telling me my own thoughts see BIB, what is it with this place and people trying to tell me my own views???

I get that you saw that differently, however I saw his interview as exactly that throwing everyone to the wolves and distancing himself from the club so someone else could come and get him

You disagree, fine, but dont try to tell me what I should be thinking. 

The blind faith/cult mantra around NP is getting quite disturbing as it happens. 

However that's modern social media for you. 

But he didn’t throw everyone to the Wolves, he specifically gave praise to some players.  So, it’s quite possible you’ve not taken the right things into account in then trying to sell that view / opinion on here. I’m not telling you what you should be thinking, I’m pointing out some factual inaccuracies in what you’ve written. How you choose to interpret that is up to you.

It’s a forum, expect people to reply / debate / agree / disagree.  Ignore me if you don’t want to see my responses to you or anyone for that matter.

I have no blind faith / cult mantra in NP....all I want is a decision made. If doubts have crept in, either in results, performances, or after meeting him, then they aren’t gonna get better between now and end of the season are they?  So, SL, just get on with it.  Either appoint NP or don’t.

If you (SL) don’t, then you’ve set yourself back, then you accept the risks and issues that now introduces.  Nor should that be a reason to appoint NP either.

Im disappointed NP hasn’t done better on the pitch, but my opinion (challenge back) is that there are mitigating circumstances.  I’ll back whoever the manager is.  I would be disappointed if we miss out on someone of NP’s calibre and experience....but there are no guarantees.

[Numero Uno]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

We’ve all seen teams on losing runs, lacking in confidence, concede all manner of shit goals, from ridiculous lapses of concentration, to worldie own goals, flukey opposition shots etc.  Shit happens.

Dont get me wrong I expected NP to have a bigger impact on results, but I don’t think it’s unexpected bearing in mind the various circumstances he’s took over in.  Whether posters wish to take them into account or not is up to each poster....as it will be for SL.

It will be whatever it will be.  But hurry up and decide and then back your judgement SL....and comms that to the fans in the meantime.

Sometimes football can be as simple and as complicated as you wish to make it. I remember Harry Redknapp coming into one club who were certs for relegation and a few weeks and wins later when they started to climb out of the mire was asked what he had done to facilitate the improvement. His simple answer was I gave the players a bit of belief in themselves and the first thing I told them was "when you lose possession of the ball do what you used to do in the school playground and go and bloody run after the thing to get it back". Obviously there is a little bit more than that required, you have to "run after the ball" with discipline and method, but the message is such a simple one from a Manager who no doubt didn't immerse himself in books for hours on end on coaching and psychological behaviours.

[Simon bristol]

1 minute ago, Red_Alligator said:

That's quite a long list. Thanks. Anyone jump out for you?

Wilder. I dont know who would come, but i would certainly expect pearsons salary, plus the lure of the facilities here to be attractive to a lot of out if work managers, regardless of if they were to inherit the situation that we are in at the moment?

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Firstly, my job isnt as billionaire owner of a football club so these decisions arent mine to make.

secondly, there are obviously a list of names of manager who might or might not be available,,, we all know them. Wilder, jokanovic, robins, lampard, lennon, howe etc etc

If they are available and realistic, and SL thinks are better than NP, go get them.  Most of those names are good managers.

[Red_Alligator]

Just now, Simon bristol said:

Wilder. I dont know who would come, but i would certainly expect pearsons salary, plus the lure of the facilities here to be attractive to a lot of out if work managers, regardless of if they were to inherit the situation that we are in at the moment?

Thanks again. I'll have a look. I don't know that much about him.

[Simon bristol]

Just now, Davefevs said:

If they are available and realistic, and SL thinks are better than NP, go get them.  Most of those names are good managers.

Yes, whether they are realistic or not i dont know and whether they would come here or not i dont know, but there are people around

[steviestevieneville]

1 hour ago, Simon bristol said:

I can see the mitigating circumstances, but this weekend, the problem was players not communicating with each other according to pearson. We know they are unmotivated and crap senior professionals, but if he cant  persuade them to effectively communicate on the pitch, while still playing them for far too long, why would we take the risk of giving him a big contract on 2x holdens salary to sort us out?

Perhaps he will sort us out if hes taken on, but on the off chance it doesnt work then thats millions more thrown away on contracts for new players and back room staff.

It doesn’t happen overnight turning this around. Once the first goal goes in players go back into their shells again. You can see green shoots of recovery in other areas. Some of the first half football against Wycombe was better & the first half v Luton was much improved. Yes it’s taking a while but people have short memories. The first ten games or more for GJ was terrible as was cotts start if I remember correctly . I know fans are bored of being reminded of it but the injuries have impacted massively plus the contract situation . We’ve been in decline for about three years , this isn’t a recent thing . Ashton / LJ’s recruitment have been nothing short of a disgrace. 
Even with new players , coaches I’d only expect a mid table finish next season . It’s going to take a while to rebuild the squad . 

[steviestevieneville]

42 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

I don't think for one minute that this is true, the squad is infinitely better, although behind the scenes it's a mess.

If the injured players were fit yes but they’re not. 

[Numero Uno]

19 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Firstly, my job isnt as billionaire owner of a football club so these decisions arent mine to make.

secondly, there are obviously a list of names of manager who might or might not be available,,, we all know them. Wilder, jokanovic, robins, lampard, lennon, howe etc etc

So, given it's Steve's decision, if the decision he makes is Pearson you would accept that?

[Cowshed]

5 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Sometimes you can coach what players SHOULD DO until the cows come home and they just fail to do it. No Manager at any level is going to watch these mistakes and not try and eradicate them. Normally in such a scenario you simply replace players who aren’t able to stop repeating those behaviours but at the moment we do not have enough fit players to do that. You can’t tell me that Kalas is a novice who doesn’t know his job and needs somebody to get a coaching or behavioural manual out to explain the basics of defending set pieces and crosses  to him. He’s done it effectively enough thousands of times in his career.

You can be encouraging to players, you can shout at them, you can do a thousand training scenarios and you can show them on video what is going wrong but sometimes it doesn’t require manuals and theories to put right, on occasion players have to go out there, take personal and collective responsibility and put into practice what they already know to be the right thing to do.

And again you chose blame solely the players. 

Yes it does take a Coach to take people back to basics to create an improvement - Here is where I will make a change to deny or not denying space and here is where we will now dictate, here is the depth and we will hold here .. And yes players need to be told again and again and responses coached in. The right thing to do, or the approach alters from team to team and Manager to Manager.  Aptitudes are synched in line with players abilities to the teams play. If they are unsuitable too often change it ... This Manager came with a reputation. A reputation based upon defensive acumen.  Its been poor. His poor. Excuses. Change your lines, work the crosses, look for solutions not excuses.

Lot of excuses but no solutions and steely focus. I was expecting more of a Manager to drive improvement to create collective improvement in Bristol City's defending and attitude. He has been poor.

 

[Simon bristol]

3 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

It doesn’t happen overnight turning this around. Once the first goal goes in players go back into their shells again. You can see green shoots of recovery in other areas. Some of the first half football against Wycombe was better & the first half v Luton was much improved. Yes it’s taking a while but people have short memories. The first ten games or more for GJ was terrible as was cotts start if I remember correctly . I know fans are bored of being reminded of it but the injuries have impacted massively plus the contract situation . We’ve been in decline for about three years , this isn’t a recent thing . Ashton / LJ’s recruitment have been nothing short of a disgrace. 
Even with new players , coaches I’d only expect a mid table finish next season . It’s going to take a while to rebuild the squad . 

Yes, Unquestionably there are significant issues with injuries, poor signings and contracts. I think it needs someone to come in and galvanise the squad, give everyone who wants it a lift. 

[Red_Alligator]

3 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

And again you chose blame solely the players. 

Yes it does take a Coach to take people back to basics to create an improvement - Here is where I will make a change to deny or not denying space and here is where we will now dictate, here is the depth and we will hold here .. And yes players need to be told again and again and responses coached in. The right thing to do, or the approach alters from team to team and Manager to Manager.  Aptitudes are synched in line with players abilities to the teams play. If they are unsuitable too often change it ... This Manager came with a reputation. A reputation based upon defensive acumen.  Its been poor. His poor. Excuses. Change your lines, work the crosses, look for solutions not excuses.

Lot of excuses but no solutions and steely focus. I was expecting more of a Manager to drive improvement to create collective improvement in Bristol City's defending and attitude. He has been poor.

 

Who would be more of a Manager for you Cowshed?

[Simon bristol]

2 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

So, given it's Steve's decision, if the decision he makes is Pearson you would accept that?

Yes id accept it, every one here is either going to accept it or not when someone is appointed, theres nothing any of us can do about it.

if however it doesnt work and this run of form and performances continues next season under pearson, which im sure you would agree is certainly possible, then pearson is lansdowns pick, and there was concern based on this seasons results that he might not be the right man.

if we get off to a flyer and are at the top all season then we will all be delighted.

[steviestevieneville]

2 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Yes, Unquestionably there are significant issues with injuries, poor signings and contracts. I think it needs someone to come in and galvanise the squad, give everyone who wants it a lift. 

We have someone in now to do that. He will galvanise the squad when we’ve got rid of the OOC players . It’s undoubtably hit the squad. Someone else may come in & get brief new manager bounce but unless he’s a genius then it won’t be long term. As I said we’ve got real deep rooted problem that will take a while to fix 

[Harry]

I like James Piercy’s pieces. He’s done some decent ones of late. Seems like a switched on journo. Good for him. 
 

In the wider discussion, again, what we have here is something entirely, and I mean, absolute entirely of Steve’s own making. 
He put too much faith and control in 1 person, Ashton. Now he’s fleeing the scene of his crimes, Steve is left holding a lemon. 
My assumption would be that, given the Ashton to Ipswich rumours were known on here in January, they surely would have been known to Steve (likely earlier if Ashton was up front with Steve about the interest in him). 
At that point in time, Steve should have put in place the search for the new CEO or new DOF or whatever structure he wants in place. Failure to do so is incompetence. 
Again, we are now weeks, nay months down the line and Steve has so far, (to the best of our knowledge) made zero inroads into putting a team together. 

My understanding of the Pearson situation is that Steve is stuck. Both financially and mentally, stuck. 
If you look at Pearson’s history (in addition to his couple of months here), his record without Shakespeare isn’t great. Also, if you consider his promotion with Leicester, that team were very close to breaking FFP, so he had a big budget to play with. Steve’s dilemma should be, can Nigel bring success without a large budget and without his favoured staff? 
We then have covid finances. Steve will be looking at the 21/22 season and thinking that income will still be incredibly low, unlikely fans will be back in full, no supplemental income to derive from the way he’s netted Ashton Gate income into the City books. 
Based on those unknowns, I don’t think Steve wants to commit too much spend at the moment. He’ll be offering Pearson a 12 month rolling contract whereas Nige will want 3 or even 4 years. 
They may come to a compromise but given the finances, I am now beginning to doubt that Steve will also let Nige have free reign on bringing in lots of his own staff. It could be, ok have a 2 year deal with a year option, but you work with what you’ve got (Simpson, Downing etc). 
 

I honestly think Steve is stuck. He wants Nige, but knows his past isn’t great without a big budget and his own personnel. Is this holding him back? 
 

Ultimately, Steve is in a mess of his own making, by putting 1 person in control of everything. 
We are now already falling behind in summer recruitment.  I’ve spoken to some agents today - things have gone very very quiet from BCFC. We currently have no one who is dealing with agents, putting in place the early conversations for summer movements. Other clubs are putting the groundwork in now. We are quiet. Because we had 1 person who did everything and he’s no longer doing it. 
 

Steve really needs to make his mind up asap. We can’t be dithering much longer. We’re putting ourselves into a corner where players will be going to other clubs and we’ll end up having to extend the failures we’ve got out of contract. I wonder what sort of meltdown there would be if we end up extending Baker, Weimann, Hunt, Watkins, Rowe, Simpson, Mariappa etc. Same squad as this year, very few additions because we had no one dealing with the agents. 
 

Steve needs to get on top of this urgently. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, I can see a relegation on the cards next year. We have to thank our lucky stars we didn’t go down this year. If the season was 4 more games, we’d be gone. We are the worst team in the league. And we currently have no manager, no one dealing with recruitment, half the team due to leave and none being lined up to replace them. 
 

Some people will say “don’t panic, the window isn’t even open yet”. Well, prepping for the window and having early conversations with agents is happening now. And we’re not currently attending that party. 
 

We need action now Steve. You can’t dilly-dally on this one any longer. Either appoint Pearson now, or let him go now and bring in who you fancied last year but wasn’t available (he’s seemed very keen to tell us that there was someone he wanted). 
 

 

[Numero Uno]

10 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

And again you chose blame solely the players. 

Yes it does take a Coach to take people back to basics to create an improvement - Here is where I will make a change to deny or not denying space and here is where we will now dictate, here is the depth and we will hold here .. And yes players need to be told again and again and responses coached in. The right thing to do, or the approach alters from team to team and Manager to Manager.  Aptitudes are synched in line with players abilities to the teams play. If they are unsuitable too often change it ... This Manager came with a reputation. A reputation based upon defensive acumen.  Its been poor. His poor. Excuses. Change your lines, work the crosses, look for solutions not excuses.

Lot of excuses but no solutions and steely focus. I was expecting more of a Manager to drive improvement to create collective improvement in Bristol City's defending and attitude. He has been poor.

 

How do you know he hasn't taken the players back to basics and the players just aren't doing it correctly? I am not denying that results and performances have been less than what I expected from NP because the evidence is there. I also happen to think that changing managers every five minutes isn't going to solve everything either. In fact making a change now, if we haven't got an alternative lined up, will be an unmitigated disaster in my opinion. The man has managed good teams and achieved success and I trust him, with his own players, based on past results to make a difference. Will he be able to take us to where we want to be? Who knows? Will he improve the current mess we are in? Undoubtedly in my view.

He is managing a team with young players in it, because of the catastrophic injury situation, that aren't even ready for Championship football yet. You can coach them to death but if they aren't ready there is little you can do about that. The proof of that pudding will be when 3 or 4 of them are out getting minutes in League 1 next season, whoever is the manager. It's not always as simple as getting your coaching manual out and all the problems drift away.

[Superjack]

We have been shit for three years including the entirety of this season.

Johnson out was right. Ashton out is right. Holden in was never right.

Pearson in is right in my opinion. There needs to be changes in the dugout for next season for sure, but I don't believe the manager should be one of them.

[Rob k]

24 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

If they are available and realistic, and SL thinks are better than NP, go get them.  Most of those names are good managers.

And quickly.....

[Cowshed]

Just now, Red_Alligator said:

Who would be more of a Manager for you Cowshed?

Its not that long ago Mr Lansdown thought this squad could be top six. Well if that is still the expectation .. Jesus. 

 

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, Rob k said:

And quickly.....

That isn't what Steve does based on his entire Ownership history which suggests he will either appoint Pearson or spend so much time pontificating over who will replace him that we will be in a horrendous position next season.

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, Cowshed said:

Its not that long ago Mr Lansdown thought this squad could be top six. Well if that is still the expectation .. Jesus. 

 

If he truly thought that then I would suggest that says more about his football knowledge or his ability to have the wool pulled well and truly over his eyes by a previous manager than anything else.

[Andy082005]

6 hours ago, SecretSam said:

A fascinating read, raises some good points, but doesn't have the answers. 

Nigel Pearson isn't making it easy for Steve Lansdown as Bristol City's wait goes on

However, one point sticks out - would a "young", inexperienced manager have been given the same leeway at NP has been, and still have the overwhelming backing of the fans? Now, I'm not saying NP isn't the right choice - and there's an element of rock and hard place here - but although he's said the right things, he's still not been able to bring more out of the players.

Probably not, but the fact is NP isn't a young inexperienced manager. He has a vast array of experience, including lots of experience when it comes to turning club's fortunes around when they are on a huge downward spiral 

If he has done it a few times before, he can hopefully do it again 

[Merrick's Marvels]

23 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Wilder. I dont know who would come, but i would certainly expect pearsons salary, plus the lure of the facilities here to be attractive to a lot of out if work managers, regardless of if they were to inherit the situation that we are in at the moment?

I can see Lansdown liking Wilder as an alternative to Pearson - he will like the idea of appointing someone who took a bunch of Third Division players into the Premier League. Wilder as a cheaper version of Pearson.      

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I can see Lansdown liking Wilder as an alternative to Pearson - he will like the idea of appointing someone who took a bunch of Third Division players into the Premier League. Wilder as a cheaper version of Pearson.      

Anyone who thinks Pearson has been lobbing people under the bus will clearly not take to Chris Wilder who is certainly a bloke that pulls no punches.........think about his comments on Dean Henderson for starters (which funnily enough saw the young lad go on an outstanding run of form for pretty much the rest of the season thereafter).

[GrahamC]

5 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I can see Lansdown liking Wilder as an alternative to Pearson - he will like the idea of appointing someone who took a bunch of Third Division players into the Premier League. Wilder as a cheaper version of Pearson.      

Couple of years ago Wilder might have been cheaper but once you go sipping that Premiership champagne you aren’t going back to drinking cheap lager.

Be amazed if Wilder’s demands weren’t at least equal to Pearson’s now.

[Rob k]

4 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Anyone who thinks Pearson has been lobbing people under the bus will clearly not take to Chris Wilder who is certainly a bloke that pulls no punches.........think about his comments on Dean Henderson for starters (which funnily enough saw the young lad go on an outstanding run of form for pretty much the rest of the season thereafter).

He wasn’t that complimentary about his employers and their recruitment policy either!! God knows what he would think of ours

[Simon bristol]

10 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

We have someone in now to do that. He will galvanise the squad when we’ve got rid of the OOC players . It’s undoubtably hit the squad. Someone else may come in & get brief new manager bounce but unless he’s a genius then it won’t be long term. As I said we’ve got real deep rooted problem that will take a while to fix 

That squad will still have palmer, wells, nagy and kalas in, who are arguably 4 of the senior pros who pearson has publicly made it obvious are not doing what he wants or expects of them (along with fam hunt and rowe) and will presumably form a significant core of the squad for next season given that its unlikely anyone will be offering much money for any of them this summer.

[bcfc01]

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Couple of years ago Wilder might have been cheaper but once you go sipping that Premiership champagne you aren’t going back to drinking cheap lager.

Be amazed if Wilder’s demands weren’t at least equal to Pearson’s now.

I think Wilder would come more expensive than NP.

Which is another reason why I can't see us getting anyone of similar stature in the game.

Go on SL - prove me wrong.

Please.

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, Rob k said:

He wasn’t that complimentary about his employers and their recruitment policy either!! God knows what he would think of ours

Quite. We have people arguing that NP should go as he doesn't take responsibility and throws people under the bus and should replace him with a manager who by their standards throws people under the bus to an even greater degree (I rate Wilder btw but you get my point)...............it seems to be more a dislike of NP than any point of principle to me.

[Northern Red]

I'd take issue with the suggestion that Wilder would be cheaper. Or that he'd be obtainable, he'll have his pick of Championship and lower half PL jobs that become open this summer.