Ok, so what happens next?

[Galley is our king]

3 minutes ago, One Team said:

Absolutely nothing.

Which is why we should all calm down and let him get on with it. 

I don’t see anyone else capable or even want to get us out of this mess, least of all the some of the players. 

Agree with this and the posts about injuries.

Much better side once they come back.

[Pezo]

14 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Forgive my lack of enthusiasm but a rugby club that has been at the Gate 7-8 years and is now apparently getting a stand named after one of it's players in a stadium that has been a football ground for 120 years. I don't begrudge the rugby boys any success whatsoever and I'm glad that you do find something to get enthused about at the Gate because if you were relying on the football...................but everything happening with them sort of proves my point about the ownership of the football side of things that people are telling me I should be grateful about.

Any evidence of that.

It is still the football clubs stadium even if it's in a hold company so I would be very surprised.

[Keepers Ball]

2 minutes ago, Galley is our king said:

Agree with this and the posts about injuries.

Much better side once they come back.

We were saying that last season. 

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

I don't think we're getting relegated, but conceding 3 goals to 10 men is going to smart for a while. 

I think 2 things today,

1) Assuming he is not seriously ill then we need to stick with him, he is experienced and he's not an idiot. 

2) It's going to be a rough season with not much to cheer about. 

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, Pezo said:

Any evidence of that.

It is still the football clubs stadium even if it's in a hold company so I would be very surprised.

No evidence Mr Barrister. We'll have to wait and see. However that one point doesn't detract from my overriding point that watching football at AG right now is as boring an experience as it gets and has been for a number of seasons now. Do I need to put that assertion past the Crown Prosecution Service because if you do I'll just link the last 60 odd games played at the stadium for you to enjoy?

[GrahamC]

34 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

Looking at performances and what I feel we deserved from games I feel we should be on 12 points. So as the table stands now it would be where Hull are.

For me the performances aren't really that much worse now, but the results are now matching up to those performances. We aren't really getting the luck we were.

Obviously that's just my opinion..maybe some see the games differently. We have more points than I feel our performances deserve though.

The number of points we have is the number we deserve, it is absolute bollocks to say anything different.

You continually point out games when we were lucky but never include those when we were not.

How many points did we deserve (in your terms) from Blackpool & Forest at home?

[Red Army 75]

This naming the south stand after a rugby player. Is there any substance to this rumour. It would really piss me off if this happened 

[Pezo]

3 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

LJ had some huge financial backing . Funny enough the manager before and now after him hasn’t had that 

My understanding is that the financial backing was of both LJ and MA as a pair and they got that backing because they could within FFP and they were delivering on SL vision of selling players to make money to buying young players making them better and sell them on in the money ball kind of way that Brentford did.

Cotts didn't get backed because he wasn't trying to deliver on the vision of young and hungry players he was trying to sign top end championship winning players, Pearson isn't being backed because he can't due to FFP because MA bought a load of overinflated dross from prem teams that wanted to offload and a load of league 1/2 players that aren't cutting it.

[Pezo]

8 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

No evidence Mr Barrister. We'll have to wait and see. However that one point doesn't detract from my overriding point that watching football at AG right now is as boring an experience as it gets and has been for a number of seasons now. Do I need to put that assertion past the Crown Prosecution Service because if you do I'll just link the last 60 odd games played at the stadium for you to enjoy?

Verdict is in, guilty as charged.

[Ally1971]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

So, the general tone tonight is:

- sack Pearson

What happens next then?  What are the consequences of that action?  What is solved by that action?

I liked your suggestion on the podcast of move upstairs and use his experience to guide a young up and coming. I think we are back to where we were just before LJ started.

Don't want it to be Fleming, Lowe is the obvious one but whoever it is, I don't want to hear about work/life balance, its all in or nothing. Sorry but don't hear other Championship Managers saying this. If you want that, your perogative but don't take this role on.

[Galley is our king]

7 minutes ago, Keepers Ball said:

We were saying that last season. 

And did we get relegated last season?

Most sensible supporters I speak with expected this to be a difficult season.

Our squad is thread bear on numbers which leaves us relying on the U23 squad to fill the bench when we have injuries, like yesterday plus some were also in the team.

Do you seriously believe that the team put out yesterday would not be improved by the addition of Williams, Atkinson, James, Baker, Semenenyo and King?

When I saw the team for yesterday playing the team currently in forth place I thought we would be hammered out of sight.

What did you think when you saw the team selection?

[Simon79]

3 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

Yes I do because that's my opinion.

These results were coming because we could not keep relying on luck.

I had Blackpool and Forest games as us deserving a point in each. 

We controlled the first half against Blackpool and they deserved the equaliser in the end. They coped fine with us second 45 and had some decent chances. Pearson made the wrong in game changes in that game that lost us 2 points imo. 

Forest were the better side against us imo but even saying that I am generously saying a point would have been fair. Obviously we had bad luck with 2 decisions penalty and 2nd goal, they had bad luck with the 1 penalty not given to them.

We had not deserved to be leading imo but then we have to make the right choices to see out the game. We sat back, brought on Palmer which was the wrong move. Looked all over the place and kept giving up possession.

A goal was coming. We could all see it. 2nd had bad luck but again so unorganised to let them happen in the first place.

I think your correct. The performances have been poor consistently or 90 minutes consistency has been poor, whichever you prefer really. I think it was O’driscoll who use to talk about performance ahead of results, because he knew that sooner or later bad performances would catch up with you & I think that’s what we’re seeing now. But at the time I seem to recall a lot of fans ridiculing him for that thought process, because it was all about the result. Good football man is O’driscoll, just misunderstood. COYR 

[sh1t_ref_again]

17 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

This naming the south stand after a rugby player. Is there any substance to this rumour. It would really piss me off if this happened 

Yes the evidence is one of the anti SL brigade created a rumour on OTIB to wind people up

[TedsHeadIs Red]

35 minutes ago, bexhill reds said:

Exactly this, the performances of late have been incredibly poor, I’d argue worse than at the beginning of NP’s tenure. We only just beat Barnsley and they were by miles the better team on the day. Our league position is more to do with the shite that is around us rather than just our own abilities. I honestly can’t see what the NP regime is bringing, you occasionally see a bit of fight, but even that appears to have disappeared in the last few games. 
 

We are just over third of the way through the season, and we are relying on 2 other teams being worse than us, assuming that Derby don’t have some form of mini-resurrection. We just don’t even look like a team that can draw games, we are always going to concede, and at best we might score the odd goal ourselves. 
 

Would anyone else be able to get an immediate tune out of this lot, I’m not personally sure, if you brought in Warnock on a short term deal, he’d expect to have some players with a bit of fight but apart from one or two we’ve got nothing that fits the bill.

Maybe the analysts can come up with a “nasty bastard” algorithm in their recruitment systems in time for Jan, as we need a couple of those, forget about the ability to carry the ball from defence or if they are good human beings, this lot needs players capable of fighting for 95 minutes and making City an utterly unpleasant team to play against.

“Nasty bastard” algorithm - love it and it hits the nail on the head.

The culture of an organisation ultimately reflects the person sitting at the top.

The club is riddled with niceness.

[Taylor10]

22 minutes ago, RedM said:

I think people were critical about the appointment of Holden not because of Holden himself but they felt it would be more a continuation of the LJ situation which had gone stale. 

I too thought we needed an experienced head to take us forward, but Pearson like his players doesn’t seem overly motivated to me. Maybe his hands are tied too tightly but something doesn’t seem right or comfortable to me.

Unfortunately he has missed several games through illness which must be unhelpful and unsettling to both him and the team. Going forward the club needs to clarify if possible if this is likely to reoccur and do the best thing for him and the club. Football is a results driven business and has the harshness that attracts, we can’t carry any passengers unfortunately. And judging by the fans reactions yesterday they aren’t going to take much more either.

As I said with Holden, different circumstances but still an unproven manager at this level but my point being if Lowe came in now wouldn’t it yet again show a complete lack of direction and any sort of plan? We were all screaming for a proven manager, so what happens now? If Lowe comes in does he get a bigger budget than NP? Where’s the direction here?

Of course it’s a result driven business, we all know that. NP will know that. The only current argument I can make in his favour is that this is not his team, still a squad full of LJ players and he has had no budget, as well as the infrastructure for successful or sustainable recruitment is quite simply not there at present.

I think it’s harsh to be critical of him missing games due to covid, look at SC for example and the time he missed. Unhelpful yes, but until we know why he wasn’t present yesterday it’s unfair to assume and I’m sure NP wouldn’t carry on for the sake of it if it meant it was detrimental to his own health.

I wasn’t expecting anything other than a struggle this season. Just look at the state of the squad. Stevie Wonder would tell you this squad was always going to struggle, regardless of who’s in charge. However I didn’t expect such weak and inept performances that quite simply don’t resemble an NP side. That for me is the biggest concern I have and is what makes me question if he’s the right man or not.

[GrahamC]

16 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

This naming the south stand after a rugby player. Is there any substance to this rumour. It would really piss me off if this happened 

Me too.

[ralphindevon]

I always think in these circumstances, if I was the owner I’d be speaking to the players in confidence and asking them why they’re underperforming.

Maybe take someone in with you who can get into their heads to see what’s bothering them. 

[Taylor10]

31 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

LJ had some huge financial backing . Funny enough the manager before and now after him hasn’t had that 

Without meaning to go over old ground he has been the most backed manager in our history surely? Yes he had to sell his best players but he was given pretty much all of that money back to recruit again.

He had a huge budget during his time here. Any other side/manager in this division with those resources would at the very least have been expected to deliver a playing style/identity & to be finishing in the top 6. If we were looking on at any other club in this division with the resources he had we would of been envious, so I’m surprised people think he over achieved.

[Keepers Ball]

13 minutes ago, Galley is our king said:

And did we get relegated last season?

Most sensible supporters I speak with expected this to be a difficult season.

Our squad is thread bear on numbers which leaves us relying on the U23 squad to fill the bench when we have injuries, like yesterday plus some were also in the team.

Do you seriously believe that the team put out yesterday would not be improved by the addition of Williams, Atkinson, James, Baker, Semenenyo and King?

When I saw the team for yesterday playing the team currently in forth place I thought we would be hammered out of sight.

What did you think when you saw the team selection?

Of course we didn't get relegated. but we were damn fortunate not to.

You say sensible supporters. I'd say everyone knew it would be difficult. It was mentioned enough times.

But then the players we have can and should be doing more than what is being offered.

Promotion challengers? not a chance. But certainly not the nonsense that is being offered right now. And as for injuries we weren't exactly brilliant at the start of the season. Even when we won it wasn't convincing.

Bar one or two, every one of those players has proven what they are capable of . And that includes Kasey Palmer. Yet the majority of times they cross that line and become amateurs.
 

Difficult season Yes. But not be consistently be outplayed or sit back against sides that are on a par or lower than us and most certainly not concede three goals and lose against a 10 man side.

[Henry]

I agree with those who are saying it feels like Pearson is trying to run the whole club, as he is the only ‘football man’ we have.

Appoint a DoF/supporting director

Appoint a Head of Recruitment.

Appoint Craig Shakespeare.

Buy/loan some short term ‘Warnock’ type players to ensure we don’t get relegated eg the Shaun Derry/Sol Bamba type players that Warnock would usually bring in when trying to turn the tide.

Dont appoint Warnock.

[ciderwithtommy]

RG should be talking to Nige once he is well enough, and ask if he wants to be here. This job is too tough for anyone with doubts about the role (whatever the doubts are). If he is keen, back him properly and accept that even sir Alex would struggle with this squad. If he wants out, let him go and appoint a young team with a clear identity, but knowing that likely means league one next season.

we are reaping what Ashton sowed in his final 18 months whilst he was likely flirting with Ipswich, and no doubt others. 
 

either way, the demand RG has to make is that we see a style of play and identity in the next 10 games, what we are seeing right now is not acceptable. 

[sh1t_ref_again]

Whilst performances are not what I expected from a NP team and yesterdays capitulation was an all time low, we have to recognise it was a patched up team missing a lot of starters and experience, hopefully with a 2 week break we can see the return of these players. As long as NP health is OK to continue and we show signs of improvement by xmas, then see no point in changing. However if going into the January transfer window performances have not improved and NP is not able to demonstrate how he can change it with the window, then plans must be place to make a change.

Whilst Lowe is doing an excellent job, its very different stepping up to manage players who have played at a higher level, some with massive egos and are on big money contracts, this is where GJ & LJ failed, its easier when you have a bunch of hungry players wanting to get the league than those happy to just take the money

[City oz]

2 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Whilst performances are not what I expected from a NP team and yesterdays capitulation was an all time low, we have to recognise it was a patched up team missing a lot of starters and experience, hopefully with a 2 week break we can see the return of these players. As long as NP health is OK to continue and we show signs of improvement by xmas, then see no point in changing. However if going into the January transfer window performances have not improved and NP is not able to demonstrate how he can change it with the window, then plans must be place to make a change.

Whilst Lowe is doing an excellent job, its very different stepping up to manage players who have played at a higher level, some with massive egos and are on big money contracts, this is where GJ & LJ failed, its easier when you have a bunch of hungry players wanting to get the league than those happy to just take the money

Hate to say it now but did LJ actually fail. What has got better at the club ????

[sh1t_ref_again]

Just now, City oz said:

Hate to say it now but did LJ actually fail. What has got better at the club ????

I did not say LJ failed here as a manager, but the problem that GJ and LG both had was managing the bigger players, with big egos whom had played at a higher level  

[Red-Robbo]

2 hours ago, Lordofthebling said:

The Pearson project just seems too far gone now. Physios to coaches, we are pot committed.

 

 

Blimey, no wonder we're so slow and disorganised.

When they talk about getting injured players back on grass, I thought they meant turf!

[City oz]

2 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

I did not say LJ failed here as a manager, but the problem that GJ and LG both had was managing the bigger players, with big egos whom had played at a higher level  

It appears not much has changed then with bringing in NP. 

[Taylor10]

9 minutes ago, Keepers Ball said:

Of course we didn't get relegated. but we were damn fortunate not to.

You say sensible supporters. I'd say everyone knew it would be difficult. It was mentioned enough times.

But then the players we have can and should be doing more than what is being offered.

Promotion challengers? not a chance. But certainly not the nonsense that is being offered right now. And as for injuries we weren't exactly brilliant at the start of the season. Even when we won it wasn't convincing.

Bar one or two, every one of those players has proven what they are capable of . And that includes Kasey Palmer. Yet the majority of times they cross that line and become amateurs.
 

Difficult season Yes. But not be consistently be outplayed or sit back against sides that are on a par or lower than us and most certainly not concede three goals and lose against a 10 man side.

I agree with many of your points and this squad should be doing better, but not by much I don’t think.

The one constant in all this for me is under performing players. Most under 3 different managers. As you say, most of them at times have shown what they are capable of, however not consistently. Maybe at times that’s been down to application, but for the majority to not be able to maintain those performances consistently at this level under numerous managers quite simply tells me they are not good enough for this level or where we want to be.

[Sturgess]

7 hours ago, bpexile said:

A tough one Dave, I still think he needs time to completely rebuild this team but that time could very likely see us go down.

I can't see anyone turn the tide with this team & the financial restraints in place. Strap yourself in mate.

Minded to agree here, begrudgingly. He needs the opportunity to sign ‘Pearson’ players… the challenge for him is bringing the other players along and getting them to perform until we boot them out!

Oh how we have lost our way from past highs.

[shelts]

I like Pearson and thought it was a great appointment of a manager who was experienced and had been to the promise land of the Prem.  The product on the pitch is even worse than the last year old LJ and the time we had under Holden. At times this season I saw things that led me to believe that we where starting to improve . That has now vanished and our players have relapsed back to the relegation form we showed last season . I don’t believe this is the worst group of players we’ve ever had , they can play a bit abut the table doesn’t lie. 
It’s a massive task and if I’m being honest I’m leaning toward the boss is too old school and the players don’t like it . I’m not  sure how long i can keep watching these wretched performances. 

[Roger Red Hat]

1 minute ago, Sturgess said:

Oh how we have lost our way from past highs.

Eh?

Edited November 7, 2021 by Roger Red Hat