Sack or keep Nigel Pearson

[Top Robin]

59 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Yeah, we should sack him so you can get straight on with hounding the next one out.

Because that's what you, and several others on here, will do. Because you always do.

I only want managers out because they are not very good and holding our club back.

Unfortunately, the last few we have had have been rubbish which is why people like me have been quite vocal.

Until we get a decent manager in who is taking us forward, I will continue to moan.

I think that shows I care about the club.

 

[Merrick's Marvels]

14 minutes ago, Top Robin said:

I only want managers out because they are not very good and holding our club back.

 

Yeah, Pearson's really holding us back isn't he. We'd be in the Prem now if it wasn't for him. Useless. 

[glynriley]

17 minutes ago, Top Robin said:

I only want managers out because they are not very good and holding our club back.

Unfortunately, the last few we have had have been rubbish which is why people like me have been quite vocal.

Until we get a decent manager in who is taking us forward, I will continue to moan.

I think that shows I care about the club.

 

It shows you don’t have a clue where the real problem lies. 
 

Hint - Who sanctions all these shite managers?

[Top Robin]

20 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Yeah, Pearson's really holding us back isn't he. We'd be in the Prem now if it wasn't for him. Useless. 

Good to agree 

[Top Robin]

17 minutes ago, glynriley said:

It shows you don’t have a clue where the real problem lies. 
 

Hint - Who sanctions all these shite managers?

Good that you admit Pearson is a shite manager....that's a start 

[HappyClapper]

7 minutes ago, Top Robin said:

I only want managers out because they are not very good and holding our club back.

Unfortunately, the last few we have had have been rubbish which is why people like me have been quite vocal.

Until we get a decent manager in who is taking us forward, I will continue to moan.

I think that shows I care about the club.

 

I don’t think it shows you care about the club. It’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it, but by your definition those that don’t agree with you care less than you??

I think the club is moving forward under NP. I accept that results are mixed and he has made mistakes, but in my opinion lots that is going on is good. To me it feels like he is working to a blueprint and is pushing the players to show that they are worthy of being part of our future. I have absolutely no problem with that, and this narrative of him throwing players under the bus etc is nonsense. All he has done as I see it, is to make decisions about who should be in the team/squad. It’s what he is paid for!! It’s easy with the gift of hindsight to decide that he got it wrong. Amazing how good some players become when they’re not in the team. There have also been plenty of occasions when OTIB has gone into meltdown when the team has been announced only for the team to play well and win.

The first part of the season was as good as we’ve been for a number of years. Things have undoubtedly dropped off and hopefully the squad can be freshened up with some trading/ loans in January. 
 

Keep the faith. Let’s give Pearson the next two windows and see where that takes us. I firmly believe it will be top ten.
 

 

[Merrick's Marvels]

5 minutes ago, HappyClapper said:

I don’t think it shows you care about the club. It’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it, but by your definition those that don’t agree with you care less than you??

I think the club is moving forward under NP. I accept that results are mixed and he has made mistakes, but in my opinion lots that is going on is good. To me it feels like he is working to a blueprint and is pushing the players to show that they are worthy of being part of our future. I have absolutely no problem with that, and this narrative of him throwing players under the bus etc is nonsense. All he has done as I see it, is to make decisions about who should be in the team/squad. It’s what he is paid for!! It’s easy with the gift of hindsight to decide that he got it wrong. Amazing how good some players become when they’re not in the team. There have also been plenty of occasions when OTIB has gone into meltdown when the team has been announced only for the team to play well and win.

The first part of the season was as good as we’ve been for a number of years. Things have undoubtedly dropped off and hopefully the squad can be freshened up with some trading/ loans in January. 
 

Keep the faith. Let’s give Pearson the next two windows and see where that takes us. I firmly believe it will be top ten.
 

 

Well said. 

[Sturny]

19 minutes ago, HappyClapper said:

Keep the faith. Let’s give Pearson the next two windows and see where that takes us. I firmly believe it will be top ten.
 

 

Sounds familiar 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Sturny

[Silvio Dante]

I’ve given myself a day to think on this question because I think emotion in the face of the question is never a good thing, and because for the first time I thought it was a serious question.

I have a couple of issues with Nige at the moment - he’s intransigent (although we knew that) and it’s really harming things as he’s insisting on doing things that aren’t working. Well trodden, but:
 

Defence: Tbf I think getting Naismith to LCB is the right move as it allows him to ball play without being caught, and then your question is who leads in the middle. It can’t and shouldn’t be King - it should honestly be Vyner who did very well there, but in the absence of Kalas, we miss that natural leading CB - it’s not Rob. That is a bit of an indictment on the recruitment but I think explains the King thinking.

RWB/Midfield: I group these as I think back end of last year we had James/Williams and it worked well. So the choice is Scott in the 10 role or Weimann. Nige is shoehorning - Alex is a better midfielder but he’s also a better RWB and Andis pressing is key to our game. In an ideal world I’d want Alex CM but I think with the players we have he has them the wrong way round

Subs: The first two here I think Nige knows. I think he knows he needs a dominant, leader of a CB. I think he knows he needs to move AW back. But I also think he’s having a mare on game management currently - there was a post on here last week showing we’d be second if games finished at HT and that shows other teams react to us, but we don’t react to them. Martin not being on the bench and losing the instinct to lump it may help, but this is totally my biggest concern.

On balance I’m still in - just. I think he knows we need a dominating CB and if we don’t sign one in January I do fear - and I will admit to thinking at the start of the season we had enough for a real tilt at the top end (and ability wise versus the rest of the division I still think we do - the fact it isn’t a great league is the most damning thing). Changing throws January an absolute loop as well, particularly with RG going. 
 

It’s in still. But for the first time with real doubt.

[Norn Iron]

Who's this women's coach a few have wanted and what team does she come from? I've never heard of Jan Window.

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, Norn Iron said:

Who's this women's coach a few have wanted and what team does she come from? I've never heard of Jan Window.

Dutch not female!

[Norn Iron]

Just now, Davefevs said:

Dutch not female!

Aha! Pronounced Yan Vin Dow.

 

[Lanterne Rouge]

1 minute ago, Norn Iron said:

Aha! Pronounced Yan Vin Dow.

 

You are Shteeve McLaren and I claim my £5

[Norn Iron]

9 minutes ago, Norn Iron said:

Who's this women's coach a few have wanted and what team does she come from? I've never heard of Jan Window.

Apparently he was going to be the next Man Utd boss as he was wanted by the Glaziers

[maxjak]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Every word from Nigel Pearson on Bristol City fan criticism, confidence, transfers and loans

Every word from the manager's written press post-match interview following the defeat at home to West Brom

What were your thoughts on the performance, any complaints with the result?

No, not really. No Complaints. We've had chances and not taken them and they're a really good side. Carlos has got the best out of that group of players now so disappointing for us.

What were the thoughts on the second-half performance and the lack of chances created specifically?

In the first half we've conceded another poor goal but worked very hard to get back into it. We finished the first half very well and they dominated in the second half. Because they adopted a defensive sort of shape where they were going to be deep to play those balls in behind. It was difficult for us to break them down.

Do you feel let down by the performances of your players today and their reaction?

No, not at all. The reaction of what?

The reaction to the second-half performance and the fact that West Brom looked so comfortable.

Do you not think that is because are a very good side?

Yes, but I think Bristol City are a good side too.

I don't feel let down by the players at all.

Is that the most difficult or testing day for you as manager of Bristol City?

No, not really. If you're alluding to the reaction from our fans then that's part of football, I'm afraid. Our young players have really only experienced the positive aspects of football so far. What it does, it creates a situation where it will test very much the resolve of who's onside and who's not. Simple as that.

Our fans are entitled to their opinions but what is important is that they stay behind their team. It's never going to be beneficial to have a negative reaction. If they want to have a go at me, they can have a go at me. It's important our team stays together, it's as simple as that.

Do you think the reaction by the supporters was justified?

In what sense?

The reaction towards you was hostile at the end.

Yea but I've had that before. I've had that at some point in every club I've been at. People have their opinions and they can do what they want. It's fine.

Does it hurt you when you hear chants like that?

I think what's important to recognise is that I know exactly the job that I've got to do here so I keep it in context. Football matches are emotional. If people want to vent their frustrations, I'd rather they do it at me and not the players. It doesn't help the players. It's not beneficial towards the players.

Do you think the concerns about relegation at the moment are justified and should fans be concerned? Is this squad of players good enough to be clear of that?

I think we will be fine but the bottom line is that I've been brought here to do a job. Affecting change is something which makes people feel uncomfortable. It is what it is.

How can you pick them up from here because as you said, there's players in this side who haven't experienced an atmosphere like that?

We'll see how we are tomorrow because the bottom line is this, how people see the game compared to or how they feel emotionally about it, I try and keep things in context. We played against a side who were better than us today. In the first half, in particular, we caused them problems.

How people view the game is up to them. I have to keep a more pragmatic view of it. That's my job. I'm a football manager, I'm not a football fan. I'm a football manager.

Is there a danger that this result can damage confidence?

Yea, it could do. Yea, could do.

The key thing is that you've got young players in the side and you've brought a lot of them in yourself, but the worry is isn't it they hear that from the stands and people like Alex Scott won't be able to express themselves as confidently when things like that are going on?

Look, I don't want to confuse the two issues. The players are in there because they are good enough. They are our best players and so the question is, how do we approach January? Can we freshen things up or not? The players that we have, they have to be good enough so I don't know whether people actually like hearing the reality of our situation. Maybe there are a few frustrations with that in terms of being able to freshen the squad.

Look, for me, it's just a very simple situation and that is, we as a football club need to decide whether we can or cannot strengthen in January and if we can, we'll try and do it in the best way possible without affecting our financial fair play scenario.

I'm sorry not to engage on a level of emotion which conflicts with our fanbase. People have had things to say today and they're entitled to their opinions. If they're going to have a go I'd rather they have a go at the players because the players need the support of the fans.

What is the very latest, do you expect to have money to spend or not?

It’s not about having money to spend it’s how we release money so we might have to trade. It means players go out to free up money to offset the wages, it’s more about that. If there is money to spend that’s a different situation.

What we must not do is get into a situation where there’s an air of panic that 'oh dear things aren’t going well we need to splash out' and then we fall foul of the financial fair play. My job is very much to try and keep a steady hand on it and whether things go badly today or not, the season of goodwill it certainly isn’t today and that’s the bottom line.

A lot of damage was done before you came in as well... 

I’m not interested in apportioning blame, what I’m interested in, and I just said to some of the staff at West Brom, the easy thing to do is pat yourself on the back when things are going well. You earn your corn when things aren’t going well so when people start to question what we’re trying to do here they need somebody to have a go at.

So, if they’re going to have a go at me that’s fine but the bottom line is we still need to get ourselves out of the situation that we’re in and that’s not just this season and where we are in the league. I’m talking about the bigger picture of what we’re trying to do at the football club. So, if people want to express their displeasure or whatever, fine. They’re entitled to do it, but it doesn’t really help the team.

Going into January, are you as confident as ever knowing the job that has to be done? 

Yeah, there are plenty of good things yeah. So today my first reflection is, ‘they’re a good side.’ It’s not about picking the bones out of that, you can always do that with your own side, but today we came up against a side who are actually, they’re on 32 points now.

They’re actually now getting the best out of their own players, but when we played them at their place, we beat them 2-0 comfortably on the night because they had players that were coasting, and they weren’t getting the best out of their players, so it depends how you want to look at it. It depends on what the criteria it’s based on. If it’s about having a go at one person, if that’s me, fine. It doesn’t bother me; I’ve been booed off bigger stadiums.

I always try to look at the bigger picture Nigel and the bigger picture is still important...

The bigger picture is important, but we need to start winning games. That’s clear. I’m not getting away from that.

One of the criticisms from the stands Nigel was the square pegs in round holes, playing Weimann at wing-back how do you answer that to the fans? 

What do you mean square pegs in round holes? Instead of who?

I suppose Tanner on the bench 

Yeah, Tanner is a right-back. Mark Sykes has played there and who else? That’s one player Andi Weimann has scored goals from there. 

Andy King at centre-back? 

Because the other players haven’t been up to it recently. We had all this last week and if it’s about Rob Atkinson the same thing applies, he needs to respond. I see them every day, you don’t.

How King after his injury? 

I don’t know. But I thought Rob did okay when he went on apart from a couple of occasions.

And Chris Martin at the moment?

Not in the squad, yeah. But that happens to a lot of players. Choose the squad for the day, but players are still in the squad even if they’re not involved. Maybe the question needs to be can we go out then and strengthen in the areas we’re weak? I think that’s a better question. The players that are playing are the ones that are showing the most in training, so that’s the answer to your question.

What would you like to do in January ideally? 

We need to strengthen at the back is the priority. 

Just one central defender? 

I didn’t say that. We need to strengthen at the back, depending on what we can do.

How difficult is it to trade in this climate as it’s a bit of an unknown quantity after the pandemic with less money? 

I think it depends on whether, if you’re talking about if players move who are on big money in terms of wages, then that could free it up to bring a couple in for one. But again, the availability is a big thing. We are exploring what we could do in the loan market but again all those types of questions there are more variables because there are more people involved.

Whether you can do a loan deal, whether it’s affordable, whether it’s a deal that can be done on the wages all those types of things are quite complex. We’ll try to do some business, but we’ll see what happens.

 

"It is what it is"............should be painted in 10 foot lettering somewhere in the stadium?..........    What does it even express?  Why not... It was what it was?  Or......What will be, will be?   He is such a Contrary Phecker......Ha!

[RedRock]

I’m ‘sticking’. Just.

We could, and should, be doing better.

The Atkinson debacle just sums Bristol City up. It was supposed to change under Pearson’s tenure, its not.

We do our rigorous DNA assessment, we buy someone who is a ‘laid back’ character, we seemingly allowed him to develop his ‘laid back’ trait in training and on the pitch to the degree he is sidelined because he’s ‘laid back’, we put an aging midfielder who can hardly impact midfield let alone the heart of our defence as the replacement lynch pin of our defence …. not good enough I’m afraid. 

It’s the ‘same old’ story, like our injury list, like our weak physical strength, our lack of fitness and leadership, our failed transfer ‘punts’, our tendency to be consistently inconsistent…..the Club appear relentless in pursuit of failure.

Pearson was the man to stop the rot. The majority of fans, while seeking ‘revolution’ have been very accepting, to date, of an ‘evolutionary’ approach. The clock, however, is ticking and Pearson’s cutting it fine.

I always gauge where we are at by the number of players I would be gutted to see leave the Club at the next transfer window. There is ONE for this window, Tommy Conway, just a young lad who has broken into the first team. What an inditement of our playing squad, the manager, coaches and recruitment team is that? 

Fed up of excuses, delivery in performances and results required, and now. 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by RedRock

[The chief]

2 hours ago, HappyClapper said:

I don’t think it shows you care about the club. It’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it, but by your definition those that don’t agree with you care less than you??

I think the club is moving forward under NP. I accept that results are mixed and he has made mistakes, but in my opinion lots that is going on is good. To me it feels like he is working to a blueprint and is pushing the players to show that they are worthy of being part of our future. I have absolutely no problem with that, and this narrative of him throwing players under the bus etc is nonsense. All he has done as I see it, is to make decisions about who should be in the team/squad. It’s what he is paid for!! It’s easy with the gift of hindsight to decide that he got it wrong. Amazing how good some players become when they’re not in the team. There have also been plenty of occasions when OTIB has gone into meltdown when the team has been announced only for the team to play well and win.

The first part of the season was as good as we’ve been for a number of years. Things have undoubtedly dropped off and hopefully the squad can be freshened up with some trading/ loans in January. 
 

Keep the faith. Let’s give Pearson the next two windows and see where that takes us. I firmly believe it will be top ten.
 

 

In league one?

[Kingswood Robin]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Dutch not female!

and a right pane in the arse so I've heard

[prankerd]

See, if pearson had been given the funds lee johnson had been given id understand the hate, he hasnt tho, hes had no money to spend and been told to stabalise us.

The club couldnt afford to sack pearson even if they wanted to, if they did it would be a cheap rookie manager in the same situation nigel is in but worse because we had to pay off the last manager.

I think a majority of our fans are in cloud cuckoo land if they think this club should be higher up the table spending less than 2 mill on players in the summer.

[Kodjias Wrist]

1 minute ago, prankerd said:

See, if pearson had been given the funds lee johnson had been given id understand the hate, he hasnt tho, hes had no money to spend and been told to stabalise us.

The club couldnt afford to sack pearson even if they wanted to, if they did it would be a cheap rookie manager in the same situation nigel is in but worse because we had to pay off the last manager.

I think a majority of our fans are in cloud cuckoo land if they think this club should be higher up the table spending less than 2 mill on players in the summer.

Somebody in another thread quoted Gould earlier in the season saying we around top 10 for budget. Crazy thought! I think our squad depth is the problem not the manager. I was hoping that we would have seen Brownhill, Kelly or Webster move on and see a few mill come our way.

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

Somebody in another thread quoted Gould earlier in the season saying we around top 10 for budget. Crazy thought! I think our squad depth is the problem not the manager. I was hoping that we would have seen Brownhill, Kelly or Webster move on and see a few mill come our way.

That’s not what Gould said. He said we are looking for free transfers, and for those that we might need to fight others for we can pay top ten wages. So I think we gave Naismith (free) a healthy wage but we wouldn’t have given that to Sykes, Wilson or Bajic just because they were free.

The wage bill is coming down. It (football club)was £30.2m.  Within a year it was reduced to £23.8m. It will probably be around the £21m mark this season and the £16-18m mark at the end of this season before summer recruiting starts.  The last time it was below £20m was 2016-17 (£17.9m). So next season we will have a wage bill akin to 6/7 years ago. 

[Kodjias Wrist]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That’s not what Gould said. He said we are looking for free transfers, and for those that we might need to fight others for we can pay top ten wages. So I think we gave Naismith (free) a healthy wage but we wouldn’t have given that to Sykes, Wilson or Bajic just because they were free.

The wage bill is coming down. It (football club)was £30.2m.  Within a year it was reduced to £23.8m. It will probably be around the £21m mark this season and the £16-18m mark at the end of this season before summer recruiting starts.  The last time it was below £20m was 2016-17 (£17.9m). So next season we will have a wage bill akin to 6/7 years ago. 

Thanks for the clarity. Surely though we can't drop as low as we did all those seasons ago? Is there data to suggest most clubs will be following a similar reduction?

Edited December 28, 2022 by Kodjias Wrist

[Mr Popodopolous]

40 minutes ago, prankerd said:

See, if pearson had been given the funds lee johnson had been given id understand the hate, he hasnt tho, hes had no money to spend and been told to stabalise us.

The club couldnt afford to sack pearson even if they wanted to, if they did it would be a cheap rookie manager in the same situation nigel is in but worse because we had to pay off the last manager.

I think a majority of our fans are in cloud cuckoo land if they think this club should be higher up the table spending less than 2 mill on players in the summer.

Few places higher and less shockers goals conceded wise seems not unreasonable to me but we are roughly where we are IMO.

The two goals v Stoke for example, watched the highlights back on Tuesday.

Then I look at the two home games even though we didn't win vs Sheffield United and in particular Watford and think these were good displays, cohesive and competitive vs  top six sides. Not saying that we are top six standard or anything but we should be a bit better.

It's a cliche but fine margins have played a role. Hit woodwork on two separate occasions v Sheffield United, v Stoke when we were 1 up and I think Phillips hit his own bar v Wet Brom.

Norwood could have been off vs us, may or may not have got us a draw, there was a good penalty shout turned down v Sheffield United and one not two v Watford.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Mr Popodopolous

[Davefevs]

18 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

Thanks for the clarity. Surely though we can't drop as low as we did all those seasons ago? Is there data to suggest most clubs will be following a similar reduction?

As each club announces its 2022 results I’ll feed into the sausage machine.

only us, Norwich and Boro have announced so far. Norwich had one year PL, one year Champ so not good comparison.  Boro’s wages went up from £26.963m (2021) to £28.427m (2022) but too few clubs to see the trend yet. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

22 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

Thanks for the clarity. Surely though we can't drop as low as we did all those seasons ago? Is there data to suggest most clubs will be following a similar reduction?

We might need to in order to stay within FFP to this year unfortunately. It's a tough situation to say the least, many other clubs did not seek to be running huge Operating losses minus player transfers e.g..

[Davefevs]

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

As each club announces its 2022 results I’ll feed into the sausage machine.

only us, Norwich and Boro have announced so far. Norwich had one year PL, one year Champ so not good comparison.  Boro’s wages went up from £26.963m (2021) to £28.427m (2022) but too few clubs to see the trend yet. 

Birmingham via HK too although their UK accounts will show the full picture.

Depending on exchange rates and extrapolations they may have lost £24-27m last season, those UK accounts due out very soon.

Blackburn total wage bill I reckon £23-24m last season trying to extrapolate from a mix of VLL and the club accounts. After NI etc.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Mr Popodopolous

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Birmingham via HK too although their UK accounts will show the full picture.

Depending on exchange rates and extrapolations they may have lost £24-27m last season, those UK accounts due out very soon.

Blackburn total wage bill I reckon £23-24m last season trying to extrapolate from a mix of VLL and the club accounts. After NI etc.

Isn’t Brum HK March to March?  Do they publish season to season ones. Can’t recall how they do theirs?

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Isn’t Brum HK March to March?  Do they publish season to season ones. Can’t recall how they do theirs?

Birmingham is difficult due to HK.

They publish their results to end of June by the end of September and it's segmented although the wage bill is bundled up a bit into the group, UK accounts should reveal all. The good news is that by the end of February they also have to publish 6 month accounts made up until the end of December.

Exchange rates fluctuate so when exactly, should it be as of the accounts release date or the final accounting period ie HK$ to £ end of June or September?

Further complicated by segment compensation which seems to be 3/4 of club segment losses. Anyway they seem to be losing quite a lot of money but when Bellingham goes that sell on should help a lot.

[SouthS22]

Thought about this question for a few days, after the Boxing Day horror show.  That’s the worst atmosphere I can remember at the Gate in 15 years. I don’t know if there’s a way back for him after that. I’ve said before that I think he has until January and no doubt he has for the simple reason that no one is actually taking charge of our club.  I think now though that there may just have been too many bizarre decisions, player fallings out and poorly managed games for there to be any other outcome for him other than the sack., whether that’s soon, or later once a new CEO is in.  I do see progress in some areas, but I also see regression in others, and at the end of the day, his record is just not good enough.  Like it or not, I think we may have reached a tipping point where too many fans are fed up with watching the team chuck games away and leaving the ground depressed after yet another poor performance, particularly at home which is so important.  We need to rediscover something like that early season form from the next home game onwards  for him to stand a chance of getting the fans back on side, but I’m not sure the players believe enough to enable that to happen. Most of them looked as dejected as I felt at the end of the Baggies game. Whether there’s a reaction from them against Millwall might just be decisive.