Nigel Pearson

[Bris Red]

11 hours ago, Red Army 75 said:

Great interview. I’m still 100% behind him. But the Swansea bit near the end I absolutely loved. Go on Nige

Class. Im still 100% behind Nigel aswell. He is the best man for this job IMO. 

[Port Said Red]

From what I understand, he is doing a lot of good work across all areas of the club. All levels in both the men and women's teams are working together in lots of areas, which hasn't always been the case.

As far as man management is concerned, his greatest attribute seems to be the ability to allow a player to change his mind about them. 

Pring is an obvious example he was "in Siberia" apparently but has worked his way back into favour, but there have been others, Vyner for example and Williams to some extent. It seems the door is open for players who are willing to take it on the chin and work back into the fold.

However if a player just goes off on a sulk or is happy just to carry on being paid, he will leave them in Siberia, unless he is in a situation where he has no option but to use them. Perhaps Klose and Martin are the examples here?

He seems an internally emotional man, and I think he sometimes regrets what he says about a player in those interviews after games. The Rob Atkinson situation is a good example, he didn't go off to sulk in Siberia and has been rewarded with that extra responsibility of being the central defender in the 3 and was singled out for praise even after a costly error.

I think the club have always been more patient than the fans when it comes to Managers, often that patience has been misplaced, but I honestly think that this could be one of the exceptions. 

 

[cidered abroad]

As a club, we have wasted the last thirty years. We have forgotten how managers like AD, TC and JJ built success by creating a very close team spirit where the players worked with and for each other.

We have a manager who is instilling a squad of players with the long known fact that in team games like football, rugby, cricket, it is not the super stars who win trophies. It's the work ethic and helping each other that separates the winners from the rest.

Back in the 1980's, a question was asked of a Liverpool manager. Who is you best defender? The reply was Ian Rush; he harries and presses the opposition to get the ball back so we don't let them attack us!

Football hasn't changed too much since then.

Edited January 15, 2023 by cidered abroad

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, cidered abroad said:

As a club, we have wasted the last thirty years. We have forgotten how managers like AD, TC and JJ built success by creating a very close team spirit where the players worked with and for each other.

We have a manager who is instilling a squad of players with the long known fact that in team games like football, rugby, cricket, it is not the super stars who win trophies. It's the work ethic and helping each other that separates the winners from the rest.

Back in the 1980's, a question was asked of a Liverpool manager. Who is you best defender? The reply was Ian Rush; he harries and presses the opposition to get the ball back so we don't let them attack us!

Football hasn't changed too much since then.

Seeing as we got to the playoff final 14 years ago that’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it?

There is a real tendency now to brush over the GJ era because of the mediocrity that has followed but in summary;

Took over the mess of the ridiculous Tinnion appointment, then won promotion in his first full season, got to the playoff final (1 game from The Prem) in the next season, then had consecutive 10th place finishes.

Since AD left us in 1980 this stands out by a country mile, so feel free to criticise Millen, Coppell (!), McInnes, SOD, Cotterill (which IMO would be harsh) or LJ but GJ actually achieved far more than for instance Joe Jordan ever did, who got us promoted then buggered off after a few games & was terrible in his second spell.

[Swede]

He says it as it is and I like the passion.  The last time I heard passionate comments like this was back in Cotts time. I recall the swindle away & home  after match interviews as examples.

Proper manager working under considerable financial constraints and we're lucky to have him.

[Top Robin]

Hopefully he is slowly getting there.

Next 4 or 5 games are vital and will probably dictate our season and his future.

Good signs though.

[YGBjammy]

He summed it up well, was good to finally get a result to reflect a performance.

As others have said he has and is changing the culture of the club for the better and hopefully setting the groundwork for progress later on. Not having loads of cash to splash on players might be something we look back on in years to come as a good thing at this point; forces your hand to look within a bit more and focus on the culture and players attitude, rather than just buying someone in to "fix" it

[Charlie BCFC]

14 hours ago, Red Army 75 said:

Great interview. I’m still 100% behind him. But the Swansea bit near the end I absolutely loved. Go on Nige

Whether you rate him or not, I can’t see him going anywhere any time soon and the players are still clearly behind him. I’m undecided whether I’m Pearson in or not but one thing we need to do is get behind the club which we 100% did today

[spudski]

Surely the ultimate wind up song to play would be 'Hit the Road Jack'...sung by Tom Jones

 

[cidered abroad]

9 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

Simpson a stop gap, from what I've heard King has been a major part in setting the dressing room culture. Those are intangible benefits that we won't see as fans on the pitch, but its hard to argue that the atmosphere and work ethic of the squad is miles better than it has been since the Cup run under LJ

And that's the thing I've been most keen on Pearson remaining for a long time. The cultural changes he will bring. Professionalism and an end to the easy street atmosphere that has plagued this club for 90% of my life. 

Yeah, it will take time to see the results change and it probably won't result in a charge to the Premier league, but its just nice to feel like we have a club that's being run correctly 

Your first sentence doesn't surprise me. It was obvious in the couple or three years before Pearson arrived, that once again the senior players had developed a cosy "we do what we want to and when we want to". Hiding out of the way in training or just going through the training session without pushing themselves.

Footballers are a unique bunch. They respect those who have had lots of international caps and / or won trophies. Pearson as a solid defender who didn't have any caps and major trophies as a player, so to bring in Andy King who won 50 international caps and a Premier League medal as a player, was a very good move. He isn't the club captain but with his coaching and widespread knowledge, he is, I guess, helping to develop the dressing room togetherness. And probably teaching the young Academy boys a lot more than we did with Joe Bryan and Bobby de Codiova Reid.

Long may it continue and we may surprise many in the next two or three years how far we have gone.

[Negan]

I pray to god this is finally it, we're starting to turn the corner and Nige is finally getting a tune out of the squad... HOWEVER. I've seen this many times before throughout his time here so im not getting carried away with it. Bit of good form is all this could be. If there was an actual fence, im on the side where I think Pearson needs to go, but my feet aren't on the floor yet  Only because I know Pearson is a good manager, he's proven it, just hasn't proven it here yet in my opinion, some might say otherwise and that's fair enough. Either way I think its now, a bit too late to get rid of him. If we just about limp over the line and stay up, then I think he has to go, certainly has to go if we go down. We need to genuinely get ourselves between 10th-16th for me to believe he can take this club forward, because everyone in those positions currently, aren't better than us player for player. That was our first home win since the beginning of October. In my heart I want to believe things will start to get better, in my head im thinking this is just a tiny bit of good form and it'll be back to normal come February. Time will tell. Also for what its worth, win or lose against Swansea im not assed and won't sway me either way with Nige.  

[GrahamC]

30 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

Simpson a stop gap, from what I've heard King has been a major part in setting the dressing room culture. Those are intangible benefits that we won't see as fans on the pitch, but its hard to argue that the atmosphere and work ethic of the squad is miles better than it has been since the Cup run under LJ

And that's the thing I've been most keen on Pearson remaining for a long time. The cultural changes he will bring. Professionalism and an end to the easy street atmosphere that has plagued this club for 90% of my life. 

Yeah, it will take time to see the results change and it probably won't result in a charge to the Premier league, but its just nice to feel like we have a club that's being run correctly 

King is playing a big role here even without being on the pitch.

Saw him talking to Kadji at some length as they warmed up before the second half, have been told he is excellent with the younger players, none of this “I won the Prem with Leicester stuff” absolutely no ego with him at all.

His attitude stands out a mile from some previous “senior pros”.

[Vidal]

Pearson in. For now.

[2015]

6 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I don't think our fans quite realise the mess that we as a club were in when Pearson came in. 

Nigels remit was to rebuild the club. That was never going to happen over night. 

We couldn't even get a shot on target at home back then. We had players that were not fit and we were inadequate in almost every department off of the pitch.

Over time there has been progress, little by little. Nige has brought a professionalism to the club that I don't ever really ever recall us having.

I laughed when I kept reading comments that Nige had lost the dressing room cos I don't think the effort of our players could be questioned. 

By and large I've felt that our performances have be fine. We've been rather consistent with the performances and that's all part of the process. Hopefully consistent results alongside the consistent performances will now follow. That's the next step. 

By the time Pearson leaves here I'm sure we'll all be saying he performed a miracle here.

Effort was never in question here, just a lack of a cutting edge and we still have a bit of a soft underbelly.

Shambles when he came in - absolutely. We could barely get out of our own penalty area in the few games before NP took over. Players just winding down their contracts here and not giving a ****. Poor old Holden didn't have the strength or the experience to deal with them. 

We've needed a Pearson at this club to sort it out for a long time.

[Port Said Red]

2 hours ago, spudski said:

Surely the ultimate wind up song to play would be 'Hit the Road Jack'...sung by Tom Jones

 

There's also Jack the Idiot Dunce by the Kinks, but that might be a bit much.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Port Said Red

[Davefevs]

4 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

From what I understand, he is doing a lot of good work across all areas of the club. All levels in both the men and women's teams are working together in lots of areas, which hasn't always been the case.

As far as man management is concerned, his greatest attribute seems to be the ability to allow a player to change his mind about them. 

Pring is an obvious example he was "in Siberia" apparently but has worked his way back into favour, but there have been others, Vyner for example and Williams to some extent. It seems the door is open for players who are willing to take it on the chin and work back into the fold.

However if a player just goes off on a sulk or is happy just to carry on being paid, he will leave them in Siberia, unless he is in a situation where he has no option but to use them. Perhaps Klose and Martin are the examples here?

He seems an internally emotional man, and I think he sometimes regrets what he says about a player in those interviews after games. The Rob Atkinson situation is a good example, he didn't go off to sulk in Siberia and has been rewarded with that extra responsibility of being the central defender in the 3 and was singled out for praise even after a costly error.

I think the club have always been more patient than the fans when it comes to Managers, often that patience has been misplaced, but I honestly think that this could be one of the exceptions. 

 

I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and prepared to be shot down, but I doubt there are any other WSL clubs as integrated as our.  I wonder how much influence Nige had over Grace Williams (was at Watford) coming in?  Mentoring the manager Lauren Smith, getting her involved in the men’s training, etc.. Keepers training together during WC break.

It is one of those things which probably has zero relevance / influence on the men’s first team, and he could easily say “not my remit”, but it’s part of the club and he’s making sure it’s not just lip-service.

2 hours ago, Percy Pig said:

Simpson a stop gap, from what I've heard King has been a major part in setting the dressing room culture. Those are intangible benefits that we won't see as fans on the pitch, but its hard to argue that the atmosphere and work ethic of the squad is miles better than it has been since the Cup run under LJ

And that's the thing I've been most keen on Pearson remaining for a long time. The cultural changes he will bring. Professionalism and an end to the easy street atmosphere that has plagued this club for 90% of my life. 

Yeah, it will take time to see the results change and it probably won't result in a charge to the Premier league, but its just nice to feel like we have a club that's being run correctly 

When you listen to Tommy, Alex, etc, the one person they always mention is “Kingy”, it’s not “Jamo”, it might be “Kingy and Jamo”, but it’s always “Kingy”.  That tells me a lot.  Seems like he’s a big kid at heart so identifies well with them.  Think he’s said they keep him young too.

1 hour ago, Negan said:

I pray to god this is finally it, we're starting to turn the corner and Nige is finally getting a tune out of the squad... HOWEVER. I've seen this many times before throughout his time here so im not getting carried away with it. Bit of good form is all this could be. If there was an actual fence, im on the side where I think Pearson needs to go, but my feet aren't on the floor yet  Only because I know Pearson is a good manager, he's proven it, just hasn't proven it here yet in my opinion, some might say otherwise and that's fair enough. Either way I think its now, a bit too late to get rid of him. If we just about limp over the line and stay up, then I think he has to go, certainly has to go if we go down. We need to genuinely get ourselves between 10th-16th for me to believe he can take this club forward, because everyone in those positions currently, aren't better than us player for player. That was our first home win since the beginning of October. In my heart I want to believe things will start to get better, in my head im thinking this is just a tiny bit of good form and it'll be back to normal come February. Time will tell. Also for what its worth, win or lose against Swansea im not assed and won't sway me either way with Nige.  

That is a perfectly valid view Negan.

[Daniro]

17 hours ago, Robbored said:

Nige is a proper manager. Very few, if any previous City managers would make a comment like that. We’re lucky to have him.

I wonder if Scotty’s  English folk songs include the Wurzels - I can image ‘one for the Bristol City’ and our anthem ‘Drink up the cider’ followed by the Blackbird  song………….

I love this story about Brian Clough and Vinny Jones -  "Now play your F**cking music, Wimbledon"

 

 

[The Wild Bunch]

8 minutes ago, Daniro said:

I love this story about Brian Clough and Vinny Jones -  "Now play your F**cking music, Wimbledon"

 

 

Classic!

[bcfc01]

4 hours ago, Davefevs said:

When you listen to Tommy, Alex, etc, the one person they always mention is “Kingy”, it’s not “Jamo”, it might be “Kingy and Jamo”, but it’s always “Kingy”.  That tells me a lot.  Seems like he’s a big kid at heart so identifies well with them.  Think he’s said they keep him young too.

 

They also mentioned at some point that they were going to have to cook pasta as "Kingy" was coming round for dinner 

His involvement doesn't seem stop at AG or the HPC.

[steviestevieneville]

9 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

From what I understand, he is doing a lot of good work across all areas of the club. All levels in both the men and women's teams are working together in lots of areas, which hasn't always been the case.

As far as man management is concerned, his greatest attribute seems to be the ability to allow a player to change his mind about them. 

Pring is an obvious example he was "in Siberia" apparently but has worked his way back into favour, but there have been others, Vyner for example and Williams to some extent. It seems the door is open for players who are willing to take it on the chin and work back into the fold.

However if a player just goes off on a sulk or is happy just to carry on being paid, he will leave them in Siberia, unless he is in a situation where he has no option but to use them. Perhaps Klose and Martin are the examples here?

He seems an internally emotional man, and I think he sometimes regrets what he says about a player in those interviews after games. The Rob Atkinson situation is a good example, he didn't go off to sulk in Siberia and has been rewarded with that extra responsibility of being the central defender in the 3 and was singled out for praise even after a costly error.

I think the club have always been more patient than the fans when it comes to Managers, often that patience has been misplaced, but I honestly think that this could be one of the exceptions. 

 

Both klose & especially Martin had really good seasons last year. Having watched klose this season it seems his legs have gone , he looks like bambi on ice. I do wonder if Martin is close to appearances triggering a new contract like last season & we don’t want him next season as we want to free up his wages. 

[Red_Alligator]

Oh Nige........

[W-S-M Seagull]

The one thing that has be scratching my head on a daily basis is our own fans are seemingly against the culture change that Pearson is installing. 

I'm baffled by it. 

I genuinely think that some of our fans, the ones that are quite vocal, do not actually want us to succeed because when we do poorly, they themselves become more relevant. 

[Davefevs]

54 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The one thing that has be scratching my head on a daily basis is our own fans are seemingly against the culture change that Pearson is installing. 

I'm baffled by it. 

I genuinely think that some of our fans, the ones that are quite vocal, do not actually want us to succeed because when we do poorly, they themselves become more relevant. 

Possibly that they change of manager as the only / best way out at times.

Saw this earlier:

Those last two sentences, finally, appear to be happening.  We just need to show a bit of patience whilst people go about their work.

Most of us have cried out for a DoF / HoR…we’ve just appointed Tins as Technical Director.  We now have to give him time to build upon what Nige / RG have been set.

[tin]

7 hours ago, Percy Pig said:

Yep, and you add into that that he's a City fan and relatively local lad who went on to have a brilliant career... he's the perfect mentor for our imported youngsters and academy products. 

I think it's easier to do the role he's currently doing whilst still a member of the playing squad too. Driving standards on the pitch and training fields. 

Maybe not the next cab off the rank after Nige, but I think for the reasons you’ve highlighted above that King has all the makings of a very promising manager/head coach in the future. There would be a certain romance about him getting his boyhood club into the PL, as fanciful as that seems right now. 

[italian dave]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Possibly that they change of manager as the only / best way out at times.

Saw this earlier:

Those last two sentences, finally, appear to be happening.  We just need to show a bit of patience whilst people go about their work.

Most of us have cried out for a DoF / HoR…we’ve just appointed Tins as Technical Director.  We now have to give him time to build upon what Nige / RG have been set.

Great point Dave, and there's a lot in that. But amongst the things that can go wrong in delivering that are two things that have cropped up on threads on here recently.

1. There has to be a single overarching objective that everyone's individual objectives and actions are measured by. It should be success on the field/league position. But I think when Ashton was here his financial objectives were allowed to take precedence. (I don't believe NP would allow that to happen).

2. That doesn't preclude (in fact it requires) challenge - the Peter Hargreaves to Steve Lansdown. The eventual outcome will be all the stronger for it. Is that our new CEO? 

Those and - as your quote says - the Board/owners recognising it - maybe SL now does. Onwards and upwards!

[petehinton]

4 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The one thing that has be scratching my head on a daily basis is our own fans are seemingly against the culture change that Pearson is installing. 

I'm baffled by it. 

I genuinely think that some of our fans, the ones that are quite vocal, do not actually want us to succeed because when we do poorly, they themselves become more relevant. 

Couldn’t agree more. Because it’s change? Because people just like to moan? 

[Red DNA]

4 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The one thing that has be scratching my head on a daily basis is our own fans are seemingly against the culture change that Pearson is installing. 

I'm baffled by it. 

I genuinely think that some of our fans, the ones that are quite vocal, do not actually want us to succeed because when we do poorly, they themselves become more relevant. 

A lot of it is down to the demography of the people posting? A generation (or two) who don’t bother saving for something and get instant credit and want everything now. No patience and no understanding that if it was that easy everyone would be changing managers every few months - like on Football Manager etc.

Yep, we all pay our hard earned money and think we have a right to criticise players when they - like we all do, make mistakes in our jobs.

Instead of outright calling players out try shouting out some actual encouragement to the team you support, especially when things aren’t going as we’d like.
It’s not being a happy clapper,  it’s trying to get the best out of what we’ve got and confidence is so vital - yet it’s free!

Keep faith with what is happening at all levels of the club, I’m sure we’re getting around a very long corner at last.   

 

 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

4 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The one thing that has be scratching my head on a daily basis is our own fans are seemingly against the culture change that Pearson is installing. 

I'm baffled by it. 

I genuinely think that some of our fans, the ones that are quite vocal, do not actually want us to succeed because when we do poorly, they themselves become more relevant. 

I don’t think it’s a case of people being against the culture change: it’s more questioning whether Nigel Pearson is the man to achieve that culture change while keeping our heads above water.  I think fans have been remarkably stoical, given many of our performances on the field since Pearson took charge.  At other clubs, fans protest and managers get sacked after a handful of games.

[Davefevs]

51 minutes ago, italian dave said:

Great point Dave, and there's a lot in that. But amongst the things that can go wrong in delivering that are two things that have cropped up on threads on here recently.

1. There has to be a single overarching objective that everyone's individual objectives and actions are measured by. It should be success on the field/league position. But I think when Ashton was here his financial objectives were allowed to take precedence. (I don't believe NP would allow that to happen).

2. That doesn't preclude (in fact it requires) challenge - the Peter Hargreaves to Steve Lansdown. The eventual outcome will be all the stronger for it. Is that our new CEO? 

Those and - as your quote says - the Board/owners recognising it - maybe SL now does. Onwards and upwards!

For info Tim Keech was one of the founders of MKRT Insights, who have been providing recruitment consultants into football clubs.  Plymouth Argyle are one team who have an MKRT consultant working with them.  Jay Socik (Blades Analytics) was with them until he got his job at Luton Town.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Davefevs

[italian dave]

5 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

Both klose & especially Martin had really good seasons last year. Having watched klose this season it seems his legs have gone , he looks like bambi on ice. I do wonder if Martin is close to appearances triggering a new contract like last season & we don’t want him next season as we want to free up his wages. 

Yes, agree. I think maybe the signs were there with Martin last season, but not Klose. Most of us were more than happy when we gave him another year.

You may be right, but it seems to have happened remarkably quickly. He was never the quickest but had a good brain which made up for that. So just seems really odd that it’s changed so quickly. Shame too, always seemed to really enjoy his football and to have a smile for anyone.