2023/2024 expectations for Pearson

[Tim Monaghan]

I'm trying to piece together a few things and wondered about everyone's expectations for this season. What would have been a reasonable finish this year under Nigel?

Nigel himself stated, 'We feel that we've got a really good chance of being in the promotion race.' I don't believe he was criticised for this at the time, unlike JL.

So, let's consider if Pearson was in charge now; would we be experiencing all this commotion? And where would you have expected Pearson to have finished this year?

Do you think Pearson would have guided us into the playoffs? If so, why is JL receiving criticism for saying we have a top 6 squad when Pearson essentially said the same thing himself (as mentioned above)?

Edited December 5, 2023 by Ghost Rider

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

I think given where we had come from my expectations were top 10 with an outside chance of the playoffs assuming a fair headwind in the later half of the season.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Top 10, outside of playoffs had injuries remained light, a bit of luck and I think to the OP, NP said this when we still had Scott. Unless you can tell when he said it?

Edit: found the relevant bit- was from The Ahletic interview with him back in August 

We still had Scott albeit injured and the wider injury situation was quite minimal .

Edited December 5, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[BCFC Rich]

I thought this may help:

It's the thread from pre-season where this was discussed.

 

[Tim Monaghan]

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Top 10, outside of playoffs had injuries remained light, a bit of luck and I think to the OP, NP said this when we still had Scott. Unless you can tell when he said it?

It was before the AS sale I believe. But surely someone doesn’t predict a whole season based on one player? 

[Malago]

I remain convinced that had the Lansdowns given Nige their full support and backed him accordingly in the transfer market we would have made the playoffs this season and if not this season, he would have got us promoted the next.

Sacking Pearson was the must boneheaded, stupid decision in my 50 odds years supporting the club.

[Mr Popodopolous]

5 minutes ago, Ghost Rider said:

It was before the AS sale I believe. But surely someone doesn’t predict a whole season based on one player? 

A pivotal player, to a degree yeah.

England U20 International with skill and maturity for his age.

There was a plan with Scott and a plan without..or so they said.

The thing about Scott if fit, is that he would give us about 3 in 1 in a tactical sense. On paper it is one player, in practice it can make a huge hole.

Then if you do sell, you back properly for a bit more depth and to fill some holes that injury will inevitably cause.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Homer Simpson]

I think you have to take into account the squad when nige spoke compared to the Scottless injury ravaged squad when JL spoke.

[David Brent]

Well it’s not really the same as saying we have a top 6 squad is it. Majority of teams in this division would say they have a chance of being in the promotion race.

 

[DaveInSA]

my expectation was that he would be fired halfway through the season with us being 8th and 3 points of the playoffs.

And that he would be laughing his arse off at the results since he was fired.

[Silvio Dante]

Yeah the Scott sale was huge. Not just losing him but the rowing back as articulated by Phil Alexander (there’s a man I’d like to hear more from) of the plan with/plan without. To answer the question (although I sniff an agenda)

We keep Scott - flirting with playoffs, potential to make top 6. Expect around 8th

We sell Scott and make the right additions (2-3 signings) - broadly similar

We sell Scott and make no real signings - outside playoff chance mainly due to the togetherness of squad but heavily reliant on no injuries and a decent slice of luck. Expect around 12th.

Essentially the legs were cut off the old manager. But that’s well trodden ground and I’m not sure what bringing it up does now. 

[Super]

We wouldn't get near the playoffs with or without Pearson. The squad isn't strong enough.

[bearded_red]

I never for a second believed we would have Alex Scott this season so any expectation relied on some of the money from his sale being spent on two or three players that the squad is clearly lacking.

Under that assumption I wanted us to be in the top half, hopefully with an outside sniff of the playoffs until deep into the season. All while continuing to build the club, develop the younger players and become a team that can be more comfortable in possession and not rely quite so heavily on the counter attack.

Those players never came, and he was disgracefully sacked. I'm now reading that we need to overhaul the squad so the new manager can move to a completely different style of football.

A truly preposterous football club.

[Red Army 75]

Mid table with Pearson. But with a bit of backing I was expecting us to have a push next season. Still gutted he’s gone 

[Numero Uno]

1 hour ago, Ghost Rider said:

I'm trying to piece together a few things and wondered about everyone's expectations for this season. What would have been a reasonable finish this year under Nigel?

Nigel himself stated, 'We feel that we've got a really good chance of being in the promotion race.' I don't believe he was criticised for this at the time, unlike JL.

So, let's consider if Pearson was in charge now; would we be experiencing all this commotion? And where would you have expected Pearson to have finished this year?

Do you think Pearson would have guided us into the playoffs? If so, why is JL receiving criticism for saying we have a top 6 squad when Pearson essentially said the same thing himself (as mentioned above)?

Nige made a very generic statement and what would you expect him to say at the start of the season? Most realistic supporters were happy with a top half finish being achieved.

Lansdown and Tinnion, however, made very direct, clear statements saying that we are Top 6 material, not that we have a chance of being that, we ARE that. What they also did was criticise the medical regime, saying that there was a danger of players being "de-conditioned" yet here we are weeks later and the "culprits" long gone with seventy six players on the treatment table and conceding last minute goals............

The commotion is about a pair of snakes not having the balls to say why they REALLY fired the Manager and trying to invent stuff to navigate round the real reasons, probably under the guidance of a PR Company that know **** all about football in truth. When people can see that the top of the club are telling outright lies they are prone to causing a commotion unfortunately.

Unfortunately for Liam Manning, and he wouldn't have known this upon taking the job, the crass stupidity of Messrs Tinnion and Lansdown in interviews have really put him in a very difficult position with a minority of our fanbase who simply won't give him a chance.....and when he does make a mistake, such as making ill considered comments about mentality and culture, he doesn't get cut the slack that he really should be afforded. Again, go and speak to Pinky and Perky cos they've caused this.

[headhunter]

1 hour ago, David Brent said:

Well it’s not really the same as saying we have a top 6 squad is it. Majority of teams in this division would say they have a chance of being in the promotion race.

 

I feel there are around 15 clubs playing for 2 remaining [just my opinion] play off positions.

We are still in the mix but it will be interesting to see if that remains the case come the final whistle vs. Millwall on January 1st.

Manning, by then, will have been in charge for 10 games [that excludes QPR] which is a credible stretch to offer an indication on whether Nigel's sacking was followed by the right appointment. If we're, say,  8 points or more off the play offs the reaction from the fans will be becoming more toxic from some groups than it already is. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, BCFC Rich said:

I thought this may help:

It's the thread from pre-season where this was discussed.

 

My responses last May….

As for the OP’s question.  Based on what we ended the summer window with, lower expectations that mid-pre-season.

I expected progress on last season, based on Nige continue to galvanise team spirit to make us stronger than the sum of the parts.

But when we sold Scott, and didn’t replace adequately, coupled with mid-term injuries, I can certainly say I didn’t echo JL and Tins view.

If course going forward, had Nige remained and we got McCrorie, Atkinson, Benarous back plus a couple in January, then I’d be confident of a good second half of the season.  But I’d be lamenting not doing something in August.

Now back to reality, with LM in place.  What are my expectations?  No idea, other than not top 6.  I’m comfy with LM being our head-coach.  I’m happily watching each match, building my picture.

[Harry]

I said pre season we’d be mid table, maybe 10th without Scott.  But if we managed to somehow keep him he was possibly the difference that could have seen us make a playoff push. 
I’ve seen nothing since the start of August that makes me change my mind - 10th to 14th. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Harry

[Leabrook]

I said 6-8th with Scott.  10-12th without Scott. Those were my expectations and still are 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

2 hours ago, Ghost Rider said:

I'm trying to piece together a few things and wondered about everyone's expectations for this season. What would have been a reasonable finish this year under Nigel?

Nigel himself stated, 'We feel that we've got a really good chance of being in the promotion race.' I don't believe he was criticised for this at the time, unlike JL.

So, let's consider if Pearson was in charge now; would we be experiencing all this commotion? And where would you have expected Pearson to have finished this year?

Do you think Pearson would have guided us into the playoffs? If so, why is JL receiving criticism for saying we have a top 6 squad when Pearson essentially said the same thing himself (as mentioned above)?

Top 10. 
 

Oddly, I don’t believe Alex Scott would’ve been the difference between that and a play off place. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Engvall’s Splinter

[Davefevs]

30 minutes ago, Harry said:

I said pre season we’d be mid table, maybe 10th without Scott.  But if we managed to somehow keep him he was possibly the difference that could have seen us make a playoff push. 
I’ve seen nothing since the start of August that makes me change my mind - 10th to 14th. 

He was looking electric pre-season, prior to his injury.

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Do you think Pearson would have guided us into the playoffs? If so, why is JL receiving criticism for saying we have a top 6 squad when Pearson essentially said the same thing himself (as mentioned above)?

You have to look at when Nige made those comments and what happened afterwards…and it’s mainly linked to Alex Scott’s sale and budget constraints.

If Nige had gone out and bought two more players in on a similar profile to Jason Knight and Rob Dickie I’d have probably held him to his comments.

But the goalposts were moved.

So it’s all a bit futile, like it was in May when TopRobin first asked.

[Charlie BCFC]

2 hours ago, Ghost Rider said:

I'm trying to piece together a few things and wondered about everyone's expectations for this season. What would have been a reasonable finish this year under Nigel?

Nigel himself stated, 'We feel that we've got a really good chance of being in the promotion race.' I don't believe he was criticised for this at the time, unlike JL.

So, let's consider if Pearson was in charge now; would we be experiencing all this commotion? And where would you have expected Pearson to have finished this year?

Do you think Pearson would have guided us into the playoffs? If so, why is JL receiving criticism for saying we have a top 6 squad when Pearson essentially said the same thing himself (as mentioned above)?

I don’t think we’ll be in the playoffs under Manning or we would’ve been under Pearson. I predicted us 11th at the start of the season and I think under both managers around there would be a fair placing

[myol'man]

I was hoping for a top 10 finish with a sniff of the playoffs at Easter under Pearson. Now I'm thinking bottom half & trying to avoid getting sucked into the bottom 6.

I think that they thought Benarous was the ready made (free) replacement for Scott

[Engvall’s Splinter]

@Graham c @Mr Popodopolous I know, strange comment. 
 

What I think I’m trying to say is, if Alex would have stayed, we may of had regular flirtations with the top 6 however I don’t think we’d of ended up there. Also, I think we would’ve been a bit more pleasant on the eye. 
 

Without Scott, I think we would’ve scrambled in to the top 10 as a more hardworking outfit. 
 

If Pearson would’ve been given the green light to get a couple of extra bodies following Scott’s sale, again - I think we’d of made the top 10. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

16 minutes ago, Charlie BCFC said:

I don’t think we’ll be in the playoffs under Manning or we would’ve been under Pearson. I predicted us 11th at the start of the season and I think under both managers around there would be a fair placing

11th seems reasonable if a little underwhelming. Albeit if money is spent in January do your expectations adjust accordingly?

[Meh]

I expected top half with a couple of January low value purchases or maybe a loan to buy with a decent 3 or so players to complete the squad in the summer, unload one or two out of contract and really challenge top 6 in 24/25.

I think the change of manager has delayed that by a minimum of 1 season and more likely 2+ (no doubt Manning may be gone within that sort of period particularly if skirting with mid-table or below for large chunks so maybe* another reset to delay much longer will follow).

* - Part of me thinks that maybe should be likely

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Meh

[Sir Geoff]

I expected top 10. Unfortunately now anything above 15th will be a bonus.

[W-S-M Seagull]

I did a poll in the summer and this was the results. 

For me my expectation was to be in with a chance of the play offs in the final rounds of the Championship. 

 

[ExiledAjax]

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

I did a poll in the summer and this was the results. 

For me my expectation was to be in with a chance of the play offs in the final rounds of the Championship. 

 

I reckon this is almost exactly reflective of the current chance we have of finishing in each of these "zones".