The soft BC are back, after all Nigel’s hard work

[petehinton]

46 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

It’s hard to disagree with those two though?

At this moment, Cornick and Mehmeti have been poor signings. But that’s only two signings. I think it looks worse as they both came in together at the same time.

People talk about those two as if they’re ground breaking money or something. It’s not 2007 anymore.  300k for a signing regardless of who it is, is pennies at this level really.
 

1m for Mehmeti is clearly weightier, but for a 22 year old at the time who was very highly rated and had numerous clubs after him, it’s not a lot at all. We’ve paid a decent chunk more than that this January for someone who’s out of contract in 4 months time. It hasn’t worked out (yet). They never all do. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Bs4Red said:

What I find frustrating is that he is seen as some sort of messiah and we were still extremely average. 

Why would you find taking over a struggling club and improving us to average (in the table) and out of financial troubles, so frustrating?  I’m delighted because I kinda worried we’d be playing Lg1 (again).

You can only think that way if you base things purely on the league table.  That’s fine if you do, but others are gonna bring that wider context / nuance to the table in their argument against yours.

[W-S-M Seagull]

1 hour ago, redsquirrel said:

its only my opinion but i firmly believe we would have been there or thereabouts at the end of the season, the players were busting a gut to try and get results, they arent now

This is what excited me this season. 

We're we a top 6 side? Probably not. 

But I just had that feeling that we had a collective spirit that we had not seen for years. As we all know, that collective spirit can take even average teams to great heights. 

We had a proper honest group of players that were running through brick walls. 

We've seen that when the collective spirit clicks into action we can beat anyone. 

Manning doesn't have the ability to harness that collective spirit. He is not a motivator. He can talk about setting standards and all that but you can't just say "I want you to work hard" you actually need to be able to inspire the players to do that. 

[Bs4Red]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Why would you find taking over a struggling club and improving us to average (in the table) and out of financial troubles, so frustrating?  I’m delighted because I kinda worried we’d be playing Lg1 (again).

You can only think that way if you base things purely on the league table.  That’s fine if you do, but others are gonna bring that wider context / nuance to the table in their argument against yours.

That’s your opinion Dave, he still had a half about squad. He signed up knowing what the task was. He did a good job but that’s it. 

[Davefevs]

“He did a good job but that’s it”.  Again you frame a positive “good job” with a negative ‘but that’s it”.

So did he do a good job or not?

[W-S-M Seagull]

9 minutes ago, Bs4Red said:

That’s your opinion Dave, he still had a half about squad. He signed up knowing what the task was. He did a good job but that’s it. 

Without Nigel Pearson we would have been relegated and breached ffp and we'd have been lucky to have stayed in league one. 

So not only did he save us from all of that, he then (with Gould) assembled a decent squad and culture within the squad on an absolute pittance whilst selling his best players. 

He didn't do a good job, he did an incredible job. To suggest otherwise is only an attempt to protect Mannings position "Nige didn't do any better" total bs. 

[W-S-M Seagull]

Our expections today are very different to 3 years ago. 

 

Success is relative. 

 

Avoiding relegation 3 years ago was a huge success. 

Avoiding relegation this season is not seen as a success because we should be looking at the top 6. 

Finishing midtable and 10 points off the play offs last season was acceptable as we were in the final year of the reset.

Being 11 points off the play offs in February after the reset is wholly unacceptable. 

Expectations are now different. Very bizarre that people can't grasp this very basic concept. 

[JP Hampton]

4 hours ago, redsquirrel said:

when nige came in, he was given a rusty chassis,a pile of parts,some rotten tyres and an engine that didnt run. took him 2 years to rebuild it using second hand parts and some new wheels. all it needed was the shiny paint job to finish it. he managed to get it primed so it didnt rust again but couldnt afford the top coat.

unfortunately,he couldnt drive it for a little while so city got a new driver who had just passed his test, knows his highway code but no experience in judging the length and width of it so slowly it is getting knocked and bumped,the trackings out and no real mechanic on board should it break down,

only a matter of time before it gets consigned to the scrap heap again.

 

No more reactions but a nice little analogy  

[Numero Uno]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Without Nigel Pearson we would have been relegated and breached ffp and we'd have been lucky to have stayed in league one. 

So not only did he save us from all of that, he then (with Gould) assembled a decent squad and culture within the squad on an absolute pittance whilst selling his best players. 

He didn't do a good job, he did an incredible job. To suggest otherwise is only an attempt to protect Mannings position "Nige didn't do any better" total bs. 

Manning is here to do “significantly better than” not “the same as” Nige and he can’t even manage the latter at the moment!!!

Edited February 25 by Numero Uno

[Gert Mare]

20 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Seriously without that West Ham win I do wonder. The league form has been terrible, we look so soft again after Nigel had made us tougher to beat. In fact, Southampton aside where are those great pressing performances v likes of Swansea, Plymouth? We didn’t need to make the change and if they did want top six, go for someone with pedigree to continue the good work!

The last two performances have been a real let down as has the January window. Naismith hit nail on the head, clear as day standards were poor. Standards were always in place with this team under Nige and team. Poor, poor season and we go into March heading nearer bottom 3 than the top six target. Congrats all involved with the worst sacking or manager exit since Danny Wilson (oh hang on!). 

The big difference now is the lack of real man-management skills. All the tactics manuals in the world do not address the psychology aspect.

[JP Hampton]

4 hours ago, 2015 said:

And bought in James, Atkinson, Dickie, Knight, Tanner, Sykes, TGH and Naismith (been good just injury prone). Not exactly a bad record really.

Also sold Semenyo and Scott for a combined 30 million..

Brought through Conway Scott and Bell, some may say he didn’t have a choice, but he did it well and each one of them performed. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

5 hours ago, 2015 said:

And bought in James, Atkinson, Dickie, Knight, Tanner, Sykes, TGH and Naismith (been good just injury prone). Not exactly a bad record really.

Also sold Semenyo and Scott for a combined 30 million..

Don't forget the falling wage bill and amortisation too ie a large chunk of the football cost base the cost base.

I reckon our football wage bill is now around £20m. Maybe a bit higher what with the unnecessary change and the cost of that but it won't be much above.

When NP came in it was £30m and the amortisation was quite large too.

It Was £26m last year but that was inclusive of 13 months, annualised around £24m.

Normally when you cut football costs at this level, you regress.

Edited February 25 by Mr Popodopolous

[Mr Popodopolous]

24 minutes ago, JP Hampton said:

Brought through Conway Scott and Bell, some may say he didn’t have a choice, but he did it well and each one of them performed. 

O'Leary, Vyner and Pring although not that category, all stepped up further under NP- also saving us tbe need to go into the market again.

I know they are a bit older but Vyner went from heading out the door summer 2022 or possibly anyway, to Players Player of the Season 9 months on.

[JP Hampton]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

O'Leary, Vyner and Pring although not that category, all stepped up further under NP- also saving us tbe need to go into the market again.

I know they are a bit older but Vyner went from heading out the door summer 2022 or possibly anyway, to Players Player of the Season 9 months on.

You’re right and of course how could I have forgotten Vyner!!! What an incredible turn around. Fans had lost all faith in him, but NP clearly knew better. 
 Some of his play yesterday reminded me of those bad old days unfortunately.

Edited February 25 by JP Hampton

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

It Was £26m last year but that was inclusive of 13 months, annualised around £24m.

I guess that’s a simple 12/13ths calculation rather than taking into account 2 lots of end of year / contract bonus when there’d normally only be 1?

[redsquirrel]

6 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

O'Leary, Vyner and Pring although not that category, all stepped up further under NP- also saving us tbe need to go into the market again.

I know they are a bit older but Vyner went from heading out the door summer 2022 or possibly anyway, to Players Player of the Season 9 months on.

and he did it largely by trusting his staff and not interfering,

[Mr Popodopolous]

8 minutes ago, redsquirrel said:

and he did it largely by trusting his staff and not interfering,

100%.

Art of delegation is also important as you say, fine line between delegation and abdicating responsibility and think NP got it right.

Something the hierarchy should take note of..remember when they disappeared and post Gould and Alexander, NP was basically having to field and answer for all sorts in the Autumn.

I say they should take note and learn, they probably won't.

[W-S-M Seagull]

Liverpool just won the league Cup with a bunch of youngsters and by having that collective spirit. That collective spirit is often underestimated in football but it is such a big ingredient. 

I'm disappointed because I felt like we had gone a very long way to have that culture in place. 

Now we have a headcoach that totally disregards this part of the game as he wants his players to play without emotions. 

 

 

[Superjack]

4 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

100%.

Art of delegation is also important as you say, fine line between delegation and abdicating responsibility and think NP got it right.

Something the hierarchy should take note of..remember when they disappeared and post Gould and Alexander, NP was basically having to field and answer for all sorts in the Autumn.

I say they should take note and learn, they probably won't.

No 'probably' about it. 

 

[redsquirrel]

4 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

100%.

Art of delegation is also important as you say, fine line between delegation and abdicating responsibility and think NP got it right.

Something the hierarchy should take note of..remember when they disappeared and post Gould and Alexander, NP was basically having to field and answer for all sorts in the Autumn.

I say they should take note and learn, they probably won't.

he did that for the fans because believe it or not, they play an important part in his teams,and he cares about them too.

something else a few people should also take note of