Nigel Pearson has left Bristol City with immediate effect

I wouldn’t have seen it as never go on OTIB..

 

Not that you guys will care for an outside opinion I'm sure but from what I can see, Pearson did an OK job (nothing more than that). Yes, he cleared out expensive deadwood but he hasn't really progressed you either in that time by bringing in good replacements from what I can see, he'd just steadied the ship...

We had the same under Russell Slade a few years back and we even managed an unexpected tilt at the playoffs (fell short though), whilst he got rid of loads of expensive/semi-useless players.

I think one Pearson started to criticise your owners there was only ever going to be one outcome because he HASN'T really managed to improve your chances of sustained success overall (at least not in terms of real pushes upwards).

On the subject of your owner, as much as many of you say they are clueless, from what I know of it all, since Lansdown became chairman/owner you have had more consistent/sustained 2nd tier football at Ashton Gate than for a long long time. You were pretty much a consistent League 1 side when he took over weren't you, with just the odd dalliance at a higher level?
He's also funded many an improvement to your facilities, funded your successful academy and paid record transfer fees for players..... and has been keeping you competitive in what is probably one of, if not the hardest league in the world...

That doesn't sound so bad or clueless to me. At least he doesn't expect your keeper to score and hasn't changed your kit to Blue!!

 

Nice to read what looks to be quite a balanced view

 

The Lansdown’s keep quoting other clubs who have spent less but progressed beyond us and wonder why. The one thing those clubs have in common is that they are well run, rather than sacking NP they should have looked in the mirror, the problem wasn’t the manager is was lack of leadership from them.

 

Interesting to hear a balanced view from outside - thanks
Our fans will have differing views on Lansdown and Pearson as manager.
What you said about establishing ourselves in the second tier is true and I in fact pointed this out on various threads about the Lee Johnson/Mark Ashton era. It’s also true about SL investing heavily in our infrastructure and facilities.
My own personal gripe is that SL has pushed his son, Jon, into the main role but there seems to be little or no communication with the fans. They seem to sit behind an iron curtain and stuff just happens. This gives the impression that the fans simply don’t matter. Very arrogant.
Regarding Pearson; a large section of our fan base think he was like a ‘god’ for us (mainly those who really didn’t like LJ). True under his tenure we have shed the big earners and we haven’t seriously looked like going down, but the football has been inconsistent and there have been some terrible results (losing to Stoke after being comfortably ahead springs to mind). That said, although me and a few others didn’t hail him as a deity, I certainly didn’t think he deserved to be sacked and I think only a tiny minority of our fans did too. I was disappointed that we remained inconsistent, but we have had an awful lot of injuries to key players, so for a great part Pearsons hands have been tied - and I can’t see how another manager will be able to do any better given these forced restrictions. It’s yet another example of the board taking decisions, probably for non-football reasons and ignoring the opinions of the fans, who are for whom the whole club exists.

 

Totally agree, the thing that baffles me is SL is a successful business man, surely he can’t run his business in this manner. We finally had a man who understands football in charge of the football, what do they do, undermine, stitch him up and force him out. Unbelievable

 

Duplicate post

 

You won’t be popular on here with that accurate and balanced view When you lose 5 of your last 7 games, and criticise the Chairman, the writing is usually on the wall. You only have a chance of getting away with that if you have won 5 of your last 7, and even then it's tough. As some others have said on here, I do wonder if Pearson was engineering his own dismissal... We will never know.
I did think Pearson was a touch arrogant, but he did an okay job, and I wanted to see how this season finished before any decision was made on his future, I think he deserved that, but it wasn't to be.

 

You could argue this for all our managers, right back to Steve Cotterill and our return to the Championship.

 

Cotts and NP were too outspoken, they told it as it was, that’s why they were both got rid of, both were stitched up and hung out to dry. The difference with NP is has he’s got a bit more gravitas. JL saying it’s results based just makes him look silly. We know that’s not the case, NP’s results stats aren’t good, but has to be taken in context, we’re now in a position once our injuries start coming back to have a top 10 side. The suits have now ruined all that potential because NP told them a few home truths, absolute madness.

 

I actually wonder if they don’t like a manager that’s more popular with the fans than they are, LJ always split the fan base is that why he was so liked by the suits, do they feel threatened with a popular manager, it seems daft but who knows, it certainly looks that way.

 

Just two thoughts.

Everyone is blaming JL/SL for the poor relationship between the club and Nigel and the fact they want a yes man. Remember, this is a man who got Leicester promoted to the Premier league, won numerous games at the end of the next season to keep Leicester up in 14th despite being bottom at Christmas and then left in June because according to a Leicester club statement "the working relationship between Nigel and the Board was no longer viable". Therefore, I agree NP is a good manager, but has has a history of not getting on with a board not just JL/SL.

My one conspiracy theory is we did not spend any Scott money at the end of August because the board were beginning to / had lost faith in NP so did not want to spend money on NP players to sack him 2 months later. Instead they kept the transfer kitty in the bank so a new manager has some money in January / summer. In addition several older players, James / Wieman etc. are out of contract at the end of the season. No new contracts on offer yet. Is that because we are waiting to see if the new manager wants them?

I am always sad to see a BCFC manager leave. But BCFC is my club and ultimately on Saturday I want to see them win.

 

I 100% agree with this, and I know it won't sit well with the majority on here, but I have thought the same. The proof will be in the Jan window.

 

I hope the fans make their feelings known towards the board/owner in the next home game even if they’re not in the stadium