Nigel Pearson claims he wasn’t aware of the full reasons behind his sacking at Bristol City manager until they were played out in the public domain, and believes he’s left the club in a “very decent situation” for successor Liam Manning.
Pearson was dismissed in late October less than 24 hours after a 2-0 defeat away at Cardiff City with the official club statement at the time detailing, “We all wanted Nigel to achieve our ambition to be promoted but, with our recent results, feel that now is the time to make a change to give the club the best possible chance of success.”
The Robins were 15th in the Championship after a run of five defeats in seven matches in which the 60-year-old also had to contend with a number of injuries, but there had been tension behind the scenes for some time.
Later that week, in an interview with BBC Radio Bristol, chairman Jon Lansdown stated that players risked being “deconditioned” because they had taken too many days off during the international holidays. “It goes without saying that we haven’t been providing the players with the best training environment to achieve their goals,” Lansdown stated.
In an interview with Sam Allardyce for the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Pearson addressed a listener’s inquiry regarding the reasons behind his “surprise” termination. The former manager of Leicester City joked that he wouldn’t divulge too much information at this time because of confidentiality clauses in his contract, so “ask me in a year”
“Their choice,” Pearson remarked. “I discovered later that it was for results; I had not heard from any football club employees about this. Additionally, I had heard from an interview that the team was in risk of becoming deconditioned, which was
“All I would say is that, in the end, they made the reasons public, and I was unaware of that until I heard that in the interviews. I believe the chairman could have simply spoken to the technical director and he would have been able to give them the information that he needed.”
Despite the circumstances surrounding his departure and the sense of a task left undone, Pearson maintains close emotional ties to the team, the city, and the region. During his two and a half years in leadership, he developed a special affection for north Somerset. He bought a piece of woods in the West Country and was a regular walker on the Mendips.Pearson stirs up intense feelings in some of the fan base, who are still hurt by the character of
With an overall victory percentage of 32.06%, he finished 19th in the league (taking over from Dean Holden in February), 17th, and 14th. However, the club will remember Pearson’s tenure in BS3 for guiding it through the post-Covid financial environment, where it was necessary to cut costs on wages while maintaining Championship competitiveness.
In addition, he turned his attention to homegrown players who had previously been overlooked, such Zak Vyner, Max O’Leary, and Cam Pring, and helped bring a generation of academy product, Tommy Conway, Alex Scott, Ayman Benarous, and Sam Bell, into the first squad.
“I had a great time living there. It is lovely. I bought some woods there, somewhere I haven’t gone in a long time,” Pearson continued. I still maintain contact with several of the staff members of the training site, with whom I had a good rapport while I was there. Some truly wonderful folks are present.
“The fan community exhibited great patience and knowledge. Though the outcomes weren’t always spectacular, people were able to see that we were a team that put in a lot of effort to win games. We weren’t always at our best, but trying to alter the team’s capabilities and appearance was a difficult task.”People become mired in discussion of different play styles.
“The team, including the present members, worked very hard to make the most of what we had, even though things didn’t end happily. Liam Manning took on the position in an extremely admirable situation.
“Everyone always measures success in terms of trophies and who wins what, but in actuality, there are many different ways to define success. Some examples include preventing relegation, reducing payroll, and ensuring the club’s survival and long-term viability.
“Since I get bored easily, I’m always up for taking on something unusual that also presents a challenge; I don’t want to merely accept jobs that are simple. I enjoy working with groups of people that share my goals.
