Since he arrived at Ashton Gate in February 2021 as Bristol City’s Mr. Fixit, Nigel Pearson has enjoyed near-universal popularity and support. It has inevitability wavered at points, but following every doubt that has crept into the wider consciousness of the Robins fanbase, there has been a swift reaffirmation of the job he’s trying to do.
From when his temporary contract was upgraded into a three-year deal, despite a run of eight games without a win, he’s enjoyed an almost unique status among the modern football manager. Only three times have City won successive games on his watch, their league positions have been 19th, 17th and now 18th, and Pearson’s win percentage is 29.55 - 14.4 and 9.4 per cent, respectively, less than when predecessors Dean Holden and Lee Johnson were sacked.
Externally, that could be seen as baffling - and indeed is a growing theme among pundits taking a cursory interest in the Robins - but there is obvious context and nuance ignored outside Bristol: the requirement to dramatically reduce the wage bill without any financial power to reinforce the squad, all the while addressing Profit & Sustainability concerns and fulfilling Steve Lansdown’s very personal vision to see more homegrown and local talent in the first team.
That, coupled with Pearson’s reputation and character, which has run completely contrary to previous coaches, has kept him - throughout all the dips - mainly in credit. But the defeat to Stoke City last Saturday - which unleashed an anger still pent up after the Carabao Cup exit to Lincoln City - coupled with the manager’s post-match press conference has started to turn the tide of public opinion.
In the wake of the 2-1 loss, Pearson’s admission that he didn’t “trust” Rob Atkinson to play over Andy King - who was culpable for both goals - in defence chimed with the supporters, but this time for the wrong reasons.
It was seen, rightly or wrongly, as needlessly “throwing a player under the bus” and not taking responsibility for his own actions, namely by selecting King (the argument ever so slightly overlooking the fact the veteran had started the previous two Championship fixtures and played well, whereas Atkinson was lacking match fitness; not that it was cited as the reason at the time, admittedly).
While Pearson is fully aware of the reaction, which has placed additional emphasis on Monday’s Boxing Day clash at Ashton Gate against West Brom which will see more than 23,000 fans through the door, his perception of it, let alone his opinion, differs greatly.
For him, calling out those in the squad who need to raise their standards - in this case, Atkinson - isn’t a negative response, as widely perceived, or a dereliction of duty - it’s precisely what he should be doing to maintain the cultural change he’s spoken of so regularly in the past.
“I don’t want to paint a picture that I’m trying to be negative,” Pearson said. “What I’m trying to do is ensure the values we are trying to create here are lived and breathed.
“I’ve been told it was about not taking responsibility well, look, I’ve taken responsibility for everything in this football team since I’ve been here.
“The number of times I must have said after a game, ‘it’s my team, I take total responsibility for it - fine’ and I always will do. And I take responsibility for a scenario that’s not of my making but I don’t moan about that. What I’m trying to do is find the solutions along with everyone else at this football club.
“And if people aren’t aware, I am somebody who has a bit of conflict. You need conflict to make changes. All I would say to our fans is, we appreciate their support and it’s really important they stay behind the team.
“If it changes towards me, well okay, fine but it’s not going to stop me working in the way that I always do, and that is - I put the team first; I don’t put individuals first. And the reality of where we are at the moment is we need everybody onside.”
As for what the scenario not of his making is, it's something that very much underpins the situation the Robins are in, after the boom and subsequent bust of pushing for promotion under Johnson and former CEO Mark Ashton, only to fall short with Covid then decimating the Lansdowns’ financial model of raising revenue through the transfer market.
A wage bill in excess of £35m - which has now been reduced - has crippled the club’s ability to match the volume of players leaving on free transfers with new signings; the shortfall made up with academy players as double figures have earned their debuts under the 59-year-old.
To his credit, it’s never been an issue for the manager, who has got on with the task despite the obvious obstacles; albeit ones he knew existed when he first took the job.
“The fact we’re in danger of breaking Financial Fair Play,” Pearson explained. “It just means that we can’t then go out (in the transfer market). To affect change, we all would accept that we could have moved along at a quicker pace had we gone out there and bought players and changed things quicker. We can’t. So we’re having to evolve and it means using a lot of young players, which is a great story in one sense, but the flipside of that is, inconsistencies can be greater.
“It’s something we just need to keep working at. There are a lot of fantastic people who work for this football club and it’s really important we build on what is positive here. Unfortunately there is always a thirst for negative news and so, managers falling out with players? Happens most days, probably, across the country.”
As a new more conventional reality bites, results, on the pitch not in the accounts, are ultimately what will, with increasing intensity, drive opinion towards the manager and Pearson, by his own admission, hasn’t won enough.
However, the way he discussed at length on Friday at the High Performance Centre, of the long-term plan and far-reaching decisions on contracts and potential transfers, didn’t indicate a manager feeling, at least in a public sense, immediate pressure around his future, a subject he has previously referenced.
Clearly there’s only so long City can go on not winning before the sort of change he talks about needing to make places him at the centre of it all. But no matter what the future holds, it’s not going to impact what he wants to do at City and how he thinks he should do it.
“I remember having to try and do something to getting us out of a lethargic mindset that was here,” Pearson added. “I remember People moaning about how lazy we were and how we didn’t play with real enthusiasm.
“Emotion is normal. The bottom line is we need our fanbase to stick behind our team and that’s all it is, and they’ve been brilliant. But I hope they can see that there is - although we’re on the same points as we were last year - but we are doing things outside of the football itself, we’re making progress there.
“They want to see us winning more games, of course they do, but I’m in this job to try and create something that’s more successful, more driven, and has people in the team and in the club - staff and players - who want to achieve. We’ve had too many comfortable people here.
“Comfort zones - tough, I don’t want them. I don’t want people to just think it’s okay to go out there and do enough. It’s not good enough, I’m sorry."
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