‘A leader of men’: Middlesbrough boss’ assessment on Bristol City head coach Nigel Pearson

Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder has praised the leadership qualities of Bristol City head coach Nigel Pearson ahead of their meeting today.

Wilder brings his in-form Boro side to Ashton Gate Stadium this afternoon as they look to continue their play-off push, whilst City are looking to bounce back from their defeat to Swansea.

Today Pearson will come up against one of his former clubs from his playing career after captaining them to two promotions, having made more than 150 appearances for the Teeside club.

Wilder, who doesn’t live too far from Pearson’s base in Sheffield when the two aren’t working says that his opposition manager is a ‘leader of men’.

He said to The Northern Echo: “When he was a captain at Middlesbrough or Sheffield Wednesday and in his playing days, you can just tell in his manner and how he speaks and how he holds himself that he is a leader of men.”

“From a manager’s point of view, he’s been in the game a long time. He’s seen everything, done everything, had promotions, worked at the highest level, worked at top clubs. There’s nothing that passes him by. He’s an experienced guy.”

City are a side who have been unable to put a consistent run of form together under Pearson with the head coach still yet to record two consecutive wins in his year in charge.

In their last match, they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Swansea City which left the coach fuming at the defensive issues in their side.

City have continuously shipped goals this season with only relegation threatened Reading and Peterborough conceding more than them.

They are also top of the table when it comes to conceding more than two goals a game which makes for a difficult task when winning games.

Pearson’s men though will be buoyed by their relatively stable home form after winning their last three matches in front of their own supporters.

“They will be hurting a little bit because they’ve not got the results that they wanted on a consistent basis but they can win games of football in this division,” said Wilder.

“Nigel has done in his career when he’s won promotion out of the Championship.

“We all want to win games of football. You talk about the competitive aspect of Nigel as a player and as a manager. There’s no doubt about it. Come three o’clock, all the pleasantries will be put to one side regardless of whether he’s played for Middlesbrough. He’ll want a result for Bristol City just as much as we’ll want a result for our club.”