£25m Premier League signing one-word verdict on sacked Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson

Several current first-team players have paid tribute to recently sacked Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson following his sacking on Sunday afternoon, and now a former player has joined in.

The 60-year-old’s near three-year tenure came to an end with the Robins board citing recent results as the reason for parting ways. In fairness to Pearson, he was navigating through an injury crisis and despite the slump in form, Bristol City are just five-points off of the play-offs and there was still plenty of football to be played.

A common theme during his tenure was to give academy players their chance in football, and that even came on Saturday when Joseph James made his first start for the club. He started at right-back in what would turn out to be Pearson’s final game in charge - a 2-0 defeat to Severnside rivals Cardiff City.

Pearson was tasked with cutting the wage bill, and making the team sustainable, and perhaps one of his finest acts was to give Alex Scott his start in the professional game. He wasn’t afraid to give the then 17-year-old his first taste of Championship football, and he never looked back since.

Tommy Conway credited Pearson for giving him a chance, and now his former flatmate Scott took to Instagram to add to what his former teammates and paid tribute to the manager which gave him his start in professional football.

The 20-year-old boy wonder posted on his Instagram story with two photos of him and Pearson sharing an embrace with a one-word caption: ‘Legend’ at the bottom of it.

Scott recently made his Premier League debut for Bournemouth and earned praise for his performance. He along with Antoine Semenyo and another City academy graduate Lloyd Kelly played big role in their 2-1 win over Burnley in which former City midfielder Josh Brownhill featured, making for a clash that featured several former City stars.

He was sold to the Cherries for a reported £25m in mid-August and his departure did bring confusion. A big windfall was to come the Robins way, but Pearson was not able to reinvest that money into the squad, and the only signing that came after Scott's departure was Taylor Gardner-Hickman, which was enforced because of an injury to Ross McCrorie.