Nigel Pearson on a collision course with ‘strange club’ Bristol City this summer

In football there is a maxim that when clubs need to effect change, it’s either the players or the manager who depart.

Invariably, given the costs, clubs more often settle for the more viable latter. It is easier to lose one man more than five or six afterall.

Perhaps that is being weighed up by the Bristol City hierarchy with little communication from the Robins’ top brass of late following a disappointing season on the pitch and worrying signs over the next campaign.

Following the dispiriting draw at the weekend including half an hour against the 10-men of Grant McCann’s Peterborough United - and it is worth noting again that it was a draw and not a loss - manager Nigel Pearson was adamant about the way forward.

In a spiky press conference following the game held in what used to be the office for the club’s recruitment team now turned football club press conference room, Pearson asked a local reporter to name a player whose Bristol City career may be over.

None was given but Pearson went on to explain instead what was needed at the end of the campaign.

“We haven’t got a problem necessarily with quality, but the squad needs a shakeup,” the manager said. More personality is needed, he added, and he’s not wrong. Of course more quality is needed for the team sitting in 19th in the league.

“Is it simply a case of having to make changes in the summer?” “Yeah.”

The message has been consistent but possibly delivered too abruptly at times, especially in calling out the club’s former “bonkers” transfer and wage strategy, honestly explaining there is no money to spend, and only on Saturday calling Bristol City a ‘strange club’ in his radio interview with BBC Radio Bristol.

“They’re [the club] going to have to do something about the almost at times passive-ness of everybody. It’s a strange club in that regard,” added Pearson in his local radio interview on the weekend, discussing either himself or the players departing as a solution to the club’s inability to climb the league table.

That kind of abrasive behaviour by the manager is mirrored by his handling of his players and the team.

There is clarity however. You’re either ‘on the bus’ or not, although Tyreeq Bakinson appears to be the only certified member of that club so far, though forgotten centre-back Taylor Moore and Saturday’s substitutes could have cause for alarm too.

The clear dismissal of some parts of the squad who the manager does not see as being at Ashton Gate long term - from Kasey Palmer to Nahki Wells’ minor inclusion to the return to the fold of Jay Dasilva - shows who is in favour and who is not. But having unused assets on the sidelines helps no-one.

Pearson is at least fair. Though the criticism is occasionally pointed and public, the word that has come back to us is that the manager gives a fair crack of the whip. If not immediately giving of chances to the youth players when he arrived, then certainly to the senior players.

The 58-year-old’s standing in the game is high and you need only listen to top professionals speaking of how Pearson has affected them.

The former Leicester City manager in the past few days has seen both Kasper Schmeichel and Ben Foster speak up for him on a players’ podcast however, indicating his standing in the game today.

“I don’t know a single person who has said a bad word against this guy, incredible,” said Pearson’s former Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster this week on his Fozcast podcast on YouTube.

And Premier League winner Kasper Schmeichel backed that up adding, “What a man.” Schmeichel spoke to Pearson last week at the statue unveiling for his club’s late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha at the King Power Stadium and the goalkeeper described the meeting as like that of a family reunion.

Pearson’s work at Leicester City is well regarded and as Schmeichel explained, still plays a vital role at the club today as Pearson laid the foundations to Leicester’s success and built a club that added the 2021 FA Cup to their top tier title win in 2016.

“The way he transformed Leicester was incredible. And we are still reaping all the rewards now,” citing the infrastructure put in place and the people recruited in his time in the East Midlands.

At Bristol City, we hope for the same. But the jobs are not alike.

At Leicester City, Pearson could spend and the Foxes reached a £3.1m settlement in 2018 over breaking then EFL financial regulations and recording a £21m loss in their 2013/14 accounts, when only £8m was permissible, although the accompanying statement suggested that it was a misunderstanding of the rules than any wilful over-spending.

It should also be pointed out that during this time there were great transfer successes achieved for relatively low fees, as Leicester, for example, signed now Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez from Le Havre for a reported £560,00 in January 2014.

But there is no money to spend at Bristol City. Certainly not as it stands, as the manager explained himself last week, and in the wake of the £38.4m loss announced last December in the Robins’ last accounts.

Owner Steve Lansdown has professed to wanting to make the club financially self-sustainable for many years. Although Lansdown has consistently said that down the years, only now is it being forced on the Robins. That straitjacket will not make managing the club very easy.

With no money, Bristol City must get creative this coming summer. Even sales may not happen if the right offers are not forthcoming.

To that end BristolWorld understands that the club’s plan is for a ‘quiet summer’. Few transfers in and out. That plainly does not appear to fit with how Pearson sees things, who wants to ‘shake up’ the squad.

Whether that is just bluster from either side or to attain a better bargaining position remains to be seen. But the odd marriage of the stern, traditional Pearson and modern club Bristol City continues and does not look set for plain sailing over the next months.

Who is right? Of course, to achieve success you need to build and improve a team. But crucially, in this day and age spending is not a given or always necessary, especially in the EFL. Trading, repositioning a player, finding a talented youngster, good coaching, even the right loan can all provide solutions too.

Steve Cooper and Nathan Jones have worked wonders in the Championship on limited budgets this year, bringing in mostly free transfers and with careful use of the loan market. The comparisons are stark.

To move forward Pearson may need to show some patience or flexibility here, or the club accept a loss for the greater good, either points-wise - as suggested by CEO Richard Gould earlier this season - or in clearing the decks at cost. So which way do you see the chips falling?

“It has become clear to the club that fundamental differences in perspective exist between us. Regrettably the club believes that the working relationship between Nigel and the board is no longer viable.”

That was how Pearson’s time in the East Midlands drew to a close in 2015. And there may be something there for all to ponder at Ashton Gate right now.