Nigel Pearson breaks silence on Bristol City exit and discusses his next steps in football

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, chairman Jon Lansdown delivered an interview to BBC Radio Bristol in which he claimed players had been given too much time off during the international breaks and were in danger of being “deconditioned”. Lansdown said: “We’ve probably not been giving the players the best platform, training-wise, to achieve what they want to and of course that goes into your thinking.”

Speaking to the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast with Sam Allardyce, Pearson responded to a question from fans around the reasons for why his sacking came “out of the blue”, with the former Leicester City manager holding back on certain details due to confidentiality clauses in his exit agreement, joking “which is why I probably won't say too much more... ask me in 12 months”.

“Their decision,” Pearson said. “I learned afterwards, I didn’t learn through any conversations I had with anybody at the football club, that it was for results, and I also heard via some interview that was done, that the squad was in danger of being deconditioned, which was…

“All I’d say about that is, I think the chairman could have just spoken to the technical director and he would have been able to give them the information that he needed but, ultimately, they went public on the reasons and I was not aware of that until I heard that in the interviews.”

Despite the nature of his exit, and the feeling of a job left unfinished, Pearson retains strong emotional links with the club, city and area having become particularly fond of north Somerset during his two-and-a-half years in charge. He was a regular walker on the Mendips and also purchased an area of woodland in the West Country.

Pearson evokes strong emotions within elements of the fanbase, still bruised by the nature of his departure, as the decision has come to define a dramatic campaign which looks set to finish in mid-table, with the Robins now having matched their points total from last term with two games remaining.

His league finishes were 19th (having taken over from Dean Holden in February), 17th and 14th, with an overall win percentage of 32.06 per cent. But Pearson’s reign in BS3 will be remembered for piloting the club through the post-Covid financial landscape in which they had to reduce the wage bill while remaining competitive in the Championship.

He also helped usher through a generation of academy talent into the first team in Tommy Conway, Alex Scott, Ayman Benarous and Sam Bell, while turning to previously ignored homegrown players such as Zak Vyner, Max O’Leary and Cam Pring.

“I really enjoyed living down there. It’s beautiful. I bought some woodland down there, I’ve not been to for a while,” Pearson added. “I had a good connection with a lot of the people there as well, I still keep in contact with members of the training ground staff. There’s some really good people there.

“The fanbase were very patient, knowledgeable. They were able to see past, I think - look, the results weren’t always brilliant - but what they could see was a team that worked hard trying to win games, we weren’t always at our best, but it was quite a complex job in terms of trying to change what the squad could do, looked like.

"People get bogged down talking about styles of play but we tried to get out the best of the players we had. We developed a number of the players we had there. It’s a good club in the sense of its an academy with a big catchment area.

“The circumstances I was working in along with my staff was we were fortunate the club were producing some good players because we needed them; when you have to reduce the wage bill and try and improve performance on the pitch, it’s not necessarily a straightforward thing to do.

“Although it didn’t end in an amicable way, we as staff - and that includes the people that remain now - worked hard to get the best out of what we had. Liam (Manning) took over the position and inherited a very decent situation.”

Pearson had been on crutches for the final eight weeks of his time in charge of City, as he was suffering with back and neurological problems which had hampered his movement. He has remained out of work since leaving Ashton Gate but in recent weeks, has appeared on Sky Sports for their Championship coverage.

The 60-year-old admits he’s focusing mainly on his health at present before considering what his future in football looks like, more than 25 years in management spanning 10 different clubs.

“I’m concentrating very much on my health at the moment, I had a problem with my back last year and I’ve had a neurological problem which has been a bit of a test for me but I am slowly getting better, which is good,” Pearson said.

“It depends what people want, I suppose. I’m a manager. I’m a football manager; I can coach and I do coach but I’m a football manager and I’m not really a head coach.

“The fad at the moment seems to be let’s get a younger coach. There you go. Is football suffering with a bit of ageism, maybe. But the most important thing for me is, firstly, I spend enough time looking after myself to make sure that, if an opportunity comes along that I want to take, that I’m ready for it.

"Fitness is very much a physical thing and when you suffer with ill-health it reminds us all of what is the most important thing. I need to make sure I’m physically in good shape but mentally I'm ready for the next challenge.

“I’m sure there will be an opportunity at some point and when that comes I want to enjoy the challenge and I want to be able to do the job well and be successful.

"Success is always judged by trophies, who wins what, but the reality is success can be avoiding relegation, cutting a wage bill and making sure the club survives and remains sustainable, there are lots of ways of framing what success is.

“I’m always willing to take something out of the ordinary that is also a challenge because I get bored quite easily, I’m not somebody who just wants to take an easy job on. I like to be a part of a team of people who want to do something.”

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