Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
 Share
Dorkingfox

Nigel Pearson appointed Watford manager

By Dorkingfox, in General Football and Sport

Recommended Posts

  • 3 months later...
KingsX

KingsX

Posted
Posted (edited)

He's also been interviewed by the Guardian:

 

Nigel Pearson: 'Watford's statement was disrespectful but I've moved on'

 

Nigel Pearson, pictured in March, contracted coronavirus in the spring but says: ‘I feel OK, I think I look all right.’

 

“I joined Watford with a very clear understanding that what might happen might not be clear,” says Nigel Pearson, recalling the emotions that followed his surprise sacking in July, having hauled them three points clear of the Premier League relegation zone with two games to play.

 

The club confirmed his departure in a pithy 49-word statement. “I don’t expect people to write me a wonderful epitaph but I thought it was very disrespectful. Having said that, I moved on very quickly. It’s not scarred me.”

 

Pearson says it how it is and, while he makes clear he was upset and initially shocked, on the day he was dismissed there were telltale signs his reign, which included beating Manchester United and halting Liverpool’s unbeaten run, was coming to an abrupt end.

 

“By the time I had got a missed call and rang the person [Filippo Giraldi, the technical director] who rang me, and said: ‘You’re not ringing to sack me, are you?’ it was clear, and I’d already rung Craig [Shakespeare, his assistant] to say: ‘By the way, I’ve got a missed call and I’ve been stopped from going into the training ground by the security guards, already.’ I rang Shakey and said: ‘Look, I think we’re in trouble here but I’ll ring you back in 10 minutes.’ I did, and we’d been sacked.”

 

He says he half-expected such volatility – his exit led Watford, who went on to be relegated, to appoint Vladimir Ivic their 13th permanent manager in nine years – but there are more layers to Pearson, a philosophical character, than football. We touch on everything from Marcus Rashford’s inspirational work to the Peak District and paddle boarding but begin by discussing health.

 

Pearson contracted coronavirus in the spring and the effects laid him low for some time, with heart problems coming to light during the Premier League restart, but the 57-year-old says he is far healthier now than when in the thick of the relegation battle. “I feel OK, I think I look all right,” he says, smiling.

 

Pearson has been keeping busy. He has contributed towards the Football Association’s new diversity code and continues to make the most of the scenery on his doorstep near Ivybridge in Devon, home for much of the past few months. Time out from management previously translated into hiking trips across the Highlands and Transylvania, where he had a hairy encounter with a pack of wild dogs, but recent weeks have been rather more serene.

 

“Just along the way here there are some stables and some friends of ours go horse riding a lot and I said: ‘Well, any chance?’ I went for a couple of hours the other week and it was great. Hopefully, I will get back out there again – hopefully on the moors –but I think you have to be a bit more proficient than I am.”

 

He commends Rashford but concurs that the game has not always covered itself in glory in recent months. Premier League clubs spent more than £1bn in the transfer window while many teams lower down the pyramid continue to live hand to mouth. “What we’ve probably got to do is try to stave off capitulation of football clubs and leagues in particular; I think the time to recalibrate is when it’s all over. But stories like Bury going bust, Macclesfield going bust, don’t sit easy with me.

 

“I know because of my son James and his involvement with Macclesfield, and my involvement in regard of being the Watford head coach and being involved in Premier League meetings, the disconnect and the lack of empathy in terms of connection with what the bigger picture is. There may be more casualties; I’m surprised that there haven’t been more … It would feel better to live in a world where there was a bit more understanding of what it means for people who are slightly less [well] off.”

 

In March he said he had a “love-hate relationship” with football and asked whether the way things ended at Watford had swung the pendulum more one way than the other, he elaborates on that comment. “I should probably quantify it with ‘and myself,’ in the sense it is a little bit like that.

 

“Has it pushed it [one way more than the other]? Actually, with a little bit of hindsight and a bit of time, I’ve got a lot of warmth towards the people. I spoke to a couple of staff members last night. We didn’t really talk about the club. We talked about them, families, how they were etc. It wasn’t really about football. It was more about them, contacts, etc. Maybe I’m getting a bit of a softie, I don’t know.”

 

He grins. Pearson is open-minded but, whatever’s next, he will be wholehearted in his approach. “I can’t do things half-measure. I don’t do things half-measure,” he says. “It’s really important for me to commit to something. I’ll only really know when either an opportunity comes along or if I feel that grab inside myself. It quite literally could be anything … apart from mucking the stables out. I’m not doing that!”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/06/nigel-pearson-watford-statement-disrespectful-moved-on

Edited by KingsX
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
KingsX

KingsX

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Even if something serious went down it was an absolutely ludicrous decision to get rid at that moment.

 

Predictable as the rain though.  Watford managers since the Pozzos bought the club:

 

WatfordMgrs.JPG.8e3e097c57585c9cd26711513c3e14ca.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fox92

Fox92

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Stadt said:

His win rate was 35% at Watford 

It was. But he's proved over time that's irrelevant. 

Looking back now it was the stupidest thing Watford owners did.

And Burnley were one of the favourites to go down to League 1 when he first joined. What he's built and done there is incredible.

  

2 hours ago, KingsX said:

 

First thing they did when they bought the club, wasn't it? 

Yeah. Probably wanted someone to play attractive football tbf. They went for Zola didn't they.

Edited by Fox92
Link to comment
Share on other sites
AjcW

AjcW

Posted
Posted

Bit of a shame that he probably wasn't considered for the Sheff Weds job due to the health situation.

Any other time it would have been perfect timing for him, might have even worked given the thai links to Sheff Weds.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fox92

Fox92

Posted
Posted (edited)
44 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Bit of a shame that he probably wasn't considered for the Sheff Weds job due to the health situation.

Any other time it would have been perfect timing for him, might have even worked given the thai links to Sheff Weds.

I don't think he'd ever go back. Same as Middlesbrough. I think he's someone who wouldn't want to potentially disrupt his status at those clubs. I'm pretty sure he once said he'd never manage Wednesday. A lot of their fans want him to be manager but I can't see it happening.

 

edit: I know he came back here but he did say he had "unfinished business" which helped in make the choice of coming back. If you take Wednesday, for example, he's a hero there and a former captain who led them to glory as a player and I don't think he'd want to go back and potentially ruin that.

Edited by Fox92
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
baldeagle

baldeagle

Posted
Posted
On 06/11/2020 at 15:57, Fox92 said:

It was. But he's proved over time that's irrelevant. 

Looking back now it was the stupidest thing Watford owners did.

And Burnley were one of the favourites to go down to League 1 when he first joined. What he's built and done there is incredible.

  

Yeah. Probably wanted someone to play attractive football tbf. They went for Zola didn't they.

Hindsight’s a wonder thing 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...