In At The Deep End - Nigel Pearson's Early Adventures

[kushiro]

Just in case Nigel Pearson hasn't received enough love on this forum already, here's a look back at his first year as a professional footballer - a year in which he had to face a variety of difficult challenges.

 

We know now that when he's backed into a corner - whether it's the Great Escape in 2015, or a pack of wild dogs in the Carpathian Mountains - he usually comes out fighting.

 

But how did he fare at the start of his career?

 

Here's the story. Think of it as a short chapter from an imaginary Pearson biography.

 

 

1) Take a Bow, Son

 

Let's begin with two transfers from October 1981.

 

At the start of the month, Manchester United paid a British record 1.5 million to sign Bryan Robson from West Brom.

 

At the end of that month, and at the other end of the scale, Shrewsbury paid just 1,000 pounds to sign 18 year-old Nigel Pearson from Heanor Town. 

 

Pearson's first game as a full time professional came at Wolves in the Midland Intermediate League. This was a competition in which Shrewsbury entered their reserve team, but Wolves and most other clubs entered their third team - the 'A' team, as they were flatteringly described.

 

How was Pearson feeling as he arrived at Wolves' Castlecroft ground on that Monday evening? It was a pretty unglamorous way to start a career.

 

Until he saw the opposition team sheet.

 

Playing number nine that day for Wolves, and the man Pearson would be marking, was Andy Gray - the man whose British transfer record Bryan Robson had just broken.

 

A month earlier, just as Gray lost that 'most expensive player' tag, he also lost his head - twice. He was reported to the FA for using 'foul and abusive language' to a referee, then a week later he was sent off in a stormy game against his old club, Aston Villa. He was given a two match ban for each offence, and when he was eligible to play again, he needed a game in the 'A' team to get him match fit again. Which is why he was facing Pearson.

 

It was a successful workout for Gray. He scored twice as Wolves won 2-0, and he was ready to return to the first team. Quite a baptism for his young marker.

 

 

2)  The Long Wait

 

Whether that baptism of fire was the cause or not, Shrewsbury manager Graham Turner decided not to expose his new signing to top level football for the rest of the season. And so Pearson faced his next trial - a test of patience.

 

The long wait meant he played no part in two of the most important games in the club's history - both against Leicester City. 

 

In March 1982, Shrewsbury were dreaming of the FA Cup Final. They'd never got past the Sixth Round before, but if they could win at Filbert Street they would be in the last four. 

 

Leicester, of course, won 5-2. Shrewsbury's regular central defensive pairing of Colin Griffin and Jack Keay were torn apart that day by the speed and skill of Gary Lineker and Jim Melrose, which must have added to Pearson's impatience. He was desperate to show what he could do. 

 

But still he was stuck in the Midland Intermediate League.

 

Two months later came the next date with destiny. It was the last day of the season and The Shrews needed a point to stay up. Not an easy task when you're playing away from home against a team needing a win to keep alive their promotion hopes. That team again was Leicester City. 

 

This time, the Leicester attack could make no impression. A 0-0 draw kept Shrewsbury up - and also ended Jock Wallace's hopes of leading City back to the top flight (Norwich City went up instead - Martin O'Neill their inspiration).

 

Shrewsbury and Leicester could easily have exited Division Two in opposite directions and been two Leagues apart. But now they were left to face each other again in 1982/83. 

 

Pearson would soon turn 19. Surely his chance would come soon.

 

 

3) In The Deep Stuff

 

Despite winning that survival battle, Shrewsbury were in such dire financial straits that they had to release more than half of their first team squad. Graham Turner was forced to turn to the youngsters. On the first day of the new season, as the local paper put it, 'Town had no choice but to throw Nigel Pearson in at the deep end'. 

 

Deep end?  That was putting it mildly.

 

The Second Division in 1982/83 was a remarkable place. It featured two of the three most recent winners of the European Footballer of the Year Award (what they now call the Ballon D'Or). Imagine that now. Benzema at Millwall, perhaps. Or Modric at Sunderland.

 

Back then it really happened. Allan Simonsen joined Charlton Athletic - and Kevin Keegan signed for Newcastle.

 

Both players were still very much in the prime of their careers - Keegan was the England captain at 31 and had been top scorer in the top flight with 26 goals the previous season (for Southampton). Simonsen was still in his twenties and quit Barcelona when the arrival of Diego Maradona left them with too many overseas players. Now Keegan and Simonsen would be turning out at places like Brunton Park, The Abbey Stadium - and Gay Meadow.

 

On August 28th, as Keegan made his debut in front of a capacity 36,000 at Newcastle, a crowd one tenth that size watched Pearson make his bow at Oldham Athletic, where Shrewsbury lost 1-0. 

 

Three days later, in Pearson's second game, they lost at Wrexham in the League Cup. In his third game they lost at home to Fulham. Next came defeats at Crystal Palace and Grimsby, and Shrewsbury were the only club in the country yet to pick up a point.

 

It wasn't just Pearson - the whole club were in the deep stuff. But then, just as the team saw a ray of light, his personal predicament got even worse.

 

In the 2nd Leg of the League Cup tie against Wrexham, he was sent off for a professional foul. Without him. his ten teammates recorded their first win of the season to go through on aggregate.

 

Pearson had played six games in the first team - five defeats, then a red card. 

 

And their next game? At home to Newcastle. Pearson would be marking the captain of England. That was pressure enough.

 

But then the fixture took on a whole new significance. 

 

 

When Nigel Met Kevin

 

In the days leading up to the game, Bobby Robson dropped a bombshell.

 

The new England manager decided there was no place for Keegan in his first squad. This was totally unexpected, and caused a huge media storm - only surpassed sixteen years later when Paul Gascoigne was dropped by Glenn Hoddle.  

 

This was Keegan's reaction: 'What upset me was the way I heard about it. A 10p phone call from the FA is not a lot to ask. I found out through you people - through the media. That's what annoyed me. It's not the fact that I'm left out. I'm big enough to accept that. I'm 31, and the new manager has new ideas. But it's just the way I found out about it.'

 

You can just hear him saying that, can't you?

 

Well, here he is - with some splendid backing vocals from Danny Baker:

 

 

 

Keegan then vowed to show Robson just what he was missing, 'There is nobody in the England team who can do what I do', he said, 'and I intend to prove it on the field'. 

 

The team with no points and a novice central defender would be facing the Keegan backlash. 

 

On September 18th, Geordie fans descended on Gay Meadow in their thousands, and their songs of praise for King Kev were mixed with vicious anti-Bobby Robson chants. When Keegan set up Imre Varadi to put Newcastle ahead early on, those chants got louder. The Shrews were surely heading for yet another defeat.

 

What could Nigel Pearson do to stop the inevitable?

 

What he did was to stick to his task, and stick tight to his opponent. That early assist was Keegan's last real contribution. Shrewsbury equalised, and Pearson was slowly getting on top in this personal battle, 'policing Keegan superbly', as one report said. Shrewsbury then took the lead, and 'Keegan's increasing frustration was a sure sign of Pearson's success'. 

 

 

 

it finished 2-1, and Shrewsbury were finally off the mark.

 

So much for a backlash. On Sunday morning, the media talk was not so much about Keegan, more about the man who had him in his pocket. Keegan had 'more than met his match in the 19-year old Pearson', said the Sunday Sun, a paper based in the North-East:

 

The following week, this letter appeared in the same paper:

 

 

That game was the turning point for Pearson, and for The Shrews. It was the start of a 15-game run in which their only defeats were on QPR's plastic pitch and at home to Leicester, who took advantage of Pearson's suspension (after that sending off against Wrexham) to record a 2-0 victory.

 

Never mind Division Three, Shrewsbury now had their eyes on the top flight. With Pearson getting rave reviews in the press, this was the top of the table:

 

 

 

That was their high point. They were sandwiched between Fulham and Leicester, and the battle for the third promotion spot developed into a thrilling race between those two. A game on a cold Tuesday night in February was crucial. Only 6,000 fans turned up at Filbert Street to see Nigel Pearson finally make his first appearance against Leicester, and goals from Lineker (2) and Ian Wilson gave us a 3-2 win that kept us in the promotion hunt. If Shrewsbury had won they'd have gone back above us.

 

Leicester would finish third at the end of the season, and Newcastle fifth.  Shrewsbury were ninth - they had faded, but at the end of the season their fans gave the Player of the Year award to the young centre back who had started the season so uncertainly.

 

Nigel Pearson was on his way.

 

 (Nige - if by chance you're reading this, pm me and we'll make that imaginary biography a reality )

[CloudFox]

This is excellent @kushiro, great write up! Funny how football creates these narratives. Big Nige really was destined for us, wasn't he 😎.

[Mark_w]

[Mr Weller 2]

The Pearson cult continues. I really don’t get it. He did a decent job in the lower leagues but that was it. 

[HybridFox]

1 minute ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

The Pearson cult continues. I really don’t get it. He did a decent job in the lower leagues but that was it. 

If you don’t know the answer to that question then I think you are an ostrich

 

[Daggers]

"Nigel Pearson's Early Adventures"

 

C'mon Nickelodeon, it's the cartoon series the world is crying out for.

[BluethroughtheMiddle]

Oh another Pearson love in thread 

 

SMDH

[Stadt]

20 minutes ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

The Pearson cult continues. I really don’t get it. He did a decent job in the lower leagues but that was it. 

 

[Guest Sharpe's Fox]

Nigel Pearson is a prince amongst men. There we are.

[Guest Sharpe's Fox]

3 hours ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

The Pearson cult continues.

If there's a Pearson cult then i'm the Grand Nigician.

[Mr Weller 2]

But really it’s getting a bit much now-the guy’s been gone 7 years after a disastrous season ending with him leaving after defending his son’s racist behaviour. I know some people will excuse him anything but give it a rest.

[Otis]

Weird behaviour, some of you lot need therapy. 

[Ashley]

35 minutes ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

But really it’s getting a bit much now-the guy’s been gone 7 years after a disastrous season ending with him leaving after defending his son’s racist behaviour. I know some people will excuse him anything but give it a rest.

What he said. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

10 hours ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

The Pearson cult continues. I really don’t get it. He did a decent job in the lower leagues but that was it. 

Imagine my shock you don't like Pearson

[MrsJohnMurphy]

10 hours ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

The Pearson cult continues. I really don’t get it. He did a decent job in the lower leagues but that was it. 

No Pearson, no Premier League title

 

Simple really

[FoyleFox]

2 hours ago, MrsJohnMurphy said:

No Pearson, no Premier League title

 

Simple really

No Pearson, no club rebuild, no Championship title. No Premier League title. 

[Brainy]

No Martin Allen/Ian Holloway, no club for Pearson to rebuild

 

#ThankyouMartin #ThankyouIan

[Jaspa]

 

Cheers Nige!

Edited 6 November 2022 by Jaspa

[Mr Weller 2]

18 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

No Pearson, no club rebuild, no Championship title. No Premier League title. 

By that logic he’s also responsible for our current problems 

[ithuriel]

4 minutes ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

By that logic he’s also responsible for our current problems 

Current problems? compared to where we were back then, tis nothing but a scratch.

[Mr Weller 2]

Just now, ithuriel said:

Current problems? compared to where we were back then, tis nothing but a scratch.

I think expectations have changed a bit since then 

[kushiro]

Here's a couple of footnotes to the original post:

 

1)  A couple of weeks after the Keegan backlash that never happened (because Pearson bottled him up), he really did take it out on someone. He scored four at Rotherham in a famous game that was on Match of the Day. After the match Tony Gubba seems to touch the same nerve that Richard Keys did in the 'I'd love it' interview in 1996. Kev says he doesn't want to talk about his England rejection anymore -  but then he can't help talking about it. It's the same 'I've kept really quiet (but I really want to speak out)'  dilemma that the Keys interview exposed.

 

 

 

2) I really love this photo:

 

 

Somehow you can see the whole Pearson character on that 19 year old face.

 

But then I thought - what does the picture remind me of?

 

Something about the kits? 

 

Something about the atmosphere of predator and prey? The air of menace in Pearson's expression?

 

It was really bugging me.

 

Then it struck me - 

 

 

That blue and amber of the Shrewsbury kit is so similar to the Wimbledon colours.

 

Someone with better photoshop skills than me might want to try a composite of those two pictures...