Here's my take on the Mills saga...

[Mark_w]

I think the most telling part of the interview was the comment about Pearson feeling threatened by the club captain asking questions about the strategy. I still have big questions about Pearson's management style. The young guns don't ask questions. Just like business, that will work up to a point - but it will only take you so far. I wish I felt happier about Pearson, but for me the jury is still out. Winning League One is a very different matter to winning the championship. If Mills goes on to be a success, is this Sven wasting money, or Nigel's mis-management? Jury is still out.

We only have MM's account of events. None of us know enough to be saying the manager or player is not good enough because of this interview. What it is fair to judge them on is how well the player did as a footballer and the managers record at previous clubs. Personally from those facts alone I would suggest Pearson is a good manager and Mills is a bang average player. But if you want to judge them on criteria other than how well they have done in their roles, then feel free to.

[Steve Agnew]

I also believe there is a certain way to treat people, no matter who or what you are.

However, we need the other side of the story, which will most likely never come.

If there is one thing we can be sure of, its that Pearson will not enlighten the fans as to what's going on. Transparency is certainly not Big Nige's middle name. Pearson is a dictator, not a leader

[Col city fan]

#

That's rubbish. A manager needs to take responsibility for 'managing' situations. Pearson should be trying to understand why he's asking questions and seeking to resolve it.

How this comes across to me, and this is absolutely in the absence of the other side of the story, is that Pearson came in and was going to instill discipline at the club no matter what.

I agree with you, managing is not only about stamping out any dissent, but about trying to work with it.

I can't help thinking however, that Mills too was trying to assert his own authority... And lost spectacularly.

[Fox92]

I cannot believe people, who will not know Nigel Pearson personally, are jumping to conclusions having heard a one-sided 15 minute interview.

[Babylon]

#

That's rubbish. A manager needs to take responsibility for 'managing' situations. Pearson should be trying to understand why he's asking questions and seeking to resolve it.

It's not rubbish, the manager is there to manage correct, so why is he questioning him? Mills by his own admission said he played poorly at Watford and deserved to be dropped... In the next sentence he said he knocked on his door to find out why he had been dropped.

If you know you were poor, and honestly admitted you were poor, there is no need to go and knock on anyones door.

[Col city fan]

And what way is that then? Play someone you don't want? Give someone a chance who you don't want around?

If Pearson made this decision about Matt Mills it was made very quickly!

I doubt very much, though I have no evidence to substantiate this of course, that Pearsons rapid decision that Mills was useless was based upon purely footballing reasons.

[Col city fan]

I cannot believe people, who will not know Nigel Pearson personally, are jumping to conclusions having heard a one-sided 15 minute interview.

I keep on saying Fox 92 that its impossible to do this without hearing the other side of the story. However, I doubt we ever will.

I hold my hands up and state I am only surmising.

However, frankly I don't give a toss... Mills has gone, we move on...

[Mark_w]

Honestly this interview, no matter what was said, was always going to be an oppertunity for the Pearson haters to have a moan. Of course those who dislike Mills or who like Nigel were always going to be defending the descision. Surely though we can all agree that the last thing we need is a manager and player who obviously aren't going to get on with each other. And personally I'd rather we had some stability with the manager, something we haven't had since last time he was here (And we were better for it) than keeping hold of an average overpaid defender.

[Steve Agnew]

It's not rubbish, the manager is there to manage correct, so why is he questioning him? Mills by his own admission said he played poorly at Watford and deserved to be dropped... In the next sentence he said he knocked on his door to find out why he had been dropped.

If you know you were poor, and honestly admitted you were poor, there is no need to go and knock on anyones door.

Lets not forget we are all human. Does your boss take any interest in your point of view? I don't think you will find many successful corporations advocating this kind of management policy. They would lose productivity and money very quickly. Not to mention the staff themselves. You are only as good as your people.

[m00nie]

I cannot believe people, who will not know Nigel Pearson personally, are jumping to conclusions having heard a one-sided 15 minute interview.

least they heard something from the horses mouth.. ok it may be one sided i agree.. . but everyone was slagin matt mills off on rumours.. whilst he was still our player..

[Col city fan]

Honestly this interview, no matter what was said, was always going to be an oppertunity for the Pearson haters to have a moan. Of course those who dislike Mills or who like Nigel were always going to be defending the descision. Surely though we can all agree that the last thing we need is a manager and player who obviously aren't going to get on with each other. And personally I'd rather we had some stability with the manager, something we haven't had since last time he was here (And we were better for it) than keeping hold of an average overpaid defender)

It's a shame you use the term 'Pearson haters'..

I'm a fan of Pearson and believe he can take the club further.

However, this doesn't mean that people don't have the right to question his decisions about anything. I'll back him to the hilt, but I'll also bring up things that maybe I'm not so happy about.

It doesn't have to be all one or all the other...

[cc_star]

If there is one thing we can be sure of, its that Pearson will not enlighten the fans as to what's going on. Transparency is certainly not Big Nige's middle name. Pearson is a dictator, not a leader

All the best football manager's dictate & boss every aspect of their job, their way.

Managing by committee gets you nowhere

[LcFc_Smiv]

To me it's obvious that the manager and the club feel that as this was a behind closed doors incident, it should be dealt with in the same manner, and as much as we would like to know what happened, I don't think it is our place. Mills gave a very good account of himself over that interview, who wouldn't, it was the perfect opportunity to say he gave his all, he tried for the club and you can't blame him for that. However I don't think that was anywhere near the truth and IMO I feel as if he's very cleverly spun that to make NP look like the bad guy. No he didn't place the blame on him directly, but there was quite a few things he said that although denying any row or spat, made it feel as if the finger was still being pointed at Pearson. I'm sure we won't here the other side of the story and Mills is probably aware of that, it seems like the best solution for all is to forget about it and move on. Good luck Mills in the rest of your career.

[Mark_w]

It's a shame you use the term 'Pearson haters'..

I'm a fan of Pearson and believe he can take the club further.

However, this doesn't mean that people don't have the right to question his decisions about anything. I'll back him to the hilt, but I'll also bring up things that maybe I'm not so happy about.

It doesn't have to be all one or all the other...

I didn't say 'Question him', I said have a moan (Or just criticize with no unbiased evidence), which is what some of them are doing. I never said you were.

[Dr The Singh]

It's a shame you use the term 'Pearson haters'..

I'm a fan of Pearson and believe he can take the club further.

However, this doesn't mean that people don't have the right to question his decisions about anything. I'll back him to the hilt, but I'll also bring up things that maybe I'm not so happy about.

It doesn't have to be all one or all the other...

I'm not fan nor hater, i want our manager to suceed though

[Raw Dykes]

Really, we're still none the wiser as to what actually happened. We've no idea how much of what Mills said is true, and how much is exaggerated or just plain false.

I did think a couple of things he said were a bit fishy. One was when he said he didn't want to go out on loan out of respect for the fans. What does this mean? I think most fans would want him to do as his manager tells him. How is being awkward and stopping the club from being able to replace him good for the fans?

The other thing was him saying the manager was very difficult to get hold of. I suspect this is total bollocks, and that he was at training with him every day of the week. It just sounds like an excuse to me.

[Mark_w]

Really, we're still none the wiser as to what actually happened. We've no idea how much of what Mills said is true, and how much is exaggerated or just plain false.

I did think a couple of things he said were a bit fishy. One was when he said he didn't want to go out on loan out of respect for the fans. What does this mean? I think most fans would want him to do as his manager tells him. How is being awkward and stopping the club from being able to replace him good for the fans?

The other thing was him saying the manager was very difficult to get hold of. I suspect this is total bollocks, and that he was at training with him every day of the week. It just sounds like an excuse to me.

Got to agree, especially with the 'Out of respect for the fans' point. Is sitting in the reserves and getting his wages paid in full by the club respectfull when he could have been out on loan, getting game time, and not having the club pay 100% of his wages?

[davieG]

Well he was hardly going to come out and say i've under-performed and was a bit of twat when the Gaffer told me I was dropped. Let's not forget he's now on the Bolton payroll , our competitor so it's in his interest to make Pearson look like the bad guy.

Not saying this happened or if it's the case but if it did and it might be he'd be the last one to admit it.

[Babylon]

Lets not forget we are all human. Does your boss take any interest in your point of view? I don't think you will find many successful corporations advocating this kind of management policy. They would lose productivity and money very quickly. Not to mention the staff themselves. You are only as good as your people.

There is opinion and telling your boss how to do their job. We don't know what any of these questions were, how often it happened, how they were phrased.

Also, my boss wants my opinion. But if I **** up and perform badly, it would not look good if I waltz into their office and question what they do. Which is precisely what mills just admitted to.

[Corky]

Look, the important questions need answering:

Did Stringer mention what trainers Mills was wearing and what branded sports juice drink he was consuming?

Stringer does love a good plug of products.

[Grey Fox]

So there we have it. Not spat, no argument.

Are managers not allowed to choose their own players, if he felt he wasn't good enough that's his perogative.

Mills never sought Pearson out to rectify it "hard man to track down" my arse. And he refused to go out on loan when told he could.

I would guess, Pearson didn't fancy him as a player and wanted to get rid so he could be replaced. Mills refused to go, so Pearson reverted to his old tactic of dumping players in the reserves to force him out. (like Bullard).

I tend to agree this is what happened. I think Pearson knew Mills had a big wage, and perhaps Pearson has been allowed a maximum combined squad wage or something like. He would then know that if he could get rid of a few big earners, it would allow him the freedom to bring in who he wanted.

Pearson might of even liked Mills for all we know, but he needed him out and so he sought to make his life as difficult as possible and make him want to leave. If he didn't freeze him out Mills might just decide to sit back and take his wages, and maybe be under the illusion that he had a chance of winning back his place.

This seems very similar to the Bullard situation to me, in both cases they were the clubs biggest earners, and Pearson was the one tasked with getting the wage bill down. If that was the task given, what others options did he have?

[Leicester_Numan]

I forgot about the interview so I can't comment. By the looks of these comments it was the one sided PR exercise I expected. Hopefully they'll get a response from Pearson and the club on Monday

[Leicfox]

Hopefully they'll get a response from Pearson and the club on Monday

NP's response..if we get one.

"LOOK, We've dealt with it internally and the matter is now closed as far as I'm concerned, Matt is now a Bolton player. What goes on behind closed doors will remain firmly there. I'm a big believer in making sure we do things the right way and the right thing was done for all parties".

[LCFCstriker]

NP's response..if we get one.

"LOOK, We've dealt with it internally and the matter is now closed as far as I'm concerned, Matt is now a Bolton player. What goes on behind closed doors will remain firmly there. I'm a big believer in making sure we do things the right way and the right thing was done for all parties".

Nigel.. Is that you?

[Col city fan]

I tend to agree this is what happened. I think Pearson knew Mills had a big wage, and perhaps Pearson has been allowed a maximum combined squad wage or something like. He would then know that if he could get rid of a few big earners, it would allow him the freedom to bring in who he wanted.

Pearson might of even liked Mills for all we know, but he needed him out and so he sought to make his life as difficult as possible and make him want to leave. If he didn't freeze him out Mills might just decide to sit back and take his wages, and maybe be under the illusion that he had a chance of winning back his place.

This seems very similar to the Bullard situation to me, in both cases they were the clubs biggest earners, and Pearson was the one tasked with getting the wage bill down. If that was the task given, what others options did he have?

Probably gonna get shot down in flames for this because the thread seems to have become something of a Pearson love-in. Reminds me of the start of last season when Sven could simply do no wrong in the eyes of most people on here and I got hammered for daring to question any aspect of him.

Am I missing something or are you saying, given your scenario above, that managing in this apparent way, is the only way of managing people, whether they be footballers, bin men or astro-physicists?

Pearson could for example, have said to Mills that he was being dropped until he saw a marked improvement in his attitude and could have suggested that he was most probably going to have to be sold at the end of the season for financial reasons. This may have seen Mills markedly up his game, or seen him sulk ever further. The point I'm making is that dropping a player, with little explanation as to why, and to send that player to train with the kids seems very very severe. And don't forget, this was the club captain and, if the stats given right at the start of the thread are to be believed, actually not the worst 'defender' at the club.

Of course, the explanation Mills gave was a one sided one, it all depends if you believe it or not.

But if true, even partially, this does imply somewhat draconian measures on the part of Pearson. And, I would suggest, not the only way that the situation could have been managed.

If Mills now goes on to have a great season at Bolton and helps them to gain promotion I won't lose any sleep over it, he's gone, end of. But if City struggle this season I will certainly be slightly questioning of this whole affair.

Finally, if Pearson does sort out the defensive side of the team and we go on to have a successful season, I'll believe that his alleged actions were spot on and my trust in the man will improve further.

I guess time will tell.