Konchesky to QPR?

I disagree Vulpes.

Johngee is being subjective (perhaps) in his belief that everything NP does is wrong but not (I think) in his conclusion.

If you replace experienced professionals who are generally accepted as having lower Premiership/upper-Championship pedigree (Mills, Konchesky and to a lesser extent Bamba) with un-tried and lower league players (Vardy, De Laet and James) an objective view would be that this is less likely to succeed.

In the long-term, Pearson may have it right. But looking at it as objectively as possible, I am not convinced he will be around to see it.

Foxello,

I claim that the players aren't interested enough because of their performances on the pitch. Many haven't played with the kind of pride in themselves that I want to see as a fan. That's not quite the same as saying they don't care about the club as you say; I'm saying they don't seem to care about each other enough to form a team, based on incidents from this year (e.g. St. Ledger's outburst) and lack of will to help each other out on the pitch. You can't always hammer that attitude into a player. Note that this is not all players and some are capable of changing. Others are not taking responsibility on the pitch and didn't all season. That is my evidence for this statement.
Note also that I'm not criticising al players for this. Bamba, Danns, Nugent and Schmeichel in particular are Sven signings who don't fall into this category, hence my disappointment at the sale of Bamba. But I do balance that out with Pearson believing, with good reason, that the defence requires a rebuild.

For Pearson himself, I acknowledge that he wasn't successful over the last season, but he has been successful (relative to his club's situation) throughout the rest of his career. Combined with the other issues at the club, I am happy to put this down to extenuating circumstances and fully believe he should have at least next season to impose himself upon the club. Given his previous record, I believe there is plenty of reason to believe that he has a good chance of succeeding next year - more chance that getting rid and bringing in someone new.

This is the evidence that I believe you and John Gee are willingly ignoring because you have an overriding issue with Pearson as a man. (From John Gee, this seems to stem from the way he left in the first place.)

"Dunge; we have signed 3 players who, between them, have made fewer than 100 appearances in the football league. How can these signings be anything other than 'speculative'? And is £3m not a bit excessive?"

---------------------------

It is and we should have looked to pay less. I do think they're good signings, but the risk/reward ratio isn't as good as I'd like. Still, at least the price tags aren't high enough to be millstones around their necks.

I actually do agree that if we are going to move on players like Mills, Bamba, Konchesky, etc, in addition to young prospects, we do need to bring in some experienced players already performing at this level and/or in their prime.

But I think there is perhaps an argument that these players are usually wanted by multiple clubs and therefore often transfers which are organised when the window is actually open. So I guess we'll be able to make more accurate judgements in August on Pearson's inclusions and prospective squad.

Incidentally, in the interests of fairness, I'm not intending to just have a pop and anti-Pearsonites on here - I recognise that lcfcprawnsandwich is consistently making good and thought-out points about the situation.

To be fair to Foxello, I think he has actually said in the past that he likes Pearson as a person so I don't think his views are being steered by a personal dislike.

The only thing I would point out is that at the start of November Foxello, you said Pearson was 'fantastic' during his last spell and whilst you weren't too optimistic at us being promoted, it was vital that the owners did NOT sack Pearson at the end of the season.

Around 10 weeks later you stated he SHOULD be sacked in the summer. We weren't great during this period granted, but I don't think we were God-awful enough to call for such drastic action (I think won 3, drew 4/5, lost 3), particular as you stated Pearson should stay irrelevant of whether we miss out on promotion.

I've never stated anything other than that I was initally very pleased to see NP return. I thought he would provide us with the defensive solidity, discipline and consistency that we lacked under Sven. But this did not happen and in fact the opposite is true - we became less solid defensively (14 goals conceded in 4 games), our discipline got worse and we had more red cards and we were just as inconsistent, if not more so, than under Sven.

It was around about the Christmas period when my first doubts about NP arose. We drew with Peterborough, Ipswich and Portsmouth at home, 3 points from 3 fixtures that should have yielded 7 points at least. In those games we played really poor, dour football, with little or no creativity or imagination. We then changed the team completely against Crystal Palace, won, and NP changed the team back for the next match! A few weeks later was the infamous Barnsley defeat - the single worst performance I have ever watched live from an LCFC team. A cold, horrible afternoon where the football was just as dire. The only highlight of that match was me and half a dozen other fans shouting 'SHOOOOOT' every time Tunchev had the ball 60 yards out. It was awful, and I went home with a sore head, half frozen and feeling desperately depressed with it all. Then I turned the radio on and heard his smug, depressing voice accusing us all of 'delusions of grandeur' - we'd just been beaten by Barnsley for heaven's sake, what are we suppose to do, celebrate? People have tried to say it was a comment aimed at the players - either way it was totally the wrong message to send to players, fans and owners alike - that our expectation was somehow overgrown due to thoughts above our station. That's when I realised the job was too big for him.

From about February onwards we just the epitomee of the word inconsistency. Winning matches we should lose, losing matches we should win, going nowhere in the process. Early March time I gave up on promotion and admtted defeat. That was when I lost faith in Pearson.

I know what I said about keeping Pearson, but since I made those comments my view of him as a manager has deteriorated quickly. I no longer have any faith or belief in him, I think he has far too many flaws and negatives to be anything other than a middle-of-the-road manager. There have been a glutony of jobs available this pre-season, yet NP has not been linked to any of them. Why? Because no chairman other than ours and Mandy gives him the time of day.

I have nothing against him personally - I'm sure he's a good, hard working family man like me and most others on here. I don't think I'd want to work for him, and I don't think I could be friends with him. But I wish him no ill on a personal record.

For the record, I think it's irrelevant whether we sack him this season or wait until it finishes. If we sack him mid-way through, unless we get in a proven manager with a proven track record (which is what I have been screaming out for since the season ended) there's just no point. With Pearson in charge we will be comfortable in mid-table. If we sack him, we could end up in a relegation scrap. The time to replace him has come and gone.

Fair enough Foxello, my own view is that 10 weeks is a small amount of time to change one's opinion so drastically but hey, 1 week, 10 weeks, 1 season; we all have the subjective right to change our opinions as and when we like.

Hopefully we will be great in the first 10 weeks of this forthcoming season and your opinion swings back to Pearson being a good choice and one worthy of further employment then we will all be happy.....well happi-er

Thank you Dunge.

^
One of the best and fairest things you've written on the subject, IMO.

One point about the infamous "Delusions of Grandeur" comment: I've always firmly believed it was about some players in the squad and not the fans. I don't say that to excuse it or to act as the club or Pearson's PR agent, that is what I believe having heard it seveal times and reflecting on its context and the way it was said.

However, even so, it does point to the distinct possibility that Pearson was finding things difficult at the time and that this was an airing of his frustration. He had found himself in a position of which he was out of control. This does mean that the situation needed to change somewhat for him to regain that, but I don't believe it necessarily means that the job is too big for him.

Some of the transfers we're seeing will provide him with more control over the squad and the players in it. I believe that will be a positive thing for a manager with an excellent record before last October. (And an average one since.)