Ric Flair Live & Direct on BSLB Podcast

[CloudFox]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Can't call it that anymore, sexist.

Quiche Lawrence just doesn't quite have the same ring to it though, sadly.

[Bordersfox]

3 minutes ago, CloudFox said:

Quiche Lawrence just doesn't quite have the same ring to it though, sadly.

Quiche Laurie please, keep it non gendered

[Plastik Man]

3 hours ago, Bordersfox said:

Quiche Laurie please, keep it non gendered

I prefer the term gender fluid. 

 

But then would it be a soup rather than a quiche?

[Bordersfox]

7 hours ago, Plastik Man said:

I prefer the term gender fluid. 

 

But then would it be a soup rather than a quiche?

The thought of a liquidised quiche at this time in the morning has made me feel quite queasy you sicko 

[Stadt]

“He’s listened to twenty minutes of pussyman dan and the shambles of who are you”  

[Libertine]

Felt cheated after that Who Are You. There needs to be a backup for when Ric gets it in a nanosecond. 

[SystonFox]

i also got it at the same time Ric did. no spoilers but that is classic Who Are Ya player territory

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

Why oh why did no one call out Darren Eadie’s awful 90s curtains? 
 

 

[Ric Flair]

4 hours ago, SystonFox said:

i also got it at the same time Ric did. no spoilers but that is classic Who Are Ya player territory

Word to yer mothers

[mozartfox]

Yet another brilliant pod cast boys!  Ric´s poem was frankly pure Edgar Allan Poe....... Could form part of the O-Level English Literature syllabus at some future date.

 

Where does one send requests for help from Dear Ric??

[BSLBPod]

1 hour ago, mozartfox said:

Yet another brilliant pod cast boys!  Ric´s poem was frankly pure Edgar Allan Poe....... Could form part of the O-Level English Literature syllabus at some future date.

 

Where does one send requests for help from Dear Ric??

Send me a message - ideally a voice note if you can 👌

[BSLBPod]

23 hours ago, Libertine said:

Felt cheated after that Who Are You. There needs to be a backup for when Ric gets it in a nanosecond. 

So did I, thought I'd absolutely nailed it.

 

He should be banned for 3 games tbh but I can't retro enforce laws.

Edited 20 September 2023 by BSLBPod

[Claudio Fannieri]

Another great pod absolutely love it 👏🏼👏🏼

[eblair]

First time I’ve completely disagreed with some of what you’ve said on the podcast. Pearson is king, genuinely the transformation of the club he performed is Ferguson-esque

 

Idea anyone can dismiss Pearson as a championship standard manager when he transformed everything about the club into an elite club is absurd. 
 

I like Enzo and thinks he’s great. But I don’t even think it’s possible for him to come close to why Pearson did for the club, it’s just not achievable. I know last year felt a low ebb, but 2005-2008 was the pits and the mess after Sven….

 

I’m completely rambling but basically you’ve got me rattled like a podcast calling Conor Coady the worst championship signing 

[BSLBPod]

12 minutes ago, eblair said:

First time I’ve completely disagreed with some of what you’ve said on the podcast. Pearson is king, genuinely the transformation of the club he performed is Ferguson-esque

 

Idea anyone can dismiss Pearson as a championship standard manager when he transformed everything about the club into an elite club is absurd. 
 

I like Enzo and thinks he’s great. But I don’t even think it’s possible for him to come close to why Pearson did for the club, it’s just not achievable. I know last year felt a low ebb, but 2005-2008 was the pits and the mess after Sven….

 

I’m completely rambling but basically you’ve got me rattled like a podcast calling Conor Coady the worst championship signing 

When has he proved he's anything other than a very good Championship manager? He did a phenomenal job with the club but it's also relative to where the club were at that point in time.

 

I didn't even say this on the pod but I also think it's slightly reductive to just credit Pearson with the success at the club - Steve Walsh was absolutely pivotal in it, as was the scouting network and sports science team, not to mention Shakespeare.. The whole operation worked, but it's also worth pointing out at that time the club were bottom for long periods of time when we were in the Prem.

 

The really interesting bit is that it's only been Bristol City where expectations are significantly lower that he's had real success - Hull, Derby, Leuven and even Watford can be considered failures. Without his team around him he's never been anywhere near the same manager.

 

He's' definitely one of our greats but also worth pointing out the context we were in at that time and calls to bring him back aren't really based on anything on that emotion and vibes imo. 

 

Thought this might raise some debate!

[eblair]

1 minute ago, BSLBPod said:

When has he proved he's anything other than a very good Championship manager? He did a phenomenal job with the club but it's also relative to where the club were at that point in time.

 

I didn't even say this on the pod but I also think it's slightly reductive to just credit Pearson with the success at the club - Steve Walsh was absolutely pivotal in it, as was the scouting network and sports science team, not to mention Shakespeare.. The whole operation worked, but it's also worth pointing out at that time the club were bottom for long periods of time when we were in the Prem.

 

The really interesting bit is that it's only been Bristol City where expectations are significantly lower that he's had real success - Hull, Derby, Leuven and even Watford can be considered failures. Without his team around him he's never been anywhere near the same manager.

 

He's' definitely one of our greats but also worth pointing out the context we were in at that time and calls to bring him back aren't really based on anything on that emotion and vibes imo. 

 

Thought this might raise some debate!

I agree with second para completely. But think that’s what is so unique about what Pearson did with us and why it won’t happen again. The job of being a manger is increasingly just being picking eleven players to play in a system. He built the club.

 

Bar the Director of Football job, he nurtured every department at the football club. He bought in Walsh / Shakey. Remember Rennie saying never had manager respect and listen to him as much as NP (there’s a reason he’s at Bristol City now)
 

I think he was aware of his strengths and weaknesses as well; and knew as a club we were the sum of our parts. Think part of the reason he didn’t get bigger job after us was his reluctance to claim the glory of what he built. 
 

I don’t think we would have won the league under Pearson in 2016. I’m fairly confident we would’ve challenged for Europe though. Most of the players are still fairly convinced Ranieri’s best move was changing very little. Idea we can claim he’s never proved himself as anything but a Championship manager is silly imo. I don’t think any other manager since Clough could claim to have built the English league champions from a second tier side. It was his side, majority of his back room staff, and his mentality that was at core of 2016.
 

At 60 years old perhaps having him back is a bit silly. But if we gave him time and backing to build the club up, I can’t see the fans wouldn’t buy into it based on his history. At Bristol City the first place (ignoring Leuven) where he’s been given chance to transform a club, things look fairly positive

 

[The Doctor]

19 minutes ago, BSLBPod said:

When has he proved he's anything other than a very good Championship manager? He did a phenomenal job with the club but it's also relative to where the club were at that point in time.

 

I didn't even say this on the pod but I also think it's slightly reductive to just credit Pearson with the success at the club - Steve Walsh was absolutely pivotal in it, as was the scouting network and sports science team, not to mention Shakespeare.. The whole operation worked, but it's also worth pointing out at that time the club were bottom for long periods of time when we were in the Prem.

 

The really interesting bit is that it's only been Bristol City where expectations are significantly lower that he's had real success - Hull, Derby, Leuven and even Watford can be considered failures. Without his team around him he's never been anywhere near the same manager.

 

He's' definitely one of our greats but also worth pointing out the context we were in at that time and calls to bring him back aren't really based on anything on that emotion and vibes imo. 

 

Thought this might raise some debate!

Derby and Leuven I'll grant you, hull is dubious (11th place in his full season there, not bad for a club in such upheaval after relegation but you'd arguably want more first season back down), but Watford definitely not. His record there was:

 

Played 22, won 7, drew 5, lost 10, win rate of 31.82%. Extrapolated to a full PL season that's 12 wins, 9 draws, 17 defeats. That'd be a 45 point season, which would have been enough for 13th the season he was there. Dude came in at Christmas with them 7 points adrift and had them 3 points clear and in the end 1 point from safety when he was sacked. He did a good job there, just couldn't finish the job because of their mental chairman.

 

 

[BSLBPod]

2 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Derby and Leuven I'll grant you, hull is dubious (11th place in his full season there, not bad for a club in such upheaval after relegation but you'd arguably want more first season back down), but Watford definitely not. His record there was:

 

Played 22, won 7, drew 5, lost 10, win rate of 31.82%. Extrapolated to a full PL season that's 12 wins, 9 draws, 17 defeats. That'd be a 45 point season, which would have been enough for 13th the season he was there. Dude came in at Christmas with them 7 points adrift and had them 3 points clear and in the end 1 point from safety when he was sacked. He did a good job there, just couldn't finish the job because of their mental chairman.

 

 

So it's mixed then? I don't think that's conclusive he's anything more than a good championship manager, lower level prem at a stretch. In the context of our club now, I feel like the collective aspirations are well beyond this.

 

 

[Ric Flair]

51 minutes ago, eblair said:

First time I’ve completely disagreed with some of what you’ve said on the podcast. Pearson is king, genuinely the transformation of the club he performed is Ferguson-esque

 

Idea anyone can dismiss Pearson as a championship standard manager when he transformed everything about the club into an elite club is absurd. 
 

I like Enzo and thinks he’s great. But I don’t even think it’s possible for him to come close to why Pearson did for the club, it’s just not achievable. I know last year felt a low ebb, but 2005-2008 was the pits and the mess after Sven….

 

I’m completely rambling but basically you’ve got me rattled like a podcast calling Conor Coady the worst championship signing 

I'd like to think I sit somewhere between viewing Pearson with a god complex and therefore being incapable of processing any opinion that doesn't worship his every move, and getting frustrated with the former and wanting to be able to discuss Pearson without fawning over him. It's emotive and I understand that, break down what he did here and its beggars belief.

 

For some though, the return of him on Saturday would be like going to watch The Chippendales for a bunch of drunken slosh buckets. I'm glad I can't go, we moaned all last year that we're too nice and not ruthless enough but I guarantee the atmosphere and attitude from a chunk of us on Saturday will be more interested in making sure Pearson and Kingy know we love them, than making it an unpleasant place for Bristol City to deal with on the pitch.

 

Will be forever grateful for what he managed to build here, its was a once in a lifetime achievement for us all and the best thing about it, that isn't talked enough about is the trust and faith he put in to recruitment, sports science, analysts etc. He built an amazing team of staff but wasn't egotistical to have to have the final say over their expert opinions. Lots of them have gone on to prove to be hugely talented in their fields and he built a lot of this in the Championship. The discovery of Paul Balsom was unbelievable. He learnt a lot of this from his time with Sam Allardyce I'm led to believe.

 

Anyway, this topic will always create plenty of back and forth. I personally hope we absolutely thrape them on Saturday but that won't make Nigel think any different to how pur club and fans view him and his time here. 

 

 

[ClaphamFox]

Pearson came in at the lowest point in our history and got us back up at the first attempt, completely transforming the culture of the club in the process. Then he came in and did a similarly impressive job in his second stint after the ill-fated Sousa/Eriksson period, getting us promoted back to the Premier League and keeping us up when it looked certain we would be going straight back down. The team spirit established during the Great Escape was the driving force of our title win the following season, albeit nurtured and channeled by a different manager. 

 

For all of the above Pearson deserves our eternal gratitude. What is particularly impressive about him is his ability to instill a strong culture, not just in the team but in the club as a whole. There always seemed to be a clarity of purpose and a sense that everybody was pulling in the same direction. Anybody who didn't buy into it or who got too big for their boots were quickly shown the door - he was ruthless like that. I can't ever remember us watching the team play under Pearson and thinking that they weren't up for it - they always seemed highly motivated. 

 

However, Pearson has never shown any evidence of being a tactically sophisticated manager. We usually had a plan A and if that didn't work, he'd make some like-for-like subs and hope that would somehow change things. When we were bottom of the league for months during 2014/15 season we played really well in plenty of games but always seemed to come up short because the opposition just seemed a bit tactically smarter than us. I know we eventually went to three at the back and improved enough to survive (and there are differing accounts about whose idea that was), but we probably shouldn't have been in that position in the first place.

 

The really top managers have two things going for them: 1) The ability to instill a team spirit and culture that motivates players to run through a brick wall for them;  and 2) the vision and tactical sophistication to outhink the opposition, spot problems immediately and change things when they're not working. There are plenty of managers about who have one of these two qualities, but there aren't many with both. Those who do have both tend to get the very top jobs. Pearson has always struck me as somebody who has the former but not the latter - his motivational skills are superb but he's never been a great tactician or football visionary. If he was, he'd be managing one of the top CL clubs now. 

 

It's early days, but I think it's possible that Enzo might be one of the very few managers who have both qualities.

Edited 22 September 2023 by ClaphamFox

[The Doctor]

59 minutes ago, BSLBPod said:

So it's mixed then? I don't think that's conclusive he's anything more than a good championship manager, lower level prem at a stretch. In the context of our club now, I feel like the collective aspirations are well beyond this.

 

 

Oh no, I agree he's a good championship manager who can do a reasonable job with a bottom six prem club, but my objection is to calling his time at Watford a failure, because he did fine, it was the two before him and the chairman who doesn't understand the manager of the month concept that was the issue 

[Max Power]

James Pearson getting his ringpiece licked has always been a great sliding doors moment for us winning the league. But the alternate reality does interest me insofar as what would Pearson have done with us moving forwards? Established PL club? Trophies? He laid the groundwork and it would be fascinating to see if he could have built further. 
 

I’ll just console myself with the league title however. 

[BSLBPod]

15 minutes ago, Max Power said:

James Pearson getting his ringpiece licked has always been a great sliding doors moment for us winning the league. But the alternate reality does interest me insofar as what would Pearson have done with us moving forwards? Established PL club? Trophies? He laid the groundwork and it would be fascinating to see if he could have built further. 
 

I’ll just console myself with the league title however. 

The employment of his son was beyond odd - he wasn't even a league 2 player but got taken on the Thailand tour as one of the players on the periphery of the first team squad.

 

Rodgers did that at Celtic and got pelters for it.

[Basildon Fox]

11 minutes ago, Max Power said:

James Pearson getting his ringpiece licked has always been a great sliding doors moment for us winning the league. But the alternate reality does interest me insofar as what would Pearson have done with us moving forwards? Established PL club? Trophies? He laid the groundwork and it would be fascinating to see if he could have built further. 
 

I’ll just console myself with the league title however. 

I do not think we would have won the league if NP was in charge. I suppose we will never know but nothing of the previous season suggested that we would win the whole thing by 10 points the next season even though we had a fabulous end to the season. 

 

Having said that he was responsible for buying the majority of the big players (Kante aside) and our fitness levels were insane, something bought in by NP.  He definitely laid the foundations for the success. 

 

I also have no doubt that he would have Leicester in the same position as Enzo has.  Would be playing a different brand of football but with the same results. Not devaluing Enzo early success btw.

 

He deserves a nice reception tomorrow, the same as King and James.  However before the game only.  Once the whistle goes, that is it. Get behind the team.  He deserves respect for rebuilding us twice. 

 

 

[Max Power]

4 minutes ago, BSLBPod said:

The employment of his son was beyond odd - he wasn't even a league 2 player but got taken on the Thailand tour as one of the players on the periphery of the first team squad.

 

Rodgers did that at Celtic and got pelters for it.

Yeah agreed I hate nepotism like that in football and as much as I like Pearson I think there is some justice if it ends up being your downfall. 
 

Hopefully Rodgers ends up in prison at some point.