Neil Warnock and Bristol City have been intrinsically linked for so many years and such is the breadth of his Championship career sometimes it feels as if he must have been in charge at Ashton Gate.
Certainly whenever there has been a vacancy in BS3, Warnock’s name is never far from the collective consciousness as a possible option, especially during the Johnson-Holden era where he presented the obvious antithesis to the Lansdown ideal at that time of young coaching talent.
As supporters craved the concept of an experienced figure whose presence alone would seemingly guarantee promotion, Warnock was the obvious port of call in the general discourse.
He is very much the manager Robins fans love to hate, who for all the vitriol that has been flung his way, retains a respect and is more pantomime villain than complete persona non grata, as others have overtaken him in those particular stakes.
The latest connection between Warnock and City came in the form of a Sun article published on Friday morning where in what looks something of a promotional tool for the 73-year-old, the claim is the Robins and Cardiff City are “both interested”.
Almost three months removed from the swift ending of his time in Middlesbrough, quite clearly Warnock is looking for a path back into the game and a cursory glance of the table at teams under-performing based in an agreeable part of the country reveals, bingo, City and their Severnside rivals Cardiff.
Of course, we cannot speak of what the position is of the Bluebirds right now as under Steve Morison they have won four of 13 matches and are flirting with the bottom three amid Derby County’s phoenix-like revival, further inflamed by Wayne Rooney’s impressive show of loyalty amid interest from Everton.
But we don’t need to insert a “Bristol Live understands” into this to let you know the idea of Warnock taking over at Ashton Gate this season or the next or any beyond that probably looks more remote than it ever has been.
Indeed, the belief is that today’s story was met with a mixture of incredulity and slight amusement inside the corridors at the High Performance Centre.
Having mentioned Morison’s record it would be remiss not to highlight that as Nigel Pearson approaches his year anniversary his stands at 11 victories from 44 matches which, on the face of it, to the naked eye doesn’t exactly exude success.
But that is scraping away all sense of context of the rebuilding job taking place, the greater integration of academy talent and the financial restrictions in which he is operating under.
The three-year contract was signed for a reason. Not only was it a commitment in Pearson and his methods but also a recognition of the time period that will be need to return the club to an even keel.
nd while the frustration of the coaching staff and playing squad that the Robins aren’t higher in the table is shared by the board (I mean, Jon Lansdown is actually a City fan, so…) the idea that Project Pearson is to be quickly abandoned in favour of Warnock after a narrow away defeat at Luton Town is a monster stretch, at best.
But let’s just imagine, for the sake of argument, Pearson is under pressure to the extent there was appetite for change, at what point does Warnock fit the club’s brief?
Pearson may be typecast as an old school operator whose ways are rooted in the past but that is overlooking the details in both his transfer activity and how he worked with the resources at his disposal in BS3.
Yes, there were slightly predictable arrivals of the old Leicester guard - Danny Simpson, Matty James and Andy King - but they were also complemented by more interesting and outside of the box signings of Rob Atkinson and George Tanner.
That is the model that is likely to continue further into his tenure here and before you shout, “well, what about Timm Klose?”, that is a pick-up based solely on a considerable change in circumstances, notably Nathan Baker likely to be out for the rest of the season.
And while Atkinson and Tanner are also products of the work of the recruitment team at Failand, Pearson has shown a willingness to select them, almost ahead of schedule to the point that when Atkinson - who before August had never played a Championship fixture - is left out, it’s source of controversy.
We can then move on to the responsibility and trust handed to Alex Scott, Cam Pring, Zan Vyner, Han-Noah Massengo, Antoine Semenyo and most recently Max O’Leary at the expense of older and far more established and experienced professionals.
Yes, again they’re dictated to an extent by the landscape the manager is working in but it’s still happened and, returning to the point, can you imagine a manager of Warnock’s ilk working in such an environment?
Yes, he is a man for a crisis and if you have a problem and if no one else can help, and if you can find his agent, maybe you can hire … Neil Warnock, but he is also a man for wanting complete control of transfer activity and a man who tends to want players with significant salaries accompanying them.
It needs reiterating but City are simply not in any kind of financial position to want a manager who very quickly will alter their focus from winning games to signing players and spending money. Pearson, by his own admission and it certainly bears out, has never winced or publicly whined at the lack of resources available to him; not at City nor his previous clubs.
He knew exactly what he was stepping into when he took the job on the long-term contract in April and the challenges and obstacles would be more varied beyond what transpired at 3pm on a Saturday.
That’s not to say Warnock isn’t capable of adapting to the job in front of him, there were similar parameters in place at Middlesbrough, but it’s ultimately an atmosphere that he doesn’t appear wholly comfortable with and also probably doesn’t get the best out of his talents.
During the period of uncertainty in November, with Pearson’s second and slightly surprising Covid-related leave of absence, Warnock’s name was floated to the board as a possible failsafe should the worst-case scenario transpire and the City manager be unable to return to work.
Bristol Live understands it was dismissed almost as quickly as it was suggested, for the above reasons, but also because there was a need to look forward and if Warnock was ever to become Bristol City manager, it feels as if it should have happened already.
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