“An insight into my world,” Nigel Pearson says, stowing away his phone after digging out a video of him, Scott Murray, Bristol City’s universally loved kit man, and the player liaison officer, Matt Parsons, out in the sticks. The scene? Almost three acres of ancient woodland in the Somerset countryside which Pearson bought last year. For Pearson it is a welcome and picturesque sanctuary, full of biodiversity but clear of the turbulence and heat that come with life as a manager. “They went down to help me take a tree out,” he explains.
“Timber!” comes the call as the chainsaw bites. “My sister-in-law died two years ago of cancer so I have put a bench there,” Pearson says. “It would have been her birthday in October and her daughters have visited. I’ve built a footpath to the top – it is quite steep. The views are fantastic.”
Pearson spends odd afternoons camping on site. What does he get up to? “It doesn’t work like that,” he says, smiling. “It’s just about being there. I’ll manage it over a period of time.” Last year’s Christmas presents inevitably carried a theme. “I had a leather smock, some chisels, a wood splitter.”
An hour earlier Pearson, who last week celebrated two years and 100 games in charge of Bristol City, was admiring the view overlooking Brunel’s iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge, the skeleton of Ashton Gate visible in the background. In the distance rays of sunlight beat down on the horizon, perhaps a good omen before his team, unbeaten in 12 matches, host Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday? “I think that’s just rain,” Pearson says, laughing. “I saw their game against [Nottingham] Forest. They drew 1-1, but then you see the clips of it and you go: ‘Wow, that [result] could have been anything.’
“I want our players to go out there and be as good as they can be on the night and hope that Man City aren’t quite anywhere near their best, and then you never know.”
Pearson is the third longest-serving manager in the Championship but the past couple of years have not been without challenges. “I’ve sometimes questioned whether I would get this far, if I’m honest, because it’s been a much bigger job than I thought it would be. I suppose in the early months I didn’t recognise quite how complex [it would be] and how much of a change we needed to make … It’s been equally frustrating, infuriating, rewarding. All of those things. But it still has a hook, and the hook is that when it really takes off, it will massively take off. Massively.”
There is so much more to Pearson than meets the eye. He has spent almost all of the past 13 years on the touchline but his interests run far deeper. “I’m the only person in our household who won’t watch football religiously,” he says, lighting up as he recalls cycling the Hebridean Way, a 185-mile trail in the Outer Hebrides, and the pain of missing the two-week tuk-tuk challenge in India he signed up for with his friend John, because of taking the Watford job.
“The livery on it was the Dukla Prague away kit,” he says. What’s the story? “Nothing to do with the [Half Man Half Biscuit] song,” Pearson grins. The Mongol Rally, a 10,000-mile schlep to Siberia in a beat-up car, has also been mooted. “It used to start in Prague and finish in Ulaanbaatar but now there is a leg that starts in London and they all go to Prague for a piss-up and then on to Ulaanbaatar.” Closer to home, a Bristol City team-bonding session is on the agenda. “We’ve talked about canoeing on the River Wye.”
Saturday night vibes. 🕺 pic.twitter.com/JPeZDuhPFn
— Bristol City FC (@BristolCity) February 25, 2023
A few years ago Kasper Schmeichel revealed Pearson’s ballroom dancing prowess, telling of his surprise when his former Leicester manager seamlessly did the splits. The 59-year-old does not take himself too seriously; he gifted to friends prints of David Squires’s cartoon of him hiking in the Carpathian Mountains. Since then Pearson has given horse-riding a whirl. Oil painting is a pastime. “I’m a doodler,” he says. These days he tries to spend as much time as possible with his granddaughter, Isabella, who is almost two. “It gives you a different perspective on life,” he says.
The bigger picture at Bristol City is worth taking in, too. Pearson has significantly reduced the wage bill and built a young, hungry and largely homegrown side laced with experience, such as the workaholic captain Andi Weimann and midfielder Matty James. “It has been quite a bumpy ride. But at least at the moment I feel we’re in a situation where a lot of the really tough work has been completed. We’ve steadied the ship a little bit. We’ve still got some big earners but they’re not ridiculous like they were and we have a squad with a bit of identity about it.”
Bristol City’s last starting lineup contained five academy graduates, including Alex Scott, who signed aged 16 from Guernsey FC after scoring a perfect hat-trick against Yate Town while on trial. The punchy midfielder has since developed into one of the most exciting talents outside the Premier League. Another player to progress through the academy, Antoine Semenyo, joined Bournemouth for £10.5m in January. Brian Tinnion, the former academy manager and now technical director, encouraged Pearson to watch Scott soon after the manager’s appointment. Pearson gave Scott his debut two months later. “He was a really scrawny-looking 17-year-old but he caught the eye very quickly,” he says. “He will go on to great things. He will play for England, the senior side, there’s no doubt.”
Pearson took the job with the aim of restoring the club to the top flight for the first time since 1980 and the city, as well as the project, has gripped him. “It is a bit Notting Hill meets … I don’t know what, but it’s a really interesting place, fascinating and so diverse. Of course, during lockdown quite a few stories hit the national press with the slave trade stuff as well, statues being pushed into the harbour etc, which was very interesting. There is a lot of history, heritage, and the surrounding countryside is beautiful. I really like the Mendips.”
Last week he watched the Lionesses’ victory at Ashton Gate alongside the club president, Marina Dolman, who went to her first game in 1961. Pearson is a deep thinker and honest in his reflections. “There is a part of me that realises I’m not the easiest to work with at times … but in some ways I think now I’m a bit more relaxed and easy-going. I’ve slowed down a bit. I am less confrontational. I’m a lot more thoughtful than I’ve been in the past and able to look at things in a different way. I suppose it’s a part of getting older,” he laughs, “but I’m all right with that as well.”
The arrival of the Premier League champions promises to be a special occasion and, although a sold-out crowd awaits, Pearson is reluctant to overhype the game. “I would like to enjoy watching my team play well against one of the best teams in the world,” he says. “Outside of that, I don’t overthink it. I’ll be drinking a cup of Bovril before the game on the sidelines.”
As for afterwards, Pearson routinely invites opposition staff for a post-match drink. Will Pep Guardiola be offered a West Country staple? “He can have a Thatchers Haze if he wants,” Pearson says, smiling.
