2:50 Pearson: No point adding an ‘even greater level of anxiety’ to the players
“There is a real clarity here that we have to turn the tables around on the football field,” he tells Sky Sports. “I am not going to get bogged down in other things. We have to focus on the present, that’s absolutely clear in my mind. I suppose there is a short-term nature to this job but it’s not bad to earn the right to continue actually. That doesn’t faze me at all.
“There are a lot of people here who have worked here for a long time who really care about the football club. It’s a big part of the community. All those things together make the responsibility that bit greater because of the implications of us not being able to retain our status. But they were the add-ons that made me stimulated to do it.
“I wouldn’t have jumped into just any job. I know this one looks really difficult on the face of it, and it will be really difficult, but I just feel I can bring something to it. It needed something to actually push me, to stimulate me. This job inspires me. It had to be something out of the ordinary otherwise I would be looking forward to Christmas at home.”
2:35 FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Liverpool’s win over Watford
For some, Pearson was a surprise choice. Not least himself. But dig a little deeper into his record and it is easy to see why Watford have turned to him in their moment of need. His last Premier League job was a success story – it was the start of the success story. Leicester won seven of their last nine games to stay in the top flight and the rest was history.
They had been seven points from safety in April 2015. Bottom at Christmas. Remarkably, Pearson had also been assistant manager at West Brom a decade earlier when the Baggies became the first team to survive after spending Christmas at the foot of the Premier League.
Throw in the fact that Pearson was also the manager of Carlisle when goalkeeper Jimmy Glass went up for a corner and scored one of the most famous goals in the history of English football to keep the club in the Football League and a picture builds. Was it something that the Watford board would have had in their thinking when making the appointment?
“Of course,” says Pearson. “The Leicester story is a big story. I am not sure how many people knew about West Brom but that was really quite incredible as well. Carlisle was slightly different. The other two were more about being bottom at Christmas. But they were all similar in terms of the characters involved being mentally strong and committed.
“I am not kidding myself. I don’t think that just because I have been in similar situations then it’s a foregone conclusion that I can find the answers. I don’t make any assumptions that what worked before will work again. That’s not the case because the circumstances are different. In some ways, it would be interesting if we found a quite different route.”
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So how does he plan to do it this time?
One word keeps coming up at Vicarage Road as an explanation for the club’s predicament and that word is drift. Watford spent much of last season in the top half and reached the FA Cup final for the first time in a quarter of a century. But form had faded by then. Defeat at home to Brighton set the tone on the opening day and issues have gone unaddressed.
That stops now, says Pearson.
“Whether there has been a drift, I don’t know, but people do talk about the need for some leadership here and leadership is important. I felt that I had to represent a focal point. To show that this is where we are going and have some clarity of expectations for how we are going to correct the situation. It all revolves around having a clear vision.
“We need to establish our identity and how we are going to go about it. That alone won’t guarantee that we rectify the situation but we will have a much better chance of doing it. I think the players will feel better if they have that. People need to know their role to produce performances and results. We have to create an atmosphere that is positive.”
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Quique Sanchez Flores was reluctant even to mention the R word that is relegation but Pearson’s brand of positivity does not preclude facing up to the facts. “This situation calls for us to be brutally honest,” he says. “You have to be realistic. You can’t hide from the reality of the situation. This is where we are. How are we going to get out of it?”
The image of Pearson as a sergeant-major type will not go away. It is not without a kernel of truth either. He was a tough centre-half in his playing days, a captain. The handshake is as firm as they come and when he talks of not taking any nonsense you know he means it.
“A big word for me is authenticity,” he explains. “You have to be authentic. You know when you are stood in front of someone who is talking the biggest load of bull ever. It is like sitting in front of a salesman giving you a sales pitch. It is not for me. Because authenticity is so important to me I just think you have to be open about the situation.”
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However, Pearson’s personality is more nuanced than some would believe. He delegates and he listens. Staff were struck by the fact that one of his first acts was to call a team meeting that included everyone, not just players and coaches. He knows unity is going to be key and he knows this is going to be about building confidence not barking orders.
“People have a perception of what I am. It’s nonsense really. I think a lot of people, when the word leadership is used, they think of it as quite forceful and quite a rigid thing. I think people think I am like that. But people can lead in different ways. I like to think I am intelligent enough to recognise what is required and know how to adapt.”
The support of Craig Shakespeare will help. The pair are back together for the first time since Pearson left Leicester and with Shakespeare having “gone over to the dark side” of management himself since then, winning a Champions League knockout tie as Leicester boss as recently as 2017, the dynamic between the two men has changed as a result.
Watford could be the beneficiaries.
“It is probably a mistake I made in Belgium but I made it for the right reasons,” explains Pearson. “I didn’t want to go over with people I knew because I thought it would be more interesting to submerge myself in a different way of working. I am pleased I did it. But in this particular circumstance I think it was important to work with someone who knows me.
“What I like about Craig more than ever is that he very honest, he’s a strong leader himself, and what I’ve noticed even more since he’s had his time as a manager is that he’s got really strong views. I like that. I may have gone in the other direction but what we both have is the ability to work in a team environment where we put the team first.
“I am really pleased we are working together again. I don’t think either of us thought we would just because time changes people and you can’t recreate things. But it wasn’t about that. It’s all about finding the right way to change the club’s fortunes. I think the very fact that it has this emergency feel to it stimulates us. Craig is a winner.”
If Watford are to win they must stop missing chances. Nine goals all season tells the tale. Against Liverpool, the team looked organised but when the opportunities came they were snatched at. Pearson speaks of how “fear inhibits performance” but the challenge is to remove that fear and get talented players playing with confidence once more.
“It is not going to be the same answer for everybody,” he says. “You have to walk into a job like this with your eyes open and spend a lot of time listening to people and finding out what they need. It is about giving people opportunities and giving people direction.
“Although it sounds simple, putting people in a situation where they feel they can do that is difficult and we don’t have a big time scale for doing it. Every week that goes by without winning, the margin of error becomes smaller. But I don’t want people to fear that.”
What is clear is that Pearson does not fear it and why should he? He has helped teams out of worse situations than this. So what would a fourth great escape mean to him? “Ask me if and when we do it,” he says. “It is a huge challenge but it is one we can achieve. We need to show fighting qualities and passion. People write you off but I think we can do it.”
Sourse: skysports.com
