Pearce comes out in bullish mood

Perhaps stung by recent displays on the pitch, and increasing unrest off it, Stuart Pearce has come out fighting over the past day or so to state whilst he acknowledges the 'sack talk' currently going on, he has no fear of the axe and equally so, no intention of quitting as manager of the club.

It was believed that Pearce may get his P45 this week, but talk of a new managerial appointment may have been slightly exaggerated and resulted in the appointment of Kenny Jackett, although according to the MEN:

".....rumbling of discontent has been mirrored in the
board room and a lengthy Monday meeting is believed to have discussed the
manager's position before deciding to stick with the former England
skipper."

Pearce was in confident mood in the interview and believed that he is still in charge because the board want him to be - not because of any 'ulterior motive':

"I hark back to before Christmas when we lost at Wigan
in a very poor game and come the Monday morning everyone was there ready to
work, even those who had opportunities to pull out with injuries or one thing
and another. From that moment on I knew I was working with a very genuine squad
we have been given a bit of a nosebleed last weekend.

We have had a bad result in front of our own fans, one
or two people have had a moan and, if you like, the pressure has cranked up on
me. That's fine."I know the players will respond. They will turn around and say
they want to work hard on the training pitch. Once you have got that, and when
you have always got that, then you are home and dry."

At this club over the last two years there have been a
lot of things right and a few things wrong. We know what the short-comings are.
This season they are there for all to see. It is important that - no matter what
my future is at City - the baby doesn't go out with the bath
water."

I still feel as though there is a hell of lot right at
this club, that we get a few wins together, learn from what has happened this
season and we approach next season in a different vein to improve what we have
already done.

"The most disappointing thing about last Saturday was
that if we had put three points to bed then all talk of relegation from people
outside the club would have diminished. What we did was give a leg-up to a team
that were looking over their shoulder. That's the most disappointing
thing."

There is still a third of the season to go and it is
important that people keep an eye on that. "We know what we have got to do and
the bottom line is that our own fate is in our own hands. There are three teams
below us who would swap places and we know that one win will vault us up the
table."

It is all but two years since Pearce first took on the job amidst the wave of optimism and clamour for his appointment (remember that?) and one thing he has always seemed to do is when the pressure begins to build on him is pull out a result to ease it off for a few more games.

However, it now seems that patience has run out and a small ripple of vocal displeasure could soon begin to build if the next month continues as recent weeks have done.

With the number of fans and build up to the Cup game at Blackburn, I feel that there will be nothing but total support for Pearce and the team on Sunday. However, if we do go out of the Cup and things do not go well next Wednesday against Chelsea he may well be in for a rocky ride.