It takes more than widespread reports of his sacking to knock down Nigel Pearson. A week has passed since the manager’s on-off dismissal by Leicester City and Pearson is still standing strong, still willing to answer questions about his future, still resolute in his belief that he can keep his side in the Premier League.
The spotlight has shone brightly on Pearson since the curious events of last weekend. First, there was that bizarre touchline tangle with Crystal Palace’s James McArthur last Saturday, then the news that Pearson had been sacked began to circulate a day later, only for it to emerge on the Sunday evening that he was still Leicester’s manager.
He is not going away yet and Pearson insists that his relationship with the club’s Thai owners remains strong. “There is no mileage in allowing the speculation surrounding the week’s events to allow people to force a wedge,” Pearson said.
At least Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa, who named Tim Sherwood as Paul Lambert’s replacement on Saturday, in the fifth round of the FA Cup offers Leicester some respite from their relegation battle. The Cup is not bottom-placed Leicester’s biggest priority, yet it is a chance to restore confidence. Pearson is doing his best to stay relaxed and when he was asked if his players have given him a wrestling manual, he joked that he would like to see them try.
Yet the joviality only went so far. The McArthur incident remains an awkward topic and the sight of Pearson putting his hands around the Palace midfielder’s neck and then grabbing his shirt as he tried to get back on to the pitch shocked onlookers and damaged the Leicester manager’s reputation. He paused for a long time after he was asked if that bothers him.
“I think everybody cares what people think of them,” Pearson said. “Do I care what people think? Of course I care what people think. But I can’t let it affect how I do my job. Whenever you are a manager or a leader of some description, the most important thing is that the people you work with and for have a respect. It’s not about being liked, it’s about being able to work with some sort of respect in-house, and that’s what we try to do.”
Leicester have been trying hard and there have been some moments of encouragement for them. Yet though their effort and persistence cannot be faulted, they have lost too many matches by narrow margins. They felt that they were unlucky to lose 2-1 at Arsenal on Tuesday. Andrej Kramaric’s first goal since joining Leicester last month gave them hope of snatching a point after finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time and they had a couple of chances to equalise. But they lost. Again.
Pearson spoke about the need for his players to find that extra half a per cent – if that – to turn these heroic defeats into something more substantial, and he is tired of hearing people praise Leicester’s play. He does not want to rely on luck too much. Pearson’s view is that moaning about misfortune can be psychologically damaging.
“There are elements of it,” Pearson said. “And then there are elements of quality. It’s very difficult to quantify everything that you do. In business terms, you’d work at best practice and I don’t see that sport should be any different. We try and do things as well as we can but ultimately you don’t make that shift from Championship to an ultra-efficient Premier League side in a short period of time.
“It does take time to do that. Whether we are unlucky or not, I suppose, is irrelevant. We still have a belief that we can change our fortunes. It would be nice to win a couple of games and for people to say, ‘You were lucky to get away with that.’ That’s not happened.”
Villa Park would be a good place to start.
