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Like father, like Pear-son
Nigel Pearson has followed his son, perhaps consequentially out of Leicester City, prompting a potentially awkward conversation with ‘Mother/Wife Pearson.’ At least Nigel Pearson has good company of the list of men getting the fateful ‘You’re Fired!’ this week, as he joins US Presidential candidate Donald Trump in being sacked over the last few days. However, not to be Trumped by NBC’s famous firing, the Foxes finally gave Pearson his marching orders after a term full of scandals. Richard Lewis takes a humorous look at Nigel Pearson’s sacking.
A Tape stuck on rewind!
This isn’t the first time that the 51-year-old manager has seemingly lost his job at the King Power Stadium — not even this year. Back in February, when the Foxes were at the bottom of the table and heading for relegation, off-pitch incidents (an altercation with James McArthur comes to mind) looked to be the last straw; but somehow, Pearson retained his seat long enough to lead his team to a miraculous escape from relegation last season. Pearson was never going to beat Leicester’s owners, the Srivaddhanaprabha family, at a game of Scrabble, but by going on Pearson’s managerial results in April and May, the Foxes were lucky they reversed their decision to sack him in February.
However, this time, the contracts have been terminated and the blow dealt. Already, the rumors have turned to Leicester’s next move, a potential swoop for Dutch manager Guus Hiddink.
Ostrich gate didn’t help his fate!
Pearson’s son’s actions are far from fully accountable for the manager’s sacking, however. The Leicester owners had a long list of reference points to high-profile mistakes both on and off the pitch froth Pearson family. While everything seemed to be going peachy in the league for Leicester in late April, Pearson could not bite his tongue and called a journalist an ostrich in front of the world media. It’s funny how the use the word “ostrich” managed to overshadow the fact that day, Chelsea crept within touching distance of the title with a 3-1 win.
The deteriorating relationship between the owners and Pearson has been growing so wide it’s ridiculously terrible that Pearson’s son’s actions were whilst on tour in the owners’ home country. The billionaire owners put the money into the club and if they see the son of the boss disrespecting their country and culture on tour in Thailand, it certainly gives them the discretion to chop and change to the ones who they feel have done them wrong.
Weird but Wonderful!
Nigel Pearson may have been described as “a bit weird” by former Leicester forward and Foxes fan Gary Lineker, but his style and tactics were wonderful in those last nine games of the Premier League season. He gained seven wins and a draw during that period to stay in the top tier of English football, winning more than half the club’s total points that season.
Who can fill those bossy boots, none the least because of Pearson’s stature, and replace Pearson at the King Power Stadium? Pearson had already made three major signings, with Christian Fuchs arriving from Schalke, Robert Huth signing permanently from Stoke and Shinji Okazaki joining from Mainz in Germany, subject to a work permit. Pearson’s replacement will be left with the unenviable task of inheriting a squad without being able to invest much more money in the transfer market. Already, Leicester have spent nearly as much as they did in the entirety of the summer 2014 transfer window. But on the back Pearson’s controversial term, Leicester may want slightly less contentious manager this time around.
Photo credit: Kev747, via Wikipedia Commons