Welcome to Leicester

OK so Nigel Pearson’s not exactly new to Leicester, but his return to the Foxes has once again got the clubs fans dreaming of a return to the Premier League.

Leicester have seen themselves burdened with the tag of ‘the Manchester City of the Championship’ due to their wealthy foreign owners, but the appointment of such a talented and now experienced manager in Pearson will hope to shake off that unwanted label .

So here we start with Pearson’s story, ‘To Hull and Back’ - The 48-year-old was a somewhat under-whelming appointment in 2008, but quickly built a rapport with the clubs fans that made him arguably the clubs most popular manager since the hugely successful reign of Martin O’Neill which ended in the year 2000.

Despite fine results on the football field it was apparent Pearson often had a strained relationship with chairman at the time, Milan Mandaric and his chief-executive Lee Hoo’s. To cut a long story short; the extravagant American-Seb, Mandaric was looking to sell to the clubs current Thai owners but they felt Nigel’s brand of football and his lack of worldwide fame was not their vision for the club.
So, out went Pearson to Hull to be replaced by Mourinho wanabee, Paolo Sousa. In fairness to Sousa, he had shown promise at Swansea but the transition in style of football he tried to bring to the club was a bridge too far from that of the departed Pearson. This though, is ignoring several turgid Sousa signings.

Fast-forward through the reign of ‘Uncle Sven’; one that was fun but cannot be looked back on as either failure or success as he simply wasn’t given enough time, and we are back where we started. The Thai owners have re-hired the man they forced out of the club, and it begs the question why Pearson would return?

Armed with a squad and transfer budget that can only be compared to that of Manchester City’s in the Premier League, Nigel has unfinished business and has the tools to bring success.

Unlike Pearson’s first reign at the club he will now be burdening a huge expectation that simply wasn’t there prior to his first appointment.

In his relatively short career as a manager Pearson has some fine achievements;
• In his first job at Carlisle he guided the club to safety in dramatic fashion as goalkeeper; Jimmy Glass goes down in folklore as he scores a late goal to save their Football League status.
• After coaching roles at Newcastle and West Brom Pearson joined the backroom staff of the England under 21’s and was the first manager to lead an England side out at the new Wembley due to an issue with Pearce’s contract.
• Pearson was hired as Southampton manager on a rolling contract and guided the club to safety, once again on the last day of the season. Ironically at the expense of Leicester, who he later joined that summer.

Pearson will have to hit the ground running if he wants to please the clubs owners by gaining promotion this season, but with a squad full of Championship experience and talent worthy of many Premier League sides Pearson knows failure is simply not an option.