Nigel Pearson is, for lack of a better term, a crazy person. And a very scary man. The Leicester City manager is also incredibly insecure and weak in standing up to criticism, as he has shown on a number of occasions this season.
[ RECAP: Leicester 1-3 Chelsea: Mourinho’s men inch closer to the title ]
Following Leicester’s 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday, Pearson took every last opportunity to remind us once again just how troubled and out of touch with reality he really is. When challenged on what seemed to be the most peculiar point, claiming his players had been the targets of excessively harsh criticism all season long, Pearson chose to berate that particular journalist (above video) in a manner that seemed more properly suited for a high school locker room debate than the interview room of a top-flight football club.
Partial transcript of Pearson’s interaction with the journalist, from the Daily Mail (full transcript available there):Journalist: I am not quite sure what specific criticism you are referring to?
Pearson: I think you must have been either head in the clouds or away on holiday or reporting on a different team because if you don’t know the answer to that question your question is absolutely unbelievable the fact you do not understand where I am coming from. If you don’t know the answer to that question then I think you are an ostrich. Your head must be in the sand. Is your head in the sand? Are you flexible enough to get your head in the sand? My suspicion would be no.
J: Probably not.
P: I can, you can’t. You can’t. Listen you have been here often enough and for you to ask that question, you are either being very, very silly or you are being absolutely stupid, one of the two because for you to ask that question, I am sorry, son, you are daft.
…
J: I just don’t know what you, erm…
P: You don’t know. What’s erm?
J: I don’t know how you’ve taken that question.
P: Well you must be very stupid. I’m sorry.
For all intents and purposes, Leicester did what they were “supposed to do” against Chelsea — the bottom side in the league of months and months lost to the league-leading side of months and months. In theory, Wednesday’s loss could have disappeared from the minds of onlookers and been seen as a valiant effort by the Foxes who actually held a halftime lead, and yet all Pearson’s rant has done is to bring the spotlight back onto the club and his team, effectively negating any good will they accrued during their recent four-game winning streak which saw them climb from 20th to 17th in the table.
Pearson infamously swore at a fan back in December, while serving as an equal-opportunity name-caller in a rant at another journalist not long after the incident with the fan.
