I don't think Pearson is a saint any more than you and others hate him. It's exactly the same. A gross exaggeration.
Burnley were consistent last season. They lost most of their games. Consistency is overrated. Now hitting your targets consistently year after year, that's different. Our former "Championship" level manager did exactly that. But who wants that when you can have a nice guy like Sven or Ranieri in as the face of our Duty Free empire, I mean our football club?
.... you still haven't explained why you think the article is "highly relevant" have you ... instead resorting to pom-pom throwing and name calling ... so let me explain why I asked the question ... For me the article is a good one but not really relevant to our current circumstances. It warns of the dangers of a change of manager coming into the run-in of a season as a knee-jerk to being in the relegation mire and on a run of poor form ... something I agreed with then and still do now ... why I advocated sticking with Pearson irrespective of whether we got out of the relegation zone or not ultimately... I didn't see a change as going to help at that stage and the team was also playing quite well without getting results .... The situation then is completely different to the one we have now and therefore for me the article is not really relevant at all ... it might be if at the same stage of the season we have the same set of circumstances - I'm sure you will be advocating sticking with Ranieri if that is the case ... the situation we have now is that of a confident squad that has been strengthened (assuming we get Cambiasso to sign for another year) and with a whole new season in front of us .. if we can carry on with the end of season form we will surpass last season's achievement ... IMHO
How am I rewriting history? We DID survive by six points! Don't facts matter to you anymore? Why let 'em get in the way of a good story eh? I said time and again last season, let's see where were are after 38 games. The results? 14th, six points clear. Just because some fans lost their heads doesn't change the facts! A league is a marathon, not a sprint. The imbalance of fixtures I refer to say us play some very winnable games during the closing weeks of the season while our rivals played more daunting fixtures. The two points aren't unrelated. You wait to see your position after 38 games BECAUSE of fixture positioning. Until that point, no teams are equal footing. For me, it wasn't so much how did we survive, more how did we not get the results our performances reserved throughout the season? But I've been through all that before and the short answer is it doesn't matter - we finished where we deserved to finish. There were six sides worse than us - the fact that it got a bit tense for the fans is irrelevant.
... why indeed the story of our comfortable survival will go down in history as such no doubt ... however as a member of the irrelevant majority I'll stick with the version I experienced .. extreme relief at an amazing escape with a game to spare ...
Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink endorses Ranieri;s appointment ... http://talksport.com/football/exclu...t-leicester-according-jimmy-floyd-hasselbaink
I'm not just talking about on-field achievements. Pearson built a squad slowly and steadily which each season has been able to progress through the new challenges we have had to face, bringing a balance of established fringe Premier League players, youth and foreign under-the-radar types. NO-ONE since O'Neill has managed that. I ALWAYS refused to believe we were among the worst three sides in the division, in fact I knew we weren't. The ONLY time I got a bit worried was when we failed to beat Hull, who I felt confident would be relegated (my pick for the bottom three remained unchanged from pre-season until it happened). Even then, I just thought we'd have to beat a team we didn't expect to beat to get us going, which followed in our next home game. Was I surprised we survived? No, because our average performances were better than a few other teams'. Did I expect us to survive in such spectacular style? No... After the Hull game, I'd have taken 17th - but on balance, we finished where we deserved, it's just earlier in the season we lost games we shouldn't have and later on we beat teams we might not have expected to beat. Judge after 38 games. None of the things he did were sackable offenses. I too was surprised our owners didn't have anyone lined up. I share you opinion of Ranieri, but doublefold as I suspect I rue the sacking of Pearson more. There ARE parallels with Sven, but as Mick said the other day, Sven would probably have been a lot more successful with us in the Prem, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. Only time will tell. Football fans are an easy crowd. Win matches, you win them over. It's the fans that harbour grudges against successful managers (like Pearson) that I can't fathom. Pearson is a Premier League quality manager. I don't think there are many better English managers (for what that's worth!). HOWEVER, he does need to think about some of his action which, although not sackable offences, will be frowned upon by any prospective employer. Perhaps he will decide the glare of the PL is not for him - some managers, like Sven and Ranieri, take to the spotlight and pressure with ease. Pearson is NOT one of those people.
No. The 2 situations are not linked in any way. Whatever Ranieri does or doesn't do will have no effect on how I judge Pearson's abilities. In my world time tends to move forward and cannot affect the past.
Well now you're re-writing my comments! Where did I say we survived comfortably? I said we didn't survive by the skin of our teeth. There's a gap between one extreme and the other where the true usually lies, but you often ignore that area. Newcastle survived on the last day, yet their victory was so convincing I wouldn't say they did either. Villa finished above the bottom three, but were also safe with a couple of games to go. It was pretty obvious who was going down with about three games to go. Although for me, it was obvious in pre-season.
.... OK my mistake for interpreting that not surviving by the skin of our teeth just might have inferred a degree of comfort .... as to that area I ignore but you obviously inhabit ... how else would you interpret our escape then? ... I watched every game last season and throughout that run in I don't think I have ever been so on the edge of my seat or nervous in all the time I've watched the club ... because there seemed to be very little (if no) margin for error .... now if you didn't see our escape like that well done you I admire your confidence ... it must be lovely in 'your area' ... in mine the teeth are still chattering ... I know you don't bet - you often make the point - shame in this case because your self belief could have earned you a fortune...
Tell me about it! Although, in fairness, I don't think Burnley, QPR and Hull was a particularly brave call - particularly from a Leicester supporter! The fact that you were so involved implies that you believed we could do it. I've seen us in season when I know we're going down and virtually disengaged. I NEVER felt that last season, so, added to the fact that clearly didn't look like a bottom there side, I remained confident, apart from during that horrible International period after the Hull game. You're right, there was little margin for error, but, just as Stringer wrongly classed every match as a "must-win" game, you start to realise there's more margin for error than you might think, hence we ended up six points clear without winning every game in our run-in. Plus, some of the "easiest" fixtures of the season, including Newcastle and QPR at home, meant we were always going to be in it until the end.
We lost exactly the same number of league games as them (19) Tell that to Chelsea fans How do you know what his exact targets were? Whatever they were he certainly didn't meet them with the way he acted/reacted last season Doesn't cost anything to be civil and respectful to people. Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself. Leicester City is the team we support, sadly the days of it being "ours" have long gone. It is a marketing tool in the King Power organization. If this nice manager fails then another nice manager will replace him.
Which backs up my point that consistency is overrated! They consistently lost and, just as importantly, consistently didn't win. Our sporadic form kept us up.. Sorry, but we're NEVER going to have that level of consistency in the Premier League (few teams are). We did have it the season before in the Championship though... Well I don't think relegation was among them! Pretty sure survival last season and promotion the season before were targets hit. The two play-off campaigns (in two seasons before that) were also very likely targets. As was promotion from League One before that. If you suggesting he may over-achieved, well that's a possibility. Don't see what being nice as to do with being a successful manager. Unless you're such a prick you alienate the players (like Martin Allen apparently did), but that's certainly not the vibe that was coming out of the club in all those years.
I'd settle for a more tranquil path - 14 points first 13 games, 14 points second 13 games, 13 points last 12 games - better for the heart Agreed & Agreed You can't just be good at one aspect of management and neglect all else, you have to learn and become better in your weaker areas not get progressively worse. Suspect you might get different viewpoints from say Nugent, Schmeicel, Morgan to Danns, Beckford, Albrighton. Doesn't matter if you're nice or a prick you should always respect others, Pearson clearly didn't and couldn't see how his behaviour was alienating him from the owners.
Absolutely - but you can't have it all! Sorry, I thought we were talking about on-field targets, which ultimately is what most managers are judged on. Not sure what was getting progressively worse - apart from Pearson's ability to handle stress, and that's something your can't fully understand or plan for until you're in that situation. I'd like to add that this was a minor issue, but it possibly cost him his job, so, rightly or wrongly, it obviously wasn't minor to our owners. Of course you'll get different opinions from the disruptive element that was cleared out to the betterment of our club. Pricks don't respect others, that's why they're pricks. We don't know the situation with the owners and Pearson. They may have got on fine until the "incident" that led to his sacking (not having anyone lined up implies to me there was an incident).
The season before Sunderland were 7 points from safety with Chelsea (a), Man U (a), Everton (a) and Man City (h) in our run in. We survived after looking dead and buried. Although you could argue it was tougher for you as it was your first season How's your signings and pre season coming along?
Personally - happy with the signings so far ... Austrian captain (and they top their Euro group) full back and Japanese international striker ... if Cambiasso signs on and we get the other reported targets our squad depth will (at least on paper) be considerably stronger ... every reason to be optimistic for me ... most expensive squad assembled in my lifetime watching the club ... a manager proven in the top divisions in Europe - owners who have wiped away our debt and seem committed to funding our growth on and off the playing field ... what's not to like?
please log in to view this image Quote New Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri vows not to tinker too much with Nigel Pearson's team "My football is very close to how they are used to playing. "It is not possible to change too much because I watch the matches and they were very solid when they played three at the back and then we can change with three midfielders or a two with two on the flanks." The Italian, who earned the nickname "The Tinkerman" at Chelsea for his constant changes to his team, was named Foxes boss this week. It comes after Nigel Pearson was axed, despite Leicester winning seven of their last nine games to pull off a great escape from relegation. And ex-Juventus and Inter Milan coach Ranieri says he sees no reason to tear up the script and start again at the King Power Stadium. Ranieri said: "My football is very close to how they are used to playing. "It is not possible to change too much because I watch the matches and they were very solid when they played three at the back and then we can change with three midfielders or a two with two on the flanks. "I don't change too much but just give my Italian tactical way. "Our goal is to be strong fundamentally. It is very important to improve the team slowly and to gradually surpass our possibilities. "From what I have seen, I think that is possible. "The team had not such a good period around November and December last year, then the last period was outstanding. I want to see that period throughout the season." Ranieri has a reputation as one of football's nice guys but has urged his team to be "fighters." He said: "First of all, our fans can expect our players to fight. I spoke with the players and told them I want all my players to be fighters. "We must play every game like it's the last match of the season. Without motivation, it is very difficult to win something." And he admits he is thrilled to be be back in England after an 11-year absence. "For me it was really important to come back to the Premier League," Ranieri said. "I've missed the Premier League, I've missed English football. "English football is special; the fans, the crowd, the atmosphere is very warm in every stadium. I love the respect in England."
