Can Nigel Pearson guide Leicester City to the Premier League?
 © Ben Sutherland, Flickr |
Nigel Pearson will hope to bounce back in August after a disappointing Championship campaign |
Leicester's City's third consecutive season in the Championship
ended on a high note last weekend with a 2-1 victory away at Leeds, as it did
last season with a resounding home win over Ipswich. However, even the most ardent fan will say
that the club fell well short of what was expected, and, more importantly, what
it was capable of achieving, both this year and last. Leicester finished ninth in the league during another season
in which players, fans, and the media considered them to be Premier League-bound,
along with West Ham United (whose points total would have been enough to secure
automatic promotion during four of the last five Championship campaigns). The homecoming of Nigel Pearson was a bold
move by the owners, and one that gave supporters reason to believe that their
season could be saved. But inconsistency
plagued the Foxes all season, resulting in back-to-back league wins only twice,
which inevitably left them falling well-short of the play-offs.
A number of sobering home performances defined Leicester's
season: home defeats to Barnsley and Bristol City (who eventually finished in
the bottom six of the Championship), a 3-0 home loss to Millwall, and arguably
the worst of all, an uninspiring and unenthusiastic goalless draw with Burnley,
when the Foxes were mathematically still in contention of reaching the
play-offs. But the long and short of it is
that many players did not regularly perform to the level which they were
capable of this season, and that, as a club, Leicester were not good enough,
and when they were, they were not consistent enough.
So, how does Nigel Pearson establish Leicester as a genuine promotion contender as he
did two seasons ago? The owners showed
faith in Pearson by hiring him, despite still being contracted to Hull City Leicester this season). Another managerial change would indicate that
his hiring (and firing) was a knee-jerk reaction. It is important that the club maintains a
strong core - one that goes further than just the players. Pearson must be given the summer, with the
backing of the club, to do what he can to give Leicester the best possible chance of becoming a
real threat in the Championship. This
does not necessarily mean spending vast amounts of money – although there are
likely to be comings and goings at the King Power Stadium before August. But there are already some incredibly
talented players at the club, and a very promising set of youngsters (Ben
Marshall, Jeff Schlupp, Liam Moore and Tom Hopper, to name a few) - all worthy
of playing in blue and white next season.
Ultimately, every supporter will have their own view, but very rarely
has a club been able to buy their way into the Premier League.
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| © Ben Sutherland, Flickr Will players like Jermaine Beckford and Matt Mills feature in Nigel Pearson's starting XI next season? |
It is unlikely that Nigel Pearson will make drastic
changes ahead of the new season in terms of showing some players the door, but
he will not be afraid to do so if that is what he believes will benefit the
club. Reading are a fine example: Brian
McDermott sold two of Reading's best players last summer (Shane Long and Matt
Mills) before eventually going on to win the Championship and establishing them
as the best team in the division. The
Foxes were outplayed and outclassed by the Royals on both meetings last year,
despite Leicester having, on paper, the stronger
side. A good manager and a stable,
consistent team are the foundations on which to build a promotion challenge to
the Premier League.
So can Nigel Pearson restore that sense of cohesion
and unity which seems to have become lost in the last couple of seasons? Judging on his record of taking Leicester to
the brink of the Premier League in 2010 with roughly the same League One side
he inherited (and subsequently built upon), he certainly has the ability
to. Whether Foxes fans are having this
discussion a year from now will indicate his success.
