Nigel Pearson denies being a bully and apologises to journalist after rant

Then the Leicester manager was involved in another heated and bizarre exchange

Nigel Pearson apologised yesterday for his confrontation with a journalist on Wednesday night (Getty Images)

Nigel Pearson issued an apology to the journalist he insulted after Leicester City’s defeat by Chelsea on Wednesday night but, in typically forthright fashion, dismissed the suggestion that he was a bully and said his public persona was not going to change. The manager then got into a heated exchange with Pat Murphy of the BBC.

Pearson, in a bizarre rant the previous night after his side’s 3-1 defeat, had called sports reporter Ian Baker “an ostrich” after he questioned the Leicester manager’s view that his team had faced widespread media criticism this season.

Reflecting on his behaviour in Thursday’s press conference at the King Power Stadium, Pearson admitted that he was wrong and implied his outburst was a response to his disappointment at Leicester’s defeat. Yet he denied the accusation that he was a bully for his belittling approach. “That is a word that is very easy to use but there you are – I am not,” he said.

Pearson had begun by addressing Baker and said: “I apologise for that and hope it doesn’t ruin our relationship.” Yet before long he got embroiled in a tense exchange with BBC radio reporter Pat Murphy who told him he had the worst charge sheet of any top-flight manager when it came to PR own goals. Asked if he was concerned by this, Pearson replied: “Not particularly.”

Murphy accused him of being paranoid and a bully but Pearson stressed that he was happy to recognise when he had made a mistake. “Are you suggesting I made a fool of myself? I think you are looking in the wrong place there, I think what you’ve got to understand is I do recognise when I have been out of order and I thought I was out of order last night, hence my apology today.”

While happy to apologise in this instance, the 51-year-old stressed he had no interest in pandering to the press. The 24-7 sunshine approach of the likes of Everton’s Roberto Martinez is not going to be seen at the King Power Stadium any time soon. “It is only right for me to portray what I want to portray,” Pearson said. “I am not trying to win any popularity contest and I certainly don’t think I’d be in the running for that.

“Fundamentally I am what I am,” he added. “Again, [there is a] model sometimes thrown at me as being dour and arrogant but the people who work very closely with me know me a damn sight better because I allow them to get to know me.

“It would be wrong to fundamentally change. Having said that, it would be wrong not to recognise when you make mistakes. I am like any other human being in that respect.”

Pearson said he had not spoken to the club’s Thai owners about the incident but did admit that he had felt greater pressure this season as Leicester fight for Premier League survival. “The pressures of avoiding relegation certainly can be more difficult at times,” he said, noting the “ramifications that come with not retaining our status that are clearly quite big on a financial level”.

Nigel Pearson called a journalist "an ostrich" (Getty Images/YouTube)

In an incident that went viral on Twitter as #ostrichgate, the Leicester manager told Baker on Wednesday night that the reporter was “stupid”, adding: “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.”

It was the latest in a series of off-field incidents involving Pearson which have raised questions about his ability to handle the pressure of his first managerial post in the top flight. He told one Leicester fan to “fuck off and die” during a home game against Liverpool in December – for which he has not apologised – and more recently called a journalist from the Sunday Times a “prick” after the goalless draw with Hull City in March.

There was also the strange sight of him wrestling on the touchline with Crystal Palace’s James McArthur on the February weekend when he was allegedly sacked then reinstated – not to mention a dig at Gary Lineker, one of Leicester’s favourite sons, over tabloid newspaper allegations of the former England captain’s involvement in a tax-break scheme. “I react,” he said yesterday of his tirade on Wednesday. “Is it pressure? Might be.”

Happily for Pearson, the evidence of Leicester’s recent climb off the foot of the table is that his players are unperturbed by their manager’s media persona. Prior to losing to Chelsea they had won four games on the trot to rise out of the relegation places and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel described Pearson as “the best manager I’ve ever played under”.

“What happens outside our dressing room or our club doesn’t really take up too much conversation time,” Schmeichel told Talk Sport radio.

“We know what’s going on. We have huge respect for our manager. We’re happy he’s our manager and however he conducts himself is completely up to him. I quite enjoy watching his press conferences. It’s no problem.”