Why maverick Leicester boss Nigel Pearson beat Chelsea's Jose Mourinho to Manager of the Month

Leicester City boss has been named Manager of the Month for April

(Getty)

For a man who openly admits to enjoying newspaper obituaries, Nigel Pearson, the Premier League Manager of the Month for April, is quite the modern day enigma.

The 51-year-old has overseen a stunning renaissance at Leicester City as the relegation certainties of old continue on their course to completing one of the most unlikely of metamorphoses in recent years.

While eyebrows rose across the country when it was announced that Pearson has pipped newly-crowned Premier League champion José Mourinho to the award, few can argue that he doesn't deserve it.

If not for his sparkling performance when faced with Pat Murphy's indelicate questions last Thursday, following the #OstrichGate storm, then the Foxes manager must surely be noted for hauling Leicester to the brink of top flight safety.

After the 4-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in March, things looked bleak for the East Midlands club. If you score three goals at White Hart Lane and still lose, there is no clearer sign that your luck is out.

But Pearson maintained that his Leicester players still believed they could overturn the seven point deficit between themselves and safety. There were even rumours that some national bookmakers had considered stopping bets on their fate.

Nigel Pearson and Palace's James McArthur were involved in an altercation on the touchline (Plumb Images/Leicester City FC/Getty Images)

His charge sheet is inescapable. First he told an abusive Foxes fan to ‘f*** off and die’.

Then he grappled with James McArthur on the sidelines before taking aim at club vice-president Gary Lineker. It wasn’t long before another journalist was being labelled a ‘pr***’. All of this was before calling reporter Ian Baker an 'ostrich'.

The former Hull City boss is the first to admit his own mistakes, however, and he has learnt his lesson the hard way. To those who greet him with a mere cursory glance every few weeks, the caricature which is painted of him is more interesting than the reality.

Pearson is undoubtedly a complex man but, away from the cameras, he is a charming and amiable one who takes a genuine interest in those around him.

The Leicester boss celebrates the 1-0 win away at Burnley last month (Getty)

You never hear rumours of disquiet or unrest in the Foxes camp and that, to Pearson, is all that matters.

It is indeed perplexing why Mourinho, a boss who has just secured his third Premier League title with Chelsea, hasn't been awarded with the gong. But it should just exemplify the Leicester manager's achievements further.

He isn't over the line yet - for the matches against Southampton, Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers fall under 'banana skin' territory - but if we've learnt anything it's this. Don't bet against Nigel Pearson.