Leicester City’s Kasper Schmeichel frank assessment of Bristol City manager

Nigel Pearson may be enduring a difficult spell with Bristol City right now but two of his former goalkeepers have sung his praises for how they dealt with them.

The 35-year-old was part of the Leicester City side that won promotion to the Premier League in 2014, before going on to win the league title two years later.

Pearson, who left the Midlands club before Claudio Ranieri delivered the fairytale story, was in his second spell at the King Power Arena, and has been praised for his role in the unprecedented success.

He assembled a team that made up the core of that title-winning side, with the likes of Anthony Knockaert, Jamie Vardy, Riyhad Mahrez and Wes Morgan, all playing in the Championship two years prior.

“What a man,” Schmeichel said when appearing on Fozcast, which is the podcast of current Watford a

“He was so important for me, along with Sven Goran Eriksson and Brendan, the three most important managers and I’m going to include Åge Hareide and Kasper Hjulmand, my Denmark managers.

“These guys when you have people like this with the positions that they are in. First thing is that they treat you like an adult.They don’t micromanage, they trust you.

“For me, the worst thing you can do is not trust me and treat me like a child. It is the worst thing you can do as if you treat me like a child I will behave like a child and I’ll be childish.

“Whereas if you treat me with respect as an adult, I will rise to that and Nigel was great with that.”

Since Pearson’s departure, Leicester went on to win the Premier League title, as well as reaching the quarter finals of the Champions League, whilst they have also had numerous European campaigns.

They have also created a successful business model that has allowed them to sell players like Harry Maguire and Riyad Mahrez, before reinvesting it astutely into the squad and creating state-of-the-art training facilities.

Last week, Schmeichel and Pearson reunited as they were present for the unveiling of a statue to pay tribute to the late Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

And despite seven years elapsing, the Danish goalkeeper believes that the foundations Pearson set in his arrival over a decade ago, has allowed the club to remain successful, under the stewardship of Brendan Rodgers.

He said: “The way he transformed Leicester and the way he transformed Leicester, we are still reaping the rewards of that.

“The infrastructure he put in place, a lot of the people that worked behind the scenes at Leicester are still the same people that Nigel brought in.

“I think it’s really underrated how much he is a part of what Leicester is today.”

“I saw him at the statue unveiling of our late owner and it was great to see him. It was kind of seeing an old family that you haven’t seen for a while and you see all of the players saying hello.

“He had such an individual rapport with every player. In a team you need different characters, you need your hard men, you need your grafters but you also need your flairs and mavericks.

“I never understood the ones who treat everyone the same. The ones who have success treat people differently. When a manager understands and respects that you will do anything for them.”

Whilst his time with him will have been brief, given Watford’s ruthlessness of manager turnover, Hornets goalkeeper Ben Foster, had also had experience of working with him.

Pearson was in charge of the Hertfordshire club from December 2019 to July 2020, and was sacked despite having guided them to above the relegation zone.

Foster recalls the City bosses first act after being installed as Watford’s head coach, which inspired their good form, before he was replaced by Hayden Mullins for the remaining two fixtures, which saw them relegated.

Foster said: “How nice is it when you have got that feeling as a manager? We both played under Nigel Pearson. I do not know a single person who has said a bad word about this guy. Incredible.

“When he came to Watford, the very first time he got everyone in the canteen like we’re talking staff, chefs and all the office people. He stood there and spoke and he had us all in the palm of his hand. He was saying that we were all in this together.

“No matter who you are, you treat everybody with respect, you talk to people properly, we socialise and get on with one another.”