To be honest I get fed up with the constant moaning about Nigel Pearson and it is one of the reasons I hardly bother posting on this forum anymore. The reason I get frustrated is that I simply don’t believe it is the greatest issue affecting our football club at the moment.

The owners came in and were prepared to bankroll our attempts at promotion and invested millions into the playing squad. They god rid of Pearson, brought Sven in and proceeded to hand out grotesquely inflated contracts to a succession of mediocre players. Pearson was then brought back in to deal with the mess.

I would’ve thought even last season it was obvious that the transfer policy was dictated by a need to redress the balance. If the details of the contracts rumoured to be handed to the likes of Beckford, Danns and SSL are correct then all three should be the best in their position in this league – they clearly are not! Is Beckford worth the value in wages of 3 or 4 other players? I don’t believe it’s just a question of the manager falling out with everybody.

So now we start a new season and we have signed zero players with a transfer fee. It seems clear that Pearson is operating with one arm tied firmly behind his back. Now he’s going to get constantly berated by fans who think that he’s going to wave some magic wand that will get his lower budget players playing like Premier League all stars.

I generally like Nigel Pearson, but I’m not blind to some of his deficiencies. I just don’t know who the fans think is going to come in to this club with a transfer budget of zero and do any better. Just attracting any candidate of any decent profile would be a challenge in itself.

Very good, realistic article You've saved me the hassle of writing the thread I was intending to write

Agree with pretty much everything you've put, especially the bit about Vardy. Nice lad and all that, but awful footballer with no skill and only one talent - to run around a lot. Won't score more than 2 or 3 again this season.The fact Pearson paid £1m for him when he'd never kicked a ball in the FL shows, I think, a serious lack of judgement and financial intelligence. Sven gets plenty of stick for forking out £1m+ on players who didn't perform, but Pearson gets very little stick. If we had any ambitious as a club then we would not be still entertaining players like Jamie Vardy.

Agree with the sentiment about where we will finish as well. I have absolutely no excitement or expectation this season, even less than I had last season (at least we had some signings to 'look forward to'. It is my strong belief that far from taking us forwards, Pearson is taking us backwards. I don't particularly care if he goes this season or not, he'll be gone by this time next year, that's the only thing keeping a flicker of a flame burning inside me. Unless the owners are stupid enough to offer him a new one, and I don't think they're dumb enough to do that......

My only real expectation are that we'll get one final season of excuses, mood swings, bust-ups, hissy fits, naive tactics, boring football and mediocrity before he leaves. I have us down to finish about 12th, which is a few places higher than I pencilled us in for earlier in the pre-season (amazingly I do try not to be too downbeat...). The fact is the league is too strong now, the teams who came down all look capable of launching promotion pushes (and all of them have one crucial advantage, other than finances - they all have managers who have achieved promotion) and teams who finished below us have strenghtened. Anything higher and I'll be shocked.

Joby- Thank you for your response. Last season I too thought 'who can we get who will do better'. I now think, practically, anyone who isn't prepared to let his own ego get in the way of building a winning football team. For example Sheff Weds struggled for much of last season but id take Jones over Pearson currently.

Going back to my point before- do you think Vardy would play if he wasnt a Pearson signing? I dont think he would and if that is the case then he isnt doing whats best for my football club.

Foxello- Again thank you for the response. I think your prediction about where we will finish is, sadly, spot on

Unlike last season will you continue to stand your ground on these predictions and opinions IF we DO start winning games? Because last season you were no where to be seen until we started losing games

Top- I assume thats aimed at Foxello? I was a fervently staunch Pearson supporter all of last season. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than if im wrong but I feel its time to take my head out of the sand and state that I dont think our manager is THE manager we need.

Foxello among others - He, others and yourself have their opinions, thats fine. I just wish they wouldn't shy away when things are contray to their predictions.

Hey, maybe even after a good result have the deceny to come out and say "you know what despite what I think of Pearson I think he did a good job today, got his tactics spot on etc".

Same goes for the pro pearson camp too I guess

Put on radio leics after a few mins on sat,first comment"very poor first touch from Vardy" second comment ," another goal let in from corner".
We have learnt nothing from last season, we have to support the manager, but i stand by what i said during our bad run--He should have gone straight after Derby away.
Does anybody else feel a lack of excitement about the new season?

Lets be right here.....no one is excited about the season in terms of our promotions prospects.
It is what it is unforuntaely and due to FFP we have to make do with what we have got

No point moaning before a ball has even been kicked.

Should Pearson have gone last season? Probably?
But worse case we have stability at last, no big upheavel of manager or 15 new players coming in during the close season, so lets see where we are after the first 10 games.
Pearson for all his good and bad points is working with one arm behind his back in all fairness, his recent comments obviously suggest he would have liked to have done a little more business and even stated we are short in numbers in defence.
I'm sure a couple of loan signings may come in the first couple of months.
It could be a long season, but hopefully as the expectations are not particularly high this season, we may hear less moaning? haha who am I kidding, it has already started and we have not even played our first game...oh god help us all !! lol

We have to ask one simple question about NP.Do Hull regret him coming back to us?
He is as popular up there as messrs Wise, Shearer and Taylor are here.
Talking of Taylor, is Vardy the new Junior Lewis?
Only the manager would play him.

I'm afraid that I am also in the "Pearson ain't good enough" camp - particularly as he has been one of (if not the) highest paid managers in the league.

I believe he has real potential but he just seems so pig-headed that I wonder if he will ever achieve that potential.

Whilst being a critic, I did eat some humble pie and praise him for the entertaining football he was starting to deliver. However, in January, many of us pointed to the lack of experience in certain key areas that would (and did) cost us dearly. The management team were just not creative enough in the transfer window.

Through no fault of Pearson's, we are now completely snookered by FFP and he will pretty much have to make do with what he has. I think he really needs to bury the hatchet with Danns, SSL (and possibly Woods and Drinkwater) and ALL parties need to have a slice of that humble pie and recognise that this is their lot for the next 10 months - get on with it.

On the other matters - I would be all for lending Vardy out to Div 1 (and probably Waghorne too) to get some match practise and confidence. And I agree - can't see us finishing much above 10th to 12th this time around.

I’m not Pro or Anti Pearson. I’m Pro Leicester and just want the best for the club.

When Pearson came back I was delighted. I didn’t think he should have left in the first place and I was optimistic about our chances. We had the money and, in my opinion, the right manager. I couldn’t understand the negativity in some quarters. I still think that Nigel is relatively good in the transfer market and relatively good at stabilising and building a team. One promotion and two play off finishes with us are testament to those skills.

I do, however, now wonder whether I overrated Mr. P. I’ve always thought he’s had a weakness tactically and is historically pretty inflexible in this regard. Last season I thought, once more, he over relied on rigid systems (4-4-2) and had the inability to change tactically during a game. There was also an over reliance on youth and inexperience. Young players are notoriously inconsistent and you need a bit of experience to hold things together. As our youngsters lost form and fitness last season our plummet in fortunes was quite dramatic. I also think that not strengthening significantly (even with loan players) during the last January transfer window was a massive missed opportunity. Whether that was Pearson or the owners, I don’t know, but Hull and others recruited in their weakest areas.

So when was the right time to sack him?
Pre-season – probably not you’d think he’d have a right to build his own squad
Mid-season - we were flirting with the top two for most of the time
End of season – we only missed out on Wembley to a poorly taken penalty
Now – as I said earlier, with no transfer budget it’s hardly an attractive job to someone else

The answer was probably at some point towards the end of our bad run (Derby away as Thorney suggests?) last season. But we didn’t!! If we really have got no money then we probably won’t want to be paying him off now so there is an argument that we shouldn’t.

So perhaps we should just get on with it ....

Whilst I cant speak for everyone I am only stating my thoughts and opinions and nothing would give me (nor I assume the other 'dissenters' greater pleasure than us getting promoted with a record number of points. I live and breathe this football club and there would not be even the slightest part of me thinking 'darn it he proved me wrong' if Pearson does the business.

I think we all agree. The manager needs to make do with what he has but promotion is becoming a pipe-dream. Still, you would have said the same for Palace last year!

Don't think we will be seeing quite so many "keep the faith" bumper stickers. I've just see one that says "bound for mediocrity" - thinking of having it printed in blue and cr4ppy gold !

If I was to put a bet on it right now, I'd probably put us around 9th: Possibility of a playoff push, but too many potential weak points and not enough feelgood spirit around to make it happen. Unlike others here, I'm not convinced that many others in the league have improved either. Forest and Bolton yes, and Ipswich will do better with a full season under McCarthy, but I don't see overall improvements elsewhere - just like for like changes.

Our situation is little to do with the manager though; this is our previous profligacy catching up with us and any manager would just have to work with what he had. That said, we may as well see what Pearson can achieve with his team - I can't envision any real disasters that way and there is a chance he might pull it off. In the meantime, I just hope we can provide the kind of atmosphere that convinces our best players that we're worth continuing to represent, both this season and in the future.

Incidentally, a little more openness from the club right now would help the fans in that regard: I know some have complained about this in the past, but now it's reaching the levels that even I believe to be a minor problem. The only communication we seem to get from the club these days is hard selling.

By the way, I'm gathering from this that Jamie Vardy continues to show no improvement? If so, then I agree that any other manager probably would have dumped him by now. By the accounts I've heard, he's not that nice a lad either. While I generally dislike writing players off completely - well, those who look like they're trying - I find Vardy to be something of an exception. He's not good enough and he's showing no signs of learning. While it can be a fair point that players can take a while to settle in a division, I just don't see where the improvement can come from.

Your ...Why for y...was quite clever, as for the rest of the article I'm not so sure that we can pin it all on NP.

Yes we have a squad problem in terms of ability to gain promotion, which can ONLY be cured by loan signings.

Give NP a chance to come up with some decent loan signings which have been mainly good in the past and things may look far more promising.
Wait until the prem teams have named their squads lets be optimistic!!!!

I applaud your honesty Foxello I really do, who else would admit to ...."My only real expectation are that we'll get one final season of excuses, mood swings, bust-ups, hissy fits"

Not many people can look at themselves with that kind of honesty!!

"Lets be right here.....no one is excited about the season in terms of our promotions prospects."

I am just the same as last season, still I'm all for having faith in my Club unlike many cowards and sheep who seem to around these days posing as fans.

I'm still pro Pearson. I like the way he goes about his business and I do think he's a good man manager.

However, I also feel he's got no chance of success this year. He's basically been told it's no players in until the daft wages of the average Beckford, SSL and the woeful Danns are gone. As you might expect, nobody wants overpaid mediocrity so we're stuck in limbo.

That said, I still hope that Pearson proves the doubters wrong and I'll be fully behind him and the players one Saturday.

I still believe....

I am just the same as last season, still I'm all for having faith in my Club unlike many cowards and sheep who seem to around these days posing as fans.

There was a few words missing such as blind,biased and unthinking in front of the word faith.

Faith in a club who don't talk to its supporters unless its to flog tickets and Bans radio Leicester at least once a season.

It's my and Foxillos and Dungs and every other honest posters club as well and we will still be going when the owners and your dad Nigel have long gone

"There was a few words missing such as blind, biased and unthinking ."

I never mentioned you at all Nev !

I can't help but feel a good start will be key to our season. I don't think it would take the fans (and probably players) long to turn.

Please, please let us get a good start.

But then we'd have nothing to whinge about, Mersey...

I think we'll get off to a decent start and finish 5th, myself.

The only thing I'd like to whinge about is the fact that I haven't received my season ticket yet, anyone else having the same problem?

boom boom TB

I too don't rate Vardy and i think Pearson is tactically inept.
However i do have optimism for the coming season.

We have the same squad as last season, the squad that got us to second in the league at one point last season before we choked it.
We probably choked it because of the age of the squad, we had and still have one of the youngest squads in the league, this season they are a year older and hopefully more street wise.

Reasons for optimism?