Leicester manager Nigel Pearson has admitted he was disappointed not to be named Blues boss when he was interviewed for the role after Joe Royle’s departure in May 2006. Pearson, who was the assistant manager at West Brom at the time, was interviewed by then-Town chairman David Sheepshanks and chief executive Derek Bowden but lost out to retiring Blues skipper Jim Magilton.

Pearson said: “I was disappointed at the time, certainly. It’s a lovely club in a lovely part of the world. My wife’s got some family down here as well, so I always enjoy coming down here.”

The 48-year-old says he can see why he was overlooked in favour of the Northern Irishman back then: “He was a local hero, so it was probably understandable.”

Having had spells as caretaker-boss at Albion and Newcastle, and after a short time in charge at Southampton, Pearson took over as manager at Leicester for the first time in the summer of 2008, taking them to the League One title in his first season in charge.

In June 2010 he moved on to Hull before returning to the King Power Stadium in November 2011 after Sven-Göran Eriksson’s departure.

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

bluelady added 09:49 - Apr 10 hindsight is a great thing isnt it...... how would he have done compared to Jim who knows? Not sure it was due to the cult hero status of Jim, more like the salary he was happy to accept as a rooky manager.
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Karlosfandangal added 09:57 - Apr 10 Still feel Magilton did a good job and think another season and we would have been moving in the right direction. Magilton was building a team and we were improving, Keane rip the side apart and loads of new signing and the same with PJ. The sacking of Jim put the club back 3 years and feel we are getting back to the team of old. Next season is a big one
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cornishnick added 10:13 - Apr 10 Sorry Nige, but I am not so disappointed. Hardly set the world alight, even with what is (on paper) the strongest squad in the division. A consistent under achiever as a manager. Hang on....he'd be perfect for us!
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rosseden added 10:19 - Apr 10 Agree Karlos. Never really been impressed with pearson. Couple of mates who support hull were glad he went too. Said was the worst football they'd seen up there for years. So don't think we'd have been any further forward if he'd come here really. . . . .
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Mach_foreignBlue added 10:30 - Apr 10 Karlosfandangal we were never improving under Magilton. Yes, decent as a player for our club but also hopeless excuse of a football manager. When things are going wrong he does blame everyone and everything apart from himself. What has he done since leaving us? Short spell at QPR where he couldn't keep his nerves + also short spell in Australia, in a pub league and even there he wasn't succesful. Arrogant, useless ' manager ' ........... His tactis were all about hoofing and lumping the ball forward so how you call it as improvement is beyond me.

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RetroBlue added 10:39 - Apr 10 finsihed 9th two season running under Magic...how does that compare to Keane and Jewell bnow I wonder ??
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MattinLondon added 10:40 - Apr 10 Mach_foreignBlue added 10:30 - Apr 10 Arrogant, useless ' manager ' ........... His tactis were all about hoofing and lumping the ball forward so how you call it as improvement is beyond me. Bit harsh..before ME we were playing good football under Jim....after the takeover Jim brought badly. RK was the manager with the hoofball tactics
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Mach_foreignBlue added 10:51 - Apr 10 RetroBlue let's be honest the quality of the league was very poor at that time hence finishing 9th. We couldn't win away games for a very long time and he was the only ' manager ' so called manager in the world who would offer a contract to his mate Counago. Counago who was unwanted by everyone and now the question is where he is now? And do you really see the big difference between finishing 9th and 15th? I don't. Magilton is a useless excuse of a football manager which has been proved since leaving Ipswich. JOE ROYLE was the last DECENT MANAGER we've had and I badly miss him.

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MattinLondon added 11:11 - Apr 10 The quality of the league is exactly the same now as what is was then.
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bluepirate added 12:04 - Apr 10 You mad Cornishnick, he has done a decent job where ever he has been. Very sound manager and should have got the job after Jim. He has The Foxes moving in the right direction after a poor start.
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Mark added 12:32 - Apr 10 Pearson has moved about a bit, so I wonder if he would still be with Ipswich had he joined us in 2006? He hasn't got a club close to promotion to the Premier League, although I think of him as decent enough as Hull seemed to improve when he went there. At the time I thought Magilton was the right decision, and it was a shame it didn't work out for Jim as I liked his passion and attitude. He did well right up to the point Marcus Evans came in and gave him money to spend! I agree with the praise for Joe Royle, although I think Paul Jewell is a decent manager too and I am hopeful we can join the play-off race again in 2012/13.

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arc added 12:46 - Apr 10 Well, if he came into the interview and said "what a lovely club, and, you know, my wife has family down here," I am not surprised the board went for Magic.
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Pabloisgod84 added 13:12 - Apr 10 Mach_foreignBlue you are a total chopper! joe royle wasnt all that great! with bent and kuqi at the time we had a top strike force and he should of got us promoted! we played ugly football too! had some hideuos defenders (DIALLO , SANTOS) horrible times. as for Pablo he wasnt at his greatest 2nd time round but at times he was too good and too clever for the players he was playing with. classiest player we've had in a long while! Magilton did hell of a job in the scheme of things, we've been going backwards ever since he left u plumhead!!!

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wellhungphil added 13:40 - Apr 10 "Magilton did hell of a job in the scheme of things" Exactly! Jim worked miracles at Portman Road when the only money to spend was coming out of the Monopoly box and the squad needed rejuvinating. Relegation was a massive threat in his first year but he did so much more than was expected.
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Dog added 14:30 - Apr 10 Joe Royals was a good manager and Jim Magilton exceeded expectations. Roy keane and so far, Paul Jewell have been disappointing. The league may have been easier then but you didn't have teams like West ham and Leicester paying players like Nolan and Beckford £80,000 and £40,000 a week. I do think we may be going in the right direction but fans need to give the manager time. admittedly, i lost patience with jewell and i firmly believe he gout of the losing run by accident and not by design. If we have a good start to the season then who knows - but in order to get in to the play off's we need to have a steady ship and a good start. How many signing's will there be - i expect eight - and that may be too many. If we kick out the old war horses like Bowyer, Bullard and recruit youngsters like Ritchie, Baldock, Smithies etc then we may do well.

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jas0999 added 16:31 - Apr 10 Difficult to tell what may have happened. Pearson is certainly a better manager than PJ - but would he have done better than Jim? The reality is Jim did a remarkably good job considering how a higher profile maager like Roy and a so called experienced manager like PJ have faired. Jim's 'success' even further highlights the need for an up and coming manager to take over at ITFC. It won't be an overnight fix - but neither has PJ been. If anything PJ has taken us backwards by not building for the future - relying on loans and older players instead. We need a young hungry manager. Not a poor one like Jewell.

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StowTractorBoy added 16:55 - Apr 10 Some of you have very short memories. I liked Jim and wanted him to succeed but the dross he served up at the end of his tenure and the inability to pick a team and make decent subsitutions finished him, not helped by demonstrations around the ground. Joe Royle did a miraculous job with the resources at his disposal and it was him who snapped up the vastly overweight Shefki for a snip thus forming the partnership of Bent and Kuqi. Who knows what would have happened if Sheepy had let us sign Fuller - we'll never know but Joe was a great Manager and PJ may be of the same ilk given another season.

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rosseden added 18:15 - Apr 10 Jas, lets hear who these great up and coming managers are who would want to join us and take us forward then? i keep hearing we need new up and coming young players / managers etc etc, but no one seems to have any names?
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StochesStotasBlewe added 20:00 - Apr 10 Stowtractorboy. I thought big Joe did a great job on a zilch budget, the team played in some high scoring thrilling games (6-4 versus Crewe), at least we got very regular entertainment. Unfortunately, Joe was never given any resources, i wonder how he would have got on if he did have ME,s millions.
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stinkiusminkius added 21:45 - Apr 10 Jas you are so tedious. Why is Pearson a better manager than PJ? Has he got 2 promotions on his CV? And PJ has certainly not taken us backwards after the shambles of RK (and you've still not explained why you supported RK so strongly got so long). RK sucked out the heart and soul of Ipswich, he wasted millions (meaning PJ hasn't been afforded the same budget), allowed our 2 best players of that season leave on a free, and removed all entertainment value. And why don't you commend PJs transfer work (jet, cresswell, chopra, drury) plus improvements of Martin and Scotland. The only real failings are ingi and Ellington but both were freebies so no real loss. I think PJ has lots of issues that could be improved upon and that I don't agree with, but come, try a little support and see the plusses, not your usual constant sniping for the sake of it.

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jamesmostevens added 05:15 - Apr 11 9th? 15th? Who cares when 6th or above is the aim?
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opinionscount4nothin added 09:05 - Apr 11 I agree with the above post, with all the talk of the big push and the plan, we have seen nothing to prove that it is more than just talk. .. surely anything below a play off spot is a bad session!
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