Nigel Pearson: Ex-Leicester City boss named OH Leuven manager

Former Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has been named head coach of Belgian second-tier side OH Leuven.

King Power International own both clubs so Pearson, 54, will again be working with the Srivaddhanaprabha family, who sacked him as Foxes boss in June 2015.

His Leicester exit came one month after he had guided them to unlikely Premier League safety in the 2014-15 season.

Since then, his only other job has been a 14-match spell in charge of Derby County between May and October in 2016.

OH Leuven sit fourth in the eight-team Belgian First Division B.

They have won only two of their six league matches this season and Pearson replaces Dennis van Wijk, who had been in charge since January.

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, chief executive of King Power International, said: "Nigel is an incredibly good manager with a wealth of knowledge, good people skills and a strong winner's mentality. He will put OHL on track for the next few years."

Pearson added: "I know how to develop the club and I'm looking forward to contributing to it. The club has many good players and a good staff that guides them. I can not wait to work with them and achieve our goals."

During his career in England he also managed Carlisle United, Southampton, Hull and was in charge of Leicester for 289 matches over two spells.

In his second stint as Foxes boss, he guided the club to the Championship title in 2013-14 and Premier League survival the following season, but was then dismissed with a club statement saying "fundamental differences in perspective exist between us".

He was involved in several high-profile incidents, including calling a journalist an "ostrich" and clashing with Crystal Palace's James McArthur.

Pearson was replaced by Claudio Ranieri, who took the side Pearson had largely assembled to the Premier League title in his first season with the Midlands club.

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61 comments

Comment posted by CaptainSlow81, at 15:20 22 Sep 2017
I would love to see what he could do with another Premier league team.

Without dismissing ranieri's influence It must have been hard to watch Leicester achieve what they did with the team he essentially built.
Comment posted by Foxes, at 15:01 22 Sep 2017
Shows the owners and Pearson still have a good relationship, he was fantastic for us and laid the foundations for the title winning team.
Comment posted by cienfuegos, at 15:28 22 Sep 2017
Good luck to the guy, he did a lot of the spade work at LCFC
Comment posted by gazzinder, at 14:52 22 Sep 2017
Love U Nige.
Comment posted by Dirkster, at 16:25 22 Sep 2017
Good luck Nigel. Well thought of by LCFC fans for what you did for us.
Comment posted by LloydLittle, at 15:09 22 Sep 2017
Good luck to him.
Comment posted by michael, at 16:04 22 Sep 2017
Pearson, without a doubt the architect of Leicester's miracle season, should have got the Crystal Palace job, not Uncle Roy
Comment posted by Steve, at 15:11 22 Sep 2017
Hope he does well. Ranieri was great at coaching and tactically spot on in their PL winning season, but like the article says Pearson assembled a lot of that squad, and shares some of the responsibility for the success.

I also hope some of his temper issues are now a little more under control, as he was often let down by that.
Comment posted by Me1, at 16:38 22 Sep 2017
Excellent mid tier manager, badly treated.
Why a HYS on this but NOT the top football story?
Comment posted by D1692969620778, at 17:58 22 Sep 2017
Held in high regard by us Leicester supporters, more so than Ranieri in some quarters. It may sound crazy but it's hard not to love the man who dragged your club from its lowest ever position to the point where he had build a title winning squad, staff and team spirit.
Comment posted by Bezz, at 15:42 22 Sep 2017
At Leicester although doing great work assembling as squad that would go on to win the premier league he suffered a lot of negative press some of his own making. The sacking of his son by Leicester could not of helped. At Derby he inherited a squad with some players whos egos were greater than their ability.
This move could be his way back to the premier league, with Leicester just a thought
Comment posted by D1679357691662, at 15:48 22 Sep 2017
@13 really daft comment
Comment posted by LanguedocFox, at 17:53 22 Sep 2017
Best manager Leicester City have had in the time I have supported them: all of the PL-winning team apart from Schmeichel were his picks (with Shakespeare and Walsh) as were the main elements of the back-room team. I hope he does well at Leuven, gets them promoted and wins the League for them. He deserves that success.
Comment posted by Killingholme_Clay , at 15:27 22 Sep 2017
That's the team named after the old 'Peter, Paul & Mary' song:
"Oh Leuven on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be home again"

I'll get my coat........:-P
Comment posted by meirion, at 18:27 22 Sep 2017
All the best Nige
Comment posted by City and chelsea are sugar daddy clubs up the gers, at 16:31 22 Sep 2017
I give him 2 months and he wil be telling the fans to go away and die! Hes got an attitude problem but he is funny to watch
Comment posted by Vox Populi, at 09:57 23 Sep 2017
The BBC doesn't open comments on articles I want to reply on. Radamel Falcao scores his 11th goal in 7 games this season. Where was this striker at Man Utd and Chelsea? The last two seasons he has scored 41 goals in 52 games for Monaco. Before you say Ligue 1 is weak, in Europe he has scored 7 in 12 too.
Comment posted by VanImpe, at 20:48 22 Sep 2017
Surely he could have managed one of the many Belgian clubs in England?
Comment posted by D1679350033512, at 09:21 23 Sep 2017
@50 hey, would never, ever slant someone so badly and associate him with the presidential muppet in USA
Comment posted by Redinexile, at 00:00 23 Sep 2017
Pleased to see a succesful English manager and coach taking on an overseas challenge. Good luck Nigel go ruffle a few more strutting peacock feathers!