Nigel Pearson's infamous life as he battles to repair reputation at Watford

  /  autty

What is the first thing you think of when you hear Nigel Pearson's name. It's a large bird isn't it?

But believe it or not, calling a journalist an ostrich isn't the only crazy thing to happen in the former Leicester manager's life. In fact, it just about makes the top five.

Now the new Watford manager looks to repair his tarnished reputation, Sportsmail looks at the infamous moments in his life.

Wild dog clash

Which manager would you be most afraid of has always been a trivial football debate among fans.

Pearson would probably be high up on people's list and after hearing his encounter with a pack of wild dogs whilst hiking alone in the Carpathian mountains, he might be bumped up to number one.

'There was five of them,' he recalled in a Sky Sports documentary, 'and what they do is that one goes for you and the others [circle] around until one of them can bring you down – what they essentially do is rip the throat out.'

He said he had escaped them first time by throwing himself into a 'patch of brambles and nettles' where he knew the dogs would not follow.

When they attacked a second time he had only his walking poles to defend himself. 'I backed myself against a tree,' Pearson said.

'I thought 'I don't want to get attacked from behind'. I was absolutely goosed by this point.'

He did not go into details about how he survived, saying only that he 'managed to get rid of them'.

The best part is he reflected on the incident as if he had just been knocked out of the Carabao Cup: 'It was not a nice experience.'

Choking McArthur

Then there was that extraordinary moment involving James McArthur which started as a laugh and finished with a snarl.

Pearson smilingly put his hands round McArthur's throat while the Palace man lay on the floor after he had accidentally sent Pearson flying in the final minutes of Palace's win at the King Power Stadium in 2015.

Pearson then hauled the player to his feet before grabbing McArthur's shirt and refused to release him.

A clearly rattled McArthur pulled away, mouthing 'get off me' and rival manager Alan Pardew came over to see what was happening.

When Pearson said he was only playing around, McArthur is understood to have replied that the stranglehold was hurting his throat.

Afterwards Pearson, who failed in an attempt to sign McArthur from Wigan last summer, only managed to muddy the waters even more.

'He said something to me,' said Pearson. 'I don't have to reveal anything, do I? I think I'm more than capable of looking after myself.'

The then Leicester manager added: 'I have no problem with the lad. He's a likeable lad. I'm as disappointed as he was with how things (his transfer) panned out.

'But it's the other football club (Wigan) which was involved in it who take absolute responsibility for anything that wasn't quite right. And a certain manager (then Wigan boss Uwe Rosler), who opened his trap when he should have kept his mouth shut.'

Pearson's tenure at Leicester City descended into farce the next day with the club forced to release a statement insisting they had not sacked him.

Members of Pearson's backroom staff had been told he had left, 24 hours after he grabbed McArthur by the throat.

But Leicester, after more than three hours of silence despite his 'sacking' being widely reported, eventually confirmed that he would be staying.

'Ostrich' rant

It goes with the territory for managers and reporters to have strong words after a match when emotions are running high, but Pearson went one further.

An ugly verbal exchange following a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea saw the Leicester City manager accuse a journalist of being an ostrich, before storming out of his press conference.

Pearson's words speak for themselves: 'Have you been on holiday for six months? Have you?

'I think you must have had your head in the clouds, away or on holiday or reporting on a different team because if you don't know the answer to that question, then I think your question is absolutely unbelievable.

'The fact that you don't understand where I'm coming from. If you don't understand that question then I think you are an ostrich – your head must be in the sand. Is your head in the sand?

'Are you flexible enough to get your head in the sand? My suspicion would be no. I can. You can't.'

'F*** off and die'

Even by the standards of the football terraces, this was an inflammatory jibe by Pearson.

Video footage emerged in 2014 showing the manager of Leicester City telling one of his own team's supporters to 'f*** off and die'.

The extraordinary incident came during a match in which Nigel Pearson's side lost to Liverpool.

He exchanged abuse with the fan during the final few minutes of the game when both men were sitting in the main stand at the King Power Stadium in Leicester.

It is understood that Pearson snapped after the fan called him an 'utter t***'.

The manager admitted his part in the spat, saying after the game: 'I replied to one idiot in the stands – if he doesn't like what he sees, then don't bother coming.

'Maybe they ought to think about staying at home. We've worked hard and will continue to do so. I don't like the commitment of my players being questioned.'

Racist orgy

This did not involve Pearson but it did hurt his reputation. Leicester City players James Pearson - the son of Nigel, Adam Smith, and Tom Hopper, took part in a depraved sex session in Thailand on an end-of-season tour in 2015.

Amid vile scenes which showed the naked footballers dishing out a tirade of abuse to the women prostitutes, one of the players can be heard shouting 'slit eye' while his friends laugh at the racist jibe.

One of the young players taunted one of the women for being f***** minging' before saying: 'She's an absolute one out of ten.'

The footage was a huge embarrassment for Nigel, who has been an outspoken ambassador for the Kick It Out scheme, the campaign to end racism in football.

It was also a huge blow to the club's Thai owners Vichai and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha who worked hard to form a partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a club sponsor.

The club at the time said the players 'would like to convey their sincere apologies for their behaviour - to the women involved in the incident, to the club and its owners, to the club's fans and to their families'.

The video - which included a running commentary of the lewd sex acts - begins with the three players stripped naked and joking around as they engage in sex acts with the women.

Amid a tirade of abuse, the stars make a series of degrading comments about the two women. After calling her 'minging', one of the players is heard shouting: 'Oi Hops, I'll swap you.'

They also egged each other on as they shouted encouraging comments to the women such as 'Go on, love'. The players made several other vile comments which are too graphic to print.

The men then watched as the woman engaged in sexual acts together before Hopper and Pearson give one another a celebratory high-five.

The events unfolded while the players were touring Thailand after their sensational season climax in which they avoided relegation.

The leaked video infuriated the Srivaddhanaprabha family, who are Buddhists and place great value on decency and manners, and the trio of players were sacked.

Pearson was axed as Leicester boss less than two weeks later.

Derby drone altercation

Where did Pearson go after Leicester you ask? He went to Derby County for just over four months.

He lost his job after he had to be physically restrained during a furious bust-up with Derby chairman Mel Morris in 2016 according to The Sun.

Pearson was suspended at the end of September that year and later left the club by mutual consent in early October.

The reason the bust-up reportedly started was because his Derby players complained to Morris about Pearson's management.

The then Derby boss unleashed a foul-mouthed rant at his players after losing 2-1 to Blackburn and then publicly criticised them on TV.

This wasn't the only reason Pearson was angry. According the Mirror, Morris used drones to spy on Pearson's training sessions.

The chairman wanted to watch the now 56-year-old's drills from anywhere in the world but Pearson felt it was an invasion of his privacy.

It didn't look like the two were ever to going to get along.

Related: Watford Nigel Pearson
Latest comments
Download All Football for more comments