Former Watford striker Troy Deeney has claimed an ex-Leicester City manager gave him the worst grilling of his career.
Troy Deeney played under his fair share of managers, with the bulldozer of a forward turning out for 17 managers across spells at Walsall, Watford, Birmingham City and Forest Green Rovers.
Two of those managers have been Leicester City managers too, with Claudio Ranieri and Nigel Pearson both having brief spells at Watford.
Both managers are legends at Leicester, with Pearson getting the club promoted to the Premier League before keeping them in the division the following season and Ranieri of course the Foxes’ Premier League winning boss.
- READ MORE: Who is Claudio Ranieri? All you need to know about Leicester City’s title-winning manager
Current manager Steve Cooper will have done well if he ends his time in charge of Leicester half as loved by the club’s fans but Pearson and Ranieri had very different approaches.
Troy Deeney names former Leicester City Nigel Pearson as scariest boss
Ranieri was a very laid back manager in his time at Leicester, adored by players and fans alike as he steered the Foxes to a miraculous Premier League title in 2015/16.
Pearson was far more animated and is a manager you can imagine losing his temper in the dressing room.
It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Deeney named Pearson as the scariest manager of his career, as he told TalkSPORT of the worst grilling he got throughout his playing days.
After some deliberation in which he said Sean Dyche was partial to a row, Deeney revealed: “The worst one I got was from Nigel Pearson. He’s a big scary bloke as most people know.
“The first day he came in, in December, we were in a relegation battle. I’d been injured so I’d just come back and he pulled me in his office and was like, ‘right you’re gonna get it today. I’m going to make a point of coming after you’.
“There was one time we were doing a shooting drill. [Abdoulaye] Doucoure passed it to Will Hughes who stopped it and Doucoure hit it over the bar.
“I got blamed for it, I wasn’t even involved in it and he blamed me.”
Steve Cooper very different Leicester City manager to Pearson
Pearson was never one to hold back, famously labelling a journalist an “ostrich” in a press-conference after losing 3-1 to Chelsea in December 2014.
Ultimately, he was sacked by Leicester the following summer to be replaced by Ranieri and has now been out of work since leaving Bristol City in October last year.
Cooper is very different in his manner to Pearson, but the Welshman can still very much lose his temper when the time is right.
- READ MORE: What Kieran Dewsbury-Hall thought of Steve Cooper after meeting him right before Leicester City exit
Cooper is no nonsense but his man-management skills and ability to develop players mean he could be a real success at the King Power despite his prior association with rivals Nottingham Forest.