Leicester will win the title but I would be dishonest if I said I would be happy for everyone…

[Foxhateram]

I think he met expectation in the championship winning season. Let's be honest and look at the squad he had in Kasper, Morgan, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Vardy. It would have been criminal not to get promoted.

Well a 'top premier league manager' in Sven must be a criminal then. He couldn't get us above mid table in the champ with an almost identical squad. Ironically most of which Nige put in place before he was ousted out in the first place.

More to the point you have to give Ranieri credit for not changing much and adding a different perspective. But we also should not forget the leg work that Nige did to get us to the position where Claudio could do that in the first place. There is no evidence to say Nige couldn't build the same way Claudio has, but we will never know that now.

[foxinsocks]

the problem is Nige can't move on until he has a new club... only when he has one he will be able to stop obsessing over Leicester

 

besides any improvement in tactics, psychology, man management and style (our compact counter hitting football...) - Ranieri has also avoided making an arse of himself with fans, opposing players and journalists...  leaving him free to focus on.... football.

[Fox92]

Mods just lock this thread?

 

It's stupid. Yet another thread turns into Pearson v Renieri. No need for it.

 

... Someone has locked the new thread because someone suggested we cannot win the league? 

[LanguedocFox]

I'll always be grateful for what Pearson did for City. I admire what Ranieri has done in building on Pearson's achievements, and his charm and good humour have made us a lot of people's second club. The acid test will come with the players he brings in. My understanding is that Kante was a Pearson pick (and that initially Ranieri didn't want him) while Inler and Benalouane were players Ranieri chose, which doesn't bode well. I also wonder if Ranieri has the same ability as Pearson to "put his arm round the shoulder" of a player who's having a difficult time. I've read that Pearson encouraged Schmeichel, Vardy, Mahrez and Drinkwater - among others - to stick with it when things were tough, and we're benefiting from that.

 

It's a concern if Pearson goes to a decent-sized club (say Villa), and takes the City back-room squad with him, particularly Walsh and the fitness/sports science team. It might not happen after all this time, but if it did I think they would be difficult to replace.

 

All of which tells me that it will be a couple of years, maybe more, before we can make a reasonable objective judgement about the Pearson years. From a subjective perspective, I would say that - given his legacy - Pearson is one of the finest (if not the finest) managers we've had in all the time I've been a fan.