Nigel Pearson has apologised to the journalist he called an ostrich in a bizarre post-match rant following Leicester City’s 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday night.
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The Foxes boss admitted that he had reacted badly to the defeat to Jose Mourinho’s side and that he had ‘stepped out of line’.
“Ian, I apologise for last night and hope it doesn’t ruin our relationship,” said Pearson in a press conference today, according to Sky Sports.
“I react. That’s it. It’s emotion as much as anything and I’m not afraid of showing those. I get labelled with certain titles, and it’s people’s perogative to do that, but I’ll apologise when I step out of line and it’s the right thing for me to do today.
“It might be pressure but I don’t think it is. I don’t like losing and I felt for the players – they worked exceptionally hard again.
“I think at times there has been criticism of my players; opinions by people who’ve not seen a large enough portion of our season. Poor observations.”
On Wednesday night, Pearson referred to the ‘amount of criticism and negativity’ his side had faced this season.
But when freelance journalist Ian Baker asked him to elaborate on what specific criticism he was upset with, Pearson called him ‘stupid’, ‘daft’ and an ‘ostrich’ who had buried is head in the sand for the past six months if he didn’t know what he was referring to.
Baker tweeted following the apology that he had accepted it and credited Pearson for being ‘big enough’ to say sorry.
I have accepted the apology. Fair play to him for being big enough to apologise. #lcfc
— Ian Baker (@ianbakersport) April 30, 2015
Leicester City face Newcastle United this weekend and sit just one point above the relegation zone in 17th with four games remaining this season.
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