Owls legend Pearson can afford no room for sentiment

championship

Ian Appleyard

NIGEL PEARSON will have no room for sentiment today on his first managerial return to former club Sheffield Wednesday.

The Leicester City manager, who lifted the League Cup as a player with the Owls nearly two decades ago, is desperate for three points to keep his side on course for promotion.

That is bad news for the Owls, who have lost four of their last five league games and slipped back into the Championship relegation zone.

Pearson, 46, is still regarded as a hero by Owls supporters and was linked with the manager’s job at Hillsborough after the sackings of both Paul Sturrock and Brian Laws.

However, after winning promotion with Leicester last season, Pearson is in no hurry to leave the Walkers Stadium and is also on the brink of securing a new improved deal.

Under new manager Alan Irvine, the Owls made a brief revival before hitting another rocky patch and crashing to a 5-0 defeat last time at Reading.

Pearson, who still lives in Sheffield, insists that the Owls are in safe hands but says the increased number of sackings in English football is ‘ridiculous.’

“There is no tolerance now and maybe expectations are not realistic,” he said. “I am not saying it is totally a ‘cold’ game but I know how many managers were sacked last year – 54 in a calendar year – which is ridiculous.

“Those are the circumstances that everyone works under and what it does do is make you be even more single-minded. I, like every other manager, do everything I can to win games because it is a results business and that won’t change.

“I think Sheffield Wednesday are lucky to have someone like Alan Irvine,” he added. “He is an excellent coach and a great person but all I am bothered about is winning on Saturday. We are under no illusions that Wednesday are desperate for points and it is going to be a tough game.”

Owls striker Luke Varney still harbours an ambition to play for Leicester, his home-town club.

Varney, who has bagged seven goals this season, is due to return to parent club Derby County in the summer but does not appear to have a future at Pride Park.

“I suppose I’m in the shop window and, of course, I’d love to come to Leicester,” he said. “This club has been great, I’ve scored goals and I think the fans have taken to me. I told Alan Irvine before I signed that I would like it to be a bit more permanent but we’ll have to see what happens in the summer,"

Varney says it has been a tough week following the debacle at Reading and thinks complacency may have been to blame.

“We were starting to look up the table and not down so perhaps we’d taken our foot off the pedal,” he said. “The manager has let us know, in no uncertain terms, that he won’t tolerate a repeat of that performance.”

Blackburn’s Steven Reid, who was linked with the Owls this week, has joined West Bromwich on a month’s loan.