Sunday 26 February 2017 17:56, UK
Leicester players still respect Nigel Pearson and want him back as manager, according to Sunday Supplement panellist Oliver Kay.
The former Foxes boss was relived of his duties in June 2015, being replaced by Claudio Ranieri, who led the Midlands club to the Premier League title last season.
But the Italian was sacked on Thursday evening after a poor run of results and Pearson is now the favourite for a return to the club he steered away from relegation in the 2014/15 campaign.
Roberto Mancini and Alan Pardew have also been linked to the vacant position, but The Times' chief football correspondent Kay says the players have made it clear that they want Pearson back at the helm.
"I think the Pearson idea is intriguing. We ran in our paper on Friday morning that there was significant number of players that wanted Pearson and conveyed that view," he told the Sunday Supplement.
"He is a person who knows that dressing room, who knows that club and left under very difficult circumstances two years ago. He is very well liked by an awful lot of players there.
"Even during the title-winning season, a lot of players were going out of their way to say how important Pearson had been in that. In some ways, it felt like they retained a level of respect for Pearson after he left that they didn't retain for Rainier this season.
"I think if Pearson did go back, he would rattle a few cages, in press conferences as well, and do a good job."
It was a view echo by Soccer Saturday pundit Paul Merson, who believes the former Derby and Hull boss is the man to shake up the Leicester dressing room.
"For me, Nigel Pearson is the only one who can come in - they need someone who is going to get the players wound up again and make them frightened," he said.
"It's too easy, it's comfortable... He's the only one who can come in and start getting these by the throat, up against the wall."
