8) Pearson deserves great credit for holding his nerve

On 22 February Leicester City, bottom of the Premier League, were four points adrift of 17th-placed QPR. Twelve games later, they have completed the season 11 points and six places ahead of the London club and both sides’ recent form has been such that barely an eyebrow was raised at the margin of their victory on Sunday. The two have provided perfect case studies in how and how not to handle promotion to the Premier League and it is hard to escape the conclusion that a few years quietly rebuilding further down – how far further could yet depend on how the FFP scenario plays out – would not be a bad idea for a QPR setup that continues to send eyeballs rolling towards the heavens.
Leicester, for their part, would not have banked on winning seven of their final nine games but their survival – much like their ascent – has been a triumph of perseverance and a tribute to the confident pragmatism of Nigel Pearson. It was fashionable to focus on Pearson’s abrasiveness while his team floundered but he made few significant changes to the structure of a side that had been developed carefully over three and a half years – aware that Leicester were performing creditably most weeks and falling foul of fine margins inside both boxes. Leicester’s collective performance levels have not altered dramatically but their efficiency has and the excellent late-season form of the 34-year-old Esteban Cambiasso, who visibly warmed to life in the Premier League, was a major factor too. Pearson will doubtless make some changes in the summer but deserves huge credit for holding his nerve when many around him – including, if rumours at the time were to be believed, his board – seemed on the verge of losing theirs. Nick Ames