Yahoo News Stuart Pearce addresses Steve Cooper's 'grating' Nottingham Forest question
Nottingham Forest hero Stuart Pearce has backed Steve Cooper to keep Leicester City in the Premier League and has praised the Welshman’s integrity.
Indeed the Reds and England great has even said he was sad to see Cooper relieved of his duties at the City Ground – but he does accept his success there might leave some City fans needing convincing.
Speaking to talkSPORT the former left-back denied that keeping City up would be an even harder task than the one he achieved retaining Forest’s top slight status in 2022.
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“I don't think so,” the 62-year-old said. “I've swapped texts with Steve since he got the job. Obviously I was closely following his career, certainly at Nottingham Forest and when he left Forest I was really disappointed for the club. I thought he'd done a really good job there.
“Personally, I think he's a great appointment at Leicester. I think he'll go in there and I think he'll keep him in the division. I think he's learned a lot from his time with Forest in the Premier League and I think that will stand him in really good stead. The way he conducted himself at Forest was was commendable in my world.”
Pearce did, though, concede there might be a few King Power sceptics. “I think he'll have to win them over, there's no doubt about that and you've got the rivalry aspect as well. There is a Forest-Leicester rivalry somewhere and I'm sure with some fans it will grate on them on occasion.
“But I think he's he's got the personality tools to win them over. I think he's a very honest man, if I was a chairman or if I was a fan, and I look at him as my figurehead at a football club, I think he talks a level of honesty, and I certainly value [that]. I'd be quite proud and buoyed up by him coming into my football club.”
