Hi Jason, we are delighted to have you here on TheStamfordShed, could you please enlighten our viewers on what you do and your position within Journalism?
I’m a broadcast journalist, presenter and producer working for BBC Radio Leicester. I present the station’s live coverage of Leicester City so attend every game along with our commentator Ian Stringer and our summariser, the former City captain Matt Elliott. I also produce our Monday night Football Forum phone-in show and various other sports programmes on the station.
What has been the highlight of your career so far in Journalism?
I’ve been very fortunate to be working at my ‘home’ radio station covering the teams I followed as a boy, especially Leicester City. I’ve been a pitchside reporter at Wembley, interviewed various City managers, and met so many incredible people. The stand out for me has to be following the club’s promotion to the Premier League last season. Some of the football was wonderful to watch and it was great to see them return to the top flight after a ten-year absence. To cap it all off was calling the moment City were promoted for BBC Radio Leicester. After beating Sheffield Wednesday on the Friday, I was sent to Bournemouth to watch them play QPR (hoping QPR would slip up along with Derby at Middlesbrough). Gladly it all worked out and the trip wasn’t a waste of time! Being with the crowd at Bolton when they were crowned champions was also pretty special.
The Foxes started the season very well, they were widely tipped by many to be the one out of three promoted sides to stay up. After a midseason blip, do you think they can?
The recent run of form has completely turned things around and they have a real chance of pulling off the greatest escape of the Premier League era. This time last month it was looking very bleak – but credit to everyone at the club for the last four wins and giving themselves a great opportunity of staying up. There is still a lot of work to do and games to play – starting with Chelsea on Wednesday – but you look at the games after that (Newcastle (h), Southampton (h), Sunderland (a) and QPR (h)) then who’d bet against City from being successful?
January signing Andrej Kramaric turned down a move to Chelsea in order to play for Leicester. What have you made of the Croatian so far?
Kramaric has found it difficult to adjust to life in the Premier League. He came in to a side struggling at the bottom of the table and was often played as a lone front man when he first came to the club. That probably isn’t his game but he’s scored a couple of goals and looked like a class act at times. At his relatively young age, it was always going to be a challenge to come straight from Croatia and be a success in England. I really like the look of him and think he’s a real talent. He has a bit of magic about him. We haven’t seen the best of him yet but if City stay up then he could be a real asset next season.
I have to ask you about the incident involving Nigel Pearson and James McArthur, what did you make of the incident? Did you think he was lucky to avoid punishment? Especially when compared to some of the things Jose Mourinho has been punished for in the past?
At the time, I thought it was nothing and I still think that. There was a lot of coverage in the media about this so-called incident between the two of them but it generally seem good natured. Nigel Pearson put it to bed when he said he’d been in contact with James McArthur and that was that. Nothing to see here for me.
Something we are used to at Chelsea is manager’s being under constant pressure, during the season Nigel Pearson has found himself under intense pressure. Do you think owners can expect too much too soon after promotion?
You look at the top four divisions in this country and there appear to have been far too many changes in management, especially in the Football League. Then you look at Watford who’ve have changed managers several times this season – but have still managed to get promotion. The vast amounts of money in the game have changed things to the point that even the slightest threat of relegation from the Premier League (or even the Championship) is enough to get rid of a manager. Having said that, Leicester City and Burnley have both been patient with their bosses. The apparent reinstatement of Nigel Pearson following his sacking a couple of months ago – at the minute – seems like the right thing to have done.
Would it have been fair to sack a manager so quickly after their success last season?
After the first few games, the reality of the Premier League was there for all to see for Leicester City. They have been competitive in the majority of games – including the one at Chelsea earlier in the season – but they weren’t ruthless enough in both attack and defence. There was criticism for the lack of signings brought in over the summer and their lack of Premier League experience. If the club’s owners had sacked Nigel Pearson during their tough spell before Christmas or after the Hull game then it wouldn’t have surprised me. Little surprises me in football because of its ruthless nature. It’s been quite refreshing to see that he’s been given the chance to pull through the difficulties this season. This is the man that took City out of League One, took them into the Championship Playoffs twice and won the Championship last season so he deserves time. That patience appears to be paying off but the job isn’t quite finished yet.
Leicester signed Mark Schwarzer from Chelsea in the January transfer window. What was your reaction to the signing?
I was a little surprised to see him come in as a I didn’t think Ben Hamer had done a great deal wrong when deputising for Kasper Schmeichel. However, he’s brought plenty of Premier League experience to the club which can only be a good when the majority of their players hadn’t played in the top flight before this season. I would imagine he’s playing a bigger part off the field and in the dressing room then he is on it.
How much a miss had Kasper Schmeichel been? Do you think he suffers from the constant comparisons between him and his dad?
Kasper has shown what a quality goalkeeper he is in the last few weeks. He pulled off two important saves in the win over Swansea and then three more in the victory at Burnley. The defence seem to be more confident with him behind them and that’s been highlighted with back to back clean sheets.
Kasper doesn’t like to talk about his Dad, which is understandable. He’s his own person and goalkeeper in his own right. Peter was one of the best goalkeepers in his time so he’s always going to have a lot to live up to if you do compare the two. I don’t think there’s any need to.
When Leicester travelled to Stamford Bridge, they were unfortunate to leave with nothing after a strong performance. Against the big teams, Leicester have done reasonably well, the stand out result being the 5-3 victory over Manchester United. Why do you think that is?
There’s no real pressure to gain wins against sides like Everton, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. They were teams City played at the start of the season and only lost one of them. The 5-3 win was magnificent but at 3-1 down there was nothing to stop them having a go which is what they did and got their rewards. Recently, they’ve been playing without fear once again and attacked with pace right from the off in games. It’s brought them four wins on the bounce and a real chance of staying up. They may do the same against Chelsea on Wednesday. It’s what Nigel Pearson may call a “bonus game” so anything they do pick up would be a bonus!
Finally, can we get a prediction of how you seeing the game against Chelsea going?
I’m going for a 2-2 draw.
A massive thank you to Jason for talking to us today here on TheStamfordShed, we really appreciate the time you have given us. If you would like to hear more from Jason on Twitter you can find him @JasonBourne1986. Another big thank you to Kane Brooker for the graphic.
