James Pearson (footballer, born 1993)

James Pearson (born 19 January 1993) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender.

James Pearson
Personal information
Full name James Pearson[1]
Date of birth (1993-01-19) 19 January 1993
Place of birth Sheffield, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.86 m)[2]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
000?–2009 Rotherham United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2015 Leicester City 0 (0)
2014 → Carlisle United (loan) 3 (0)
2014 → Wrexham (loan) 5 (0)
2015 → Peterborough United (loan) 0 (0)
2016–2017 Barnet 15 (0)
2017 Coventry City 0 (0)
2017–2018 Kidderminster Harriers 23 (1)
2018–2020 Macclesfield Town 23 (1)
Total 69 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

Pearson is the son of Nigel Pearson, a former Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough defender, who has later managed teams such as Hull City and Leicester City. James still resides in Sheffield where he was born while his father was playing for Sheffield Wednesday. He attended Westbourne School in Sheffield, and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.[3]

Career

Early career

Pearson's youth career began at Rotherham United. He was released from the club in the summer of 2009.[3]

Leicester City

On 19 September 2012, Pearson joined, on a 12-month contract, Football League Championship side Leicester City, who were then managed by his father Nigel,[4] the season before they returned to the Premier League after a ten-year absence.

On 11 March 2014, James Pearson joined League One club Carlisle United on loan for the rest of the 2014–15 season, along with Watford's Reece Brown.[5] The next day, he made his professional debut, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–1 defeat at Sheffield United.[6] He went on to represent Carlisle in a draw against Stevenage and a loss to Notts County,[7] before returning to Leicester, where he extended his contract by one more year on 2 June.[8]

On 26 August 2014, Pearson made his Leicester City debut, along with Ryan Watson and Michael Cain, in the 0–1 League Cup second round home defeat to League Two Shrewsbury Town, playing the whole match.[9]

On 27 October, Pearson joined Conference Premier side Wrexham on a month-long loan,[10] eventually extended into January 2015.[11] He played five league games for Wrexham, in addition to two FA Trophy games and three rounds of the FA Cup, ending with a 1–3 defeat at top-flight Stoke City in the third round on 4 January.[12]

In March 2015, Pearson joined Peterborough United on loan until the end of the 2014/15 season.[13] He did not make an appearance for the club, featuring twice on the bench.

On 17 June 2015, Pearson's contract was terminated by Leicester City following a racist orgy during the club's promotional tour in Thailand.[14]

Barnet

Following his departure from Leicester, Pearson trained with his former club Rotherham,[15] before joining Barnet on 2 February 2016,[16] "on a non-contract basis".[17] In March 2016, he signed a contract to keep him at the club until summer 2017.[18] Pearson suffered a knee injury in 2016–17 pre-season which kept him out for the entirety of the campaign. He was released at the end of the season.[19]

Coventry City

Pearson joined Coventry City on a non-contract basis on 4 August 2017.[20] He was released on 30 August having made no appearances.[21]

Kidderminster Harriers

In September 2017, he joined Kidderminster Harriers on a deal until the end of the season[22]

Macclesfield Town

In July 2018, Pearson joined newly promoted Macclesfield Town on a one-year deal.

Retirement

In October 2020, it was revealed in an interview with The Guardian that Pearson has retired from football through injury.[23]

Personal life

In May 2015, during an Asian promotional tour, Pearson and teammates Tom Hopper and Adam Smith, according to the media reports, "took part in a racist sex tape filmed on the club's end-of-season tour of Thailand",[14] a copy of which was obtained and published by the Sunday Mirror.[24] According to the media reports, "One of the men in the video ... can be heard using a racist insult against a woman."[24] The three players apologised for their behaviour.[24] All three were sacked on 17 June.[14] In relation to the tape, Nigel Pearson too was sacked as Leicester manager by the club's Thai owners, on 30 June 2015.[25]

Career statistics
As of end of 2018–19 season
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Leicester City 2013–14[26] Championship 000000—00
2014–15[27] Premier League 000010—10
Leicester total 0000100010
Carlisle United (loan) 2013–14[26] League One 3000000030
Wrexham (loan) 2014–15[2] Conference Premier 5030—2[lower-alpha 1]0100
Barnet 2015–16[28] League Two 150000000150
2016–17[29] 0000000000
Barnet total 150000000150
Coventry City 2017–18[30] League Two 0000001[lower-alpha 2]010
Kidderminster Harriers 2017–18[2] National League North 23120—3[lower-alpha 1]0281
Macclesfield Town 2018–19[31] League Two 23100203[lower-alpha 2]0281
2019–20[32] 0000000[lower-alpha 2]000
Career total 692503090862
  1. Appearances in the FA Trophy
  2. Appearance in the EFL Trophy

References
  1. "Professional Retain List & Free Transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. 3 June 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  2. James Pearson at Soccerway. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  3. "Carlisle Utd Facing Four Cup Finals, Says Loan Man Pearson", The Cumberland News & Star, 14 March 2014
  4. "Nigel Pearson signs son James for Leicester City". BBC Sport. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  5. "Carlisle sign Leicester's James Pearson & Watford's Reece Brown". BBC Sport. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  6. "Sheff Utd 1-0 Carlisle". BBC Sport. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  7. "James Pearson". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  8. "Deals for Development Squad Duo". Leicester City FC. 2 June 2014.
  9. "Leicester 0-1 Shrewsbury". BBC Sport. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  10. "Leicester City defender James Pearson joins Wrexham on loan". BBC Sport. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  11. "Wrexham extend Leicester defender James Pearson's loan". BBC Sport. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  12. Reddy, Luke (4 January 2015). "Stoke-Wrexham 3-1". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  13. Peterborough Loan For James Pearson
  14. "Leicester City: Three players sacked following racist sex tape". BBC Sport. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  15. "James Pearson training with Rotherham United months after sacking over 'racist orgy' in Thailand" Archived 18 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine by David W. Owen, Leicester Mercury
  16. "James Pearson: Barnet sign former Leicester defender", BBC Sport, 2 February 2016
  17. "James Pearson signs for Barnet!", Barnet F.C. website, 2 February 2016
  18. James Pearson: Former Leicester City defender signs new Barnet contract
  19. Trio to leave Barnet after not being offered new contracts
  20. SIGNING: James Pearson agrees non-contract terms with the Sky Blues
  21. NEWS: James Pearson leaves the Sky Blues
  22. "Pearson Added To Kidderminster Squad". Non League Pitchero. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  23. Fisher, Ben (7 October 2020). "'Players were in tears': what it was really like as Macclesfield collapsed". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  24. "Leicester City trio apologise for behaviour on Thailand tour". BBC News. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  25. "Nigel Pearson: Leicester boss's sacking linked to son's actions". BBC Sport. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  26. "Games played by James Pearson in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  27. "Games played by James Pearson in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  28. "Games played by James Pearson in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  29. "Games played by James Pearson in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  30. "Games played by James Pearson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  31. "Games played by James Pearson in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  32. "Games played by James Pearson in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
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