James Pearson (born 19 January 1993) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender.

Early life

Pearson is the son of

Nigel Pearson Nigel Graham Pearson (born 21 August 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, currently the manager of Championship club Bristol City. During his playing career, he was a defender and played for Shrewsbury Town, Shef ...

, a former

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

defender, who has later managed teams such as

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. James still resides in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

where he was born while his father was playing for Sheffield Wednesday. He attended

Westbourne School Westbourne School for Boys and girls is an independent school for boys and girls aged 3–16 years old. It is located in the Broomhill area of south Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England England is a country that is part of the United ...

, and

Hartpury College Hartpury University and Hartpury College, formerly Hartpury College, is a provider of further and higher education which describes itself as specialising in the "agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing" sectors. The university a ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Career

Early career

Pearson's youth career began at

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. He was released from the club in the summer of 2009."Carlisle Utd Facing Four Cup Finals, Says Loan Man Pearson"
'' The Cumberland News & Star'', 14 March 2014

Leicester City

On 19 September 2012, Pearson joined, on a 12-month contract,

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

side

, who were then managed by his father

Nigel Nigel ( ) is an English language, English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walte ...

, the season before they returned to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

after a ten-year absence. On 11 March 2014, James Pearson joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club Carlisle United on loan for the rest of the 2014–15 season, along with Watford's Reece Brown. The next day, he made his professional debut, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 defeat at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. He went on to represent Carlisle in a draw against Stevenage and a loss to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

, before returning to Leicester, where he extended his contract by one more year on 2 June. On 26 August 2014, Pearson made his Leicester City debut, along with Ryan Watson and

Michael Cain Michael Cain (born April 2, 1966) is a pianist and composer. Biography Cain attended several universities starting with the University of North Texas. Although initially a jazz major, he found that classical music was occupying more of his ...

, in the 1–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

second round home defeat to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

, playing the whole match. On 27 October, Pearson joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

side

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on a month-long loan, eventually extended into January 2015. He played five league games for Wrexham, in addition to two

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

games and three rounds of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, ending with a 3–1 defeat at top-flight Stoke City in the third round on 4 January. In March 2015, Pearson joined

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

on loan until the end of the 2014/15 season. He did not make an appearance for the club. On 17 June 2015, Pearson's contract was terminated by Leicester City following a racist orgy during the club's promotional tour in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Barnet

Following his departure from Leicester, Pearson trained with his former club

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, before joining

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 2 February 2016, "on a non-contract basis". In March 2016, he signed a contract to keep him at the club until summer 2017. 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.

Coventry City

Pearson joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

on a non-contract basis on 4 August 2017. He was released on 30 August having made no appearances.

Kidderminster Harriers

In September 2017, he joined

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

on a deal until the end of the season

Macclesfield Town

In July 2018, Pearson joined newly promoted

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

on a one-year deal.

Retirement

In October 2020, Pearson revealed in an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that he had retired from football due to injury.

Controversy

In May 2015, during an

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n promotional tour, Pearson and teammates

Tom Hopper Thomas Edward Hopper (born 28 January 1985) is a British actor. He has appeared as Percival in ''Merlin'', Billy Bones in '' Black Sails'', Dickon Tarly in ''Game of Thrones'', and Luther Hargreeves in ''The Umbrella Academy''. Early life T ...

and

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

, according to media reports, "took part in a

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

sex tape Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is made porn that seeks to e ...

filmed on the club's end-of-season tour of Thailand", a copy of which was obtained and published by the ''

Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...

''. According to the media reports, "One of the men in the video ... can be heard using a racist insult against a woman." The three players apologised for their behaviour. All three were sacked on 17 June. In relation to the tape, Nigel Pearson too was sacked as Leicester manager by the club's Thai owners, on 30 June 2015.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, James 1993 births English footballers Footballers from Sheffield Association football defenders Living people English Football League players National League (English football) players Leicester City F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Sex scandals