Revealed: Nigel Pearson won't join Fulham 'without his Leicester entourage'

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Published on:

23 Nov 2015, 10:35 am

By Editor Wayne Veysey| Former Evening Standard, Press Association and Goal chief correspondent with 17 years experience of breaking big stories, including exclusives like this

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Fulham are set to abandon attempts to appoint Nigel Pearson their new manager as his assistants are unwilling to quit Leicester for a pay cut,

Football Insider

sources understand. Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare, Pearson's long-time assistants, have made it clear they will not leave the Premier League leaders unless the Londoners can match their current contracts.

Pearson has held talks with the Championship club but a deal now appears dead in the water

. "Nigel Pearson isn't going to Fulham without his entourage and his entourage won't go without equal terms," a senior Fulham source told

Football Insider

. Walsh and Shakespeare have remained on the backroom staff at Walkers Stadium following Claudio Ranieri's summer appointment and are unwilling to drop to the Championship unless the Londoners can match their lucrative Leicester deals. A well-placed Leicester source has told

Football Insider

that the pair's contracts include a 100 per cent bonus - effectively doubling their salary - if the club retain their Premier League status. With Ranieri's team flying at the top of the table after collecting 28 points from their opening 13 matches, Walsh and Shakespeare, who worked with Pearson at Hull and in both of his Leicester spells, know they are in line to double their money at the end of the season.

U-turn: Steve Clarke has decided to remain at Reading

Fulham have now moved on to other targets as they try to find a replacement for Kit Symons, who was sacked 15 days ago. Owner Shahid Khan wants to appoint a head coach-type figure who can work with transfer chief Mike Rigg rather than a traditional manager in the mould of Harry Redknapp or former Charlton and West Ham boss Alan Curbishley, who is advising caretaker Peter Grant. As revealed by

Football Insider

Reading manager Steve Clarke had agreed the terms of a contract with the Londoners but the deal collapsed

after he tried to renegotiate lucrative top-up bonuses.

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