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Nigel Pearson denied he is a bully after his latest outburst saw the Leicester boss heavily criticised. The Foxes chief apologised to journalist Ian Baker for calling him an "ostrich" and "stupid" after Leicester's 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday. Pearson was irritated after being asked to clarify what criticism of his players had particularly upset him this season. It was branded "#OstrichGate" on social media with the hashtag trending on Wednesday night. But Pearson said sorry on Thursday and when asked whether he was bothered by the bad publicity and perhaps being called a bully he replied: "That is a word that is very easy to use but there you are. I am not. "Fundamentally I am what I am. Again, the model which is sometimes thrown at me as being dour and arrogant, people can have their views on that but the people who work very closely with me know me a damn sight better because I allow them to get to know me." Pearson had already been involved in one spat with a journalist in March and told a fan to "f--- off and die" during a December defeat to Liverpool. He also grappled with Crystal Palace's James McArthur in February, grabbing the midfielder by the throat, but both he and McArthur played the touchline incident down. Pearson admitted he is likely to remain combative if confronted but conceded he knows when he is wrong. He said: "Possibly. It depends on my emotional state but it would be wrong to change and wrong to recognise that we don't make mistakes -- we are human beings." Pearson refused to bite during questions in the broadcast section of the briefing on Thursday despite being pressed on his attitude and how he has handled himself, but he denied he disliked news conferences, despite his recent flashpoints. He added: "That's not entirely true actually. It is about privacy, it is about trust, I allow people who I trust to get to know me but outside of that I don't." Leicester remain one point above the Premier League relegation zone ahead of Saturday's visit of Newcastle and Pearson said the pressure of management is enhanced in the top flight. "Yes I suppose in some ways -- there are ramifications, implications that come with not retaining our status that are clearly quite big on a financial level so we fight hard to stay up," he said. The boss will be without David Nugent (calf) on Saturday and is waiting to discover the extent of injuries to Robert Huth (calf) and Andy King (hamstring) after they limped off on Wednesday. Pearson added: "Where we could have been better is to pick up results against teams around us. "There are no easy games, the top three stand apart and all the promoted sides have had similar problems making the adjustment to the Premier League. You come up against teams and they have Premier League know-how."
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