Stuart Pearce is used to surviving after days in the Scottish wilderness... now 'Psycho' is gearing up for the challenge of guiding Nottingham Forest to promotion

• Stuart Pearce has enjoyed travelling during his sabbatical from football
• The new Nottingham Forest boss initially turned down the job before taking over in July
• Former left-back not scared of failing as Forest bid for promotion to the Premier League

By Laura Williamson for the Daily Mail

Published: 05:06 EST, 5 August 2014 | Updated: 08:08 EST, 5 August 2014

Imagine turning up for a five-day survival course in the Scottish Highlands and finding a man known as ‘Psycho’ staring back at you.

Stuart Pearce can see the funny side of his outward bound experience, just one part of a diverse football sabbatical that has taken him from Cape Verde to the Canadian Rockies and now back to the City Ground.

‘We just pitched up for five days in the wilds of Scotland with two ex-Marines,’ he says. ‘It was  brilliant, absolutely brilliant. We learnt survival skills, shelter-building, skinning hares.

Sabbatical: Stuart Pearce enjoyed his break from football before taking charge of Nottingham Forest

‘To be fair the other people came from such diverse parts of the world that only two knew (of me). There was a fella from Dublin, one from Southampton, myself, an ex-Marine from Alaska, a policewoman from Melbourne and a Chinese fella from the tourism industry. Within a day we were in a shelter we had built ourselves in a wood glade with a camp fire chopping up bits of rabbit to cook for dinner that night. It was great fun.’ 

But any suggestion Pearce’s time in the wild taught him anything about himself is firmly, if politely, dismissed. ‘You’re permanently hungry on a survival course and you prioritise keeping warm and eating. That’s it,’ he shrugs.

There has been no great spiritual awakening since Pearce’s six years as England Under-21 boss ended last summer, only an opportunity to indulge his love of travelling, theatre and live gigs, to come back refreshed and re-energised.

Hotseat: Pearce took the Forest job, then turned it down before agreeing to take charge on July 1

His return to Nottingham Forest, the club he served for 12 years as a left back and then player-manager, was handled in the same unsentimental manner. Pearce took the job in April, then turned it down before agreeing to start on July 1 after fulfilling pre-existing ‘media and personal commitments’.

He admits he is not sure he would have reacted in the same way as Forest chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi had their roles been reversed.

‘I woke up the following morning after agreeing to go there and something just didn’t sit right,’ says Pearce. ‘I never go back on my word and it was a really tough phone call to make. Credit to the owner. I probably wouldn’t have had the mentality he did. He gave me the opportunity to come back in the summer. It’s a great club and it’s close to my heart.

Special club: Pearce spent 12 seasons at the City Ground as a player before joining for Newcastle United in 1997

‘There’s a great deal of expectation but I’m not scared of failing. It doesn’t matter to me. My ego is such that I do the best job I can, and I can be judged accordingly.’

Pearce’s first task was to tell his players and staff to forget the ‘sleeping giant’ tag that haunts the double European champions. It clearly irritates him that some fans still believe Forest have a God-given right to win promotion to the Premier League, just as his playing career is no guarantee of success this time around. 

He knows all too well that both parties have moved on from when he named his first XI as Forest caretaker boss in December 1996 and his wife famously had to point out he had forgotten a goalkeeper.

No pressure: Pearce insists he isn't scared of failing as the club search for promotion to the Premier League

‘I hate the ‘‘sleeping giant’’ tag,’ he snaps. ‘I went and addressed all the players and staff in May and told them to forget that. Why do Forest have any more right to promotion than another club?

‘The part of my life as a player at this club was fantastic, but when the first ball’s kicked on the first day of the season, that finishes. I’m not naive. But I hope that when we do part company, the club are back in the Premier League.’ 

The wearied look that marked the end of Pearce’s England tenure has gone, replaced by optimism. Yet he laughs at the suggestion he might have pined for the intensity of club management after leaving Manchester City in 2007.

All smiles: Pearce shares a joke with Forest assistant Steve Wigley during this summer's pre-season

Pearce admits, however, that Forest was one of the few roles that would have enticed him back to domestic football.

‘I didn’t miss it,’ he says. ‘I loved international football. You end up winning the majority of your games, you sit top of a league for four months while you enjoy Christmas instead of fire-fighting week-in, week-out and you’re working with the best players in England. 

‘I’ve been managing and coaching for 12 years. It meant a lot to represent the FA and I thought: “How am I going to replicate that feeling I had representing England?” 

‘Forest was one of the clubs I felt would stoke me up again. I’d rather go to work having that feeling about myself than do it just to get paid.’

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