Believe it or not, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce does not always like being referred to as ”Psycho”. He can remember one occasion when he was dining with his wife Liz and another customer began bellowing it across the restaurant. ”We were trying to have our second course and someone launched into ‘Psycho, Psycho’ in my ear,” he recalled. ”I think they wanted me to join in or give them the old clenched-fist salute. It was eyes down, I can tell you.”
Former team-mates can recall a young boy approaching him outside Nottingham Forest’s ground and asking: ”Can I have your autograph, Psycho?” Pearce fixed those shark eyes on him. ”My name’s Stuart.”
Yet there are other times when Pearce loves that famous moniker, times when it gives him the biggest adrenalin rush. Like when Manchester City’s supporters rose to their feet to acclaim him towards the end of last season when he was caretaker manager, and the chant of ”Psycho” swept the ground.
This was more than a token show of appreciation … far more. Deep down, Pearce must have known at that moment that he was two-thirds of the way towards graduating from caretaker to manager to replace Kevin Keegan.
”The fans have been brilliant to me and it was nice hearing it echo round the ground. The Psycho tag stuck with me during my playing career and now it looks like it’s coming with me into management. It can be a bit of an embarrassment in a nice restaurant when it’s a case of, ‘oh my God’, and I try not to live up to it in my personal life. Put it this way: my wife doesn’t need to worry about taking a shower. But it’s only a bit of fun.”
Psycho wasn’t always Pearce’s nickname: team-mates used to call him ”the German” in honour of his missed penalty in the 1990 World Cup. ”I prefer Psycho,” he says. And that will be a chant that is increasingly heard at the City of Manchester Stadium. — Â