Nigel Pearson criticises Boris Johnson’s ‘lack of leadership’ over coronavirus

The prime minister has urged people to self-isolate if they have symptoms of COVID-19

Nigel Pearson has branded Boris Johnson’s lack of leadership as “underwhelming” over coronavirus.

The prime minister urged those with symptoms for COVID-19 to self-isolate for seven days at least.

The Watford manager insists he has been left unimpressed by the Prime Minister’s guidance.

“I don’t think we had any great leadership last night, listening to the prime minister. I was totally underwhelmed by the lack of leadership and clear message.

“I heard one of the statements from the prime minister last night talking about listening, and that the decisions would be based on science and that there’s no necessarily a greater risk with people being together at sporting venues. If that’s based on science, fine, but that doesn’t necessarily make sense to me.

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“I wouldn’t want our fans to be going into a situation where they are fearful of contracting something that could possibly affect either themselves or a member of their family.

“We have to be mindful that this problem, this worldwide problem is not going to go away,” Pearson added. “It’s going to run its course.

“It’s not something we can stop and, we, in the football industry, have a responsibility to ourselves and each other that the wellbeing of everybody concerned is taken care.

“I think what’s important first and foremost is to deal with the wellbeing of people involved in the industry.

Pearson is underwhelmed by Johnson (Getty)

“We have to be decisive with how the problem, the situation, is dealt with.”

Pearson also revealed some of his players have shown symptoms of coronavirus and they are awaiting test results.

He said: “We’ve had players, as most clubs will have done, who have had symptoms of not being well. We’ve had players experiencing illness this week, who have stayed at home.

“We had somebody with a chest infection, somebody with an upset stomach and players who have shown flu-like symptoms. We’ve got one player awaiting tests results on his symptoms.”