Leicester City have appointed former Southampton boss Nigel Pearson as their new manager.
Pearson, who succeeds Ian Holloway, becomes the sixth boss during chairman Milan Mandaric's 16-month reign.
Pearson guided Saints to Championship safety last season, a feat which relegated Leicester to the third tier of English football for the first time.
But the cash-strapped south coast side did not renew the 44-year-old's contract for financial reasons.
Pearson said: "I am privileged to have been given the chance to turn around the fortunes of a club with so much history and such a strong fan base and I am confident my style of management can help bring the good times back to Leicester City.
"He has a mix of experience, integrity and enthusiasm""I have an enormous amount of respect for Milan Mandaric and chief executive Lee Hoos, who I worked very closely with at Southampton.
"And I can promise everyone connected with this club I will be giving the job my 100% commitment."
The ex-Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday captain, 44, is a former assistant manager of Newcastle United.
Pearson was brought to St James's Park in 2006 by then-manager Glenn Roeder, and remained there throughout Sam Allardyce's brief reign.
His previous roles include two years as assistant manager to Bryan Robson at West Bromwich Albion, a brief spell in charge at Carlisle United, where he was in charge the day of the infamous Jimmy Glass goal that kept the Cumbrians in the league and taking the helm for England Under-21s for their 3-3 draw with Italy last year.
Pearson will meet the squad for the first time when the players report back for pre-season training on 1 July.
Mandaric said he hoped Pearson's appointment will signal "the beginning of a new era for the club".
"Nigel is the right man to take this club forward," Mandaric added. "He has a great mix of experience, integrity and enthusiasm.
"I interviewed a number of good candidates but Nigel's drive, passion and overall knowledge of the game was impossible to ignore.
"We have now got a lot of hard work ahead but I am confident that, come the start of the campaign, we will have a squad in place that can make a serious assault on this division."
606: DEBATEPearson follows Rob Kelly, Nigel Worthington, Martin Allen, Gary Megson and Holloway into Mandaric's managerial hot seat at the Walkers Stadium.
Northern Ireland boss Worthington had again been linked to the post, along with the likes of John Gregory, Simon Grayson and Paul Lambert. And Mandaric had been keen to speak to MK Dons manager Paul Ince but the former England midfielder is now being heavily linked with Blackburn.
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