Sport
Patrick Vieira appointment is a huge gamble for Crystal Palace
Now that the Crystal Palace managerial search is over, the club should be moving forward with clarity and with Patrick Vieira finally appointed just as pre-season starts, this could (and probably should) be an exciting new era. It will at least be one that looks to expand on the safety-first ethos Roy Hodgson had installed at Selhurst Park.
On paper, it’s a progressive step forward for the club. So, why doesn’t it feel like it?
To give Palace’s decision-makers their due, their protracted search for a new boss hasn’t quite been as shambolic as the ones at Everton or Tottenham. Nuno Espirito Santos’ backroom staff demands are thought to have cost him the move, while Steve Parish and company cannot legislate for Lucien Favre simply changing his mind at the eleventh hour.
Still, with so many Crystal Palace players out of contract and even amid reports of an £80m war chest for the Arsenal legend, Patrick Vieira hasn’t exactly been given the best environment in which to work.
In fact, it’d be fair to say that the Frenchman is unlikely to know what he’s really got to work with given the sheer number of expiring deals, as well as the natural delay an international tournament causes. For Palace, they also can’t be sure what they’re getting.
Vieira’s managerial stock has dropped, there’s no doubt about that. Of course, that’s not to say he can’t get back on track but this was a man earmarked as a potential Manchester City manager a few years ago, only to be sacked by Nice after a poor run of form despite investment.
Clearly a big name in English football, it’s perhaps a little safer than the move for Frank de Boer in 2017 but the shifting sands around Vieira don’t exactly the soundest platform to build upon. And build they should.
As daunting a prospect as taking over a side heading for a revolution rather than an evolution is, it also provides the chance to build something new. Install a new philosophy, make new mantras, dance to new songs.
Vieira did none of that at Nice, costing him his job. There was no discernable style of play, no philosophy, no sense that he had a plan and would stick to it, ultimately costing him his job despite some good work initially.
That kind of muddled thinking just won’t work for Patrick Vieira at Crystal Palace in their current state. Although the situation may not be as doom and gloom as some may suggest even in light of the number of contracts to sort out, the fact remains that everyone needs to be singing from the same hymn sheet from the minute Vieira starts work.
If they aren’t, then the sheer scale of change may prove too difficult to deal with and the safety blanket Hodgson offered may not be as dull a prospect as it once was.
This is a risk and Palace have taken risks before, only to quickly search for safety a number of months afterward. Of course, Vieria is hugely experienced at the top level and has obviously impressed enough behind the scenes in order to be given the job, so there is naturally a chance the move could work out.
The issue is, however, that if Patrick Vieira is going to succeed at Crystal Palave, he is going to need to change the kind of management style that saw him sacked in his last job, all while Palace as a club are changing into something different. Exactly what that is isn’t yet abundantly clear. None of it is.
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