If it is Vieira, and it's a big if at this point, why say it's a "huge recruitment mistake"? Any manager we hire could turn out to be that, regardless of his experience. The most popular manager hires of recent years with supporters were probably Taylor and Pardew. Both came with some pedigree. Both were disastrous managers at Palace. So calling a potential new manager a "huge recruitment mistake" before he's even arrived is at best hugely negative (I guess you're a Palace fan because the word "supporter" certainly doesn't fit you) and at worst plain stupid.

On the evidence, Vieira would be a reasonable hire. He's become a manager the "right" way, starting with two years at arguably the best academy in the country (I prefer that route to the "retire and jump straight into the Premiership" approach, personally), then gone on to three years in the states (roughly equivalent to learning the job at a Championship level) where his teams improved every season, ending up second overall in his final year. He went to Nice where his team finished one place better than they had the previous season when they were managed by guess who? Lucien Favre. Sure, he was fired the next year after a losing streak but show me a manager who hasn't been fired once or twice in his career? There aren't many. Vieira may not have pulled up any trees early in his managerial career but he's certainly shown a solid pedigree. Enough to warrant a chance.

Other pluses? He knows English football and the Premier League. You have to think, particularly via Man City and maybe Arsenal too that he has excellent contacts in the game. My guess is that most of our players grew up watching him and most likely respect him. He's won just about everything there is to win in the game. And he's ambitious. I doubt Vieira's vision is to "just stay up" although ambitions may sometimes come at a price. Lastly, what are our other options at this point? Not many who want to come to Palace and are credible candidates unless you want Steve Cooper.

Is Vieira my ideal hire? Probably not. But particularly given the situation in which we find ourselves, is he a bad hire? Definitely not. He's a career winner with decent managerial pedigree who's probably ready for his first really high profile job. He'll command the respect of the dressing room on day one.

If Vieira comes and you think he represents a "huge recruitment mistake" I really do wonder what you're looking for (realistically) in a Palace manager, cos we ain't getting Klopp or Guardiola or, for that matter, Nuno or Lampard.

Edited by sydtheeagle (29 Jun 2021 2.05pm)

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

I hope big Sam keeps his phone on during October.

One more point

Interesting point(s). I don't think Keane, Vieira, and Neville are entirely comparable as managers, particularly the latter. While Keane and Vieira both aspired to managerial careers and followed a deliberate path in that direction, Neville was a wild-card; a businessman and TV pundit who got offered a manager's job in La Liga by a mate even though he was completely unqualified, and he had the arrogance to take it. He learned the hard way that management is more than just knowing potential tactics in his short, disastrous, reign so comparing him to Keane and Vieira is insulting to them. They're both managers; Neville was a dilettante.

Between Keane and Vieira there are some similarities. Neither demanded a big job to start their careers. Both have been willing to prove themselves at less glamorous destinations. Keane has had some success as a boss, albeit limited. His downfall appears to have been his personality; he couldn't get out of his own way. The problem wasn't his coaching or tactics. As a result of his personality, he's unlikely to manage the game.

Vieira has not had similar problems so far as I know. He's simply never had a high profile job so we don't know that much about him as a manager (I assume most of us don't follow MSL or French football overly closely). But there's nothing in his record to suggest he's unfit to be given a chance to manage a club like Palace.

To say Vieira is now a pundit because "his management career hasn't worked out" is both harsh and wrong. His management career has barely started and it's been at least reasonably successful so far. He's not had Roy Keane's difficulties, and nothing at all like Gary Neville's.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Haha. Sneak one in when hes upset and confused and try to get a signature. Could work.

Trump lost. Badly. Hahahahahahaha.

Indeed

As I said I really hope it was my first point that we get, I was in no way trying to give the impression that I know the in's and out's of Vieira's life as a manager because up until about half an hour ago I hadn't given him a thought apart from telling my Mrs he was a great player and him and Keane used to have a great rivalry. Your points about Neville and Keane are spot on It was just funny to have all 3 of them on the telly last night and I had the chat with a friend and my Mrs and then the next day its announced that Vieira could be our manager.

All I want and all any of us want is a bit of forward movement for the club and some exciting football. Thats it. We should be more established after the time we have had now in the premier league. I get fed up with us always being one of the favourites to go down or classed as a Yo Yo club. We have been up now for nearly a decade and it would be nice to be thought of as proper premier league club for once. But I guess for that we need to start acting like a proper club too and maybe not leave it until the last minute to sort our manager out and sort out the out of contract players etc.