Crystal Palace and Patrick Vieira parted ways back in 2023. Now, the former Arsenal legend is managing Genoa in Serie A.
During Steve Parish’s 15 years as Crystal Palace owner, a number and variety of managers have held the Selhurst Park hotseat.
There have been successes and failures but right now, Oliver Glasner is proving to be a success story with Crystal Palace sitting in 6th place of the Premier League table.
In fact, Glasner is being linked with the Man United job given his success in South London. But his predecessors didn’t enjoy the same success.
Patrick Vieira managed Palace between 2021 and 2023. He oversaw 74 games and left with a win rate of just 29%, leaving the club in 12th place of the Premier League table in the March but only three points above the drop zone.
Steve Parish’s Patrick Vieira decision was the right one
Vieira spent a relatively underwhelming year at Strasbourg after leaving Crystal Palace. But he took charge of Genoa in November 2024. In 34 games since he’s won just 10, with this season in particular having gotten off to a slow start.
Genoa are down in 18th place of the Serie A table with no wins from their opening six games, and just two points on the board.
Speaking in October 2023, Parish was talking about the decision to sack Vieira. He said that he thinks Palace would’ve beaten the drop that season if Vieira had stayed, but Parish knew that Vieira wasn’t right for Palace in the long run, and Genoa’s poor form under Vieira, compared to Glasner’s impressive form at Palace, proves Parish was right all along about Vieira.
Parish told BBC Sport: “Patrick did very well. He got us to a cup semi-final, keeping us in the league and playing good football is an achievement, we are not one of the biggest spending clubs.
“He helped us recruit very well and created a good environment at the club. At some point you just think things are losing their way. For the record, I think we’d have been alright under Patrick, but I can’t take that risk. I need to be sure for the future of the football club.”
Patrick Vieira didn’t like one thing about Steve Parish at Crystal Palace
For Palace, all is well and good now. For Vieira, it’s difficult. And speaking last year, he made it clear that he wasn’t keen on how Crystal Palace went about some of their recruitment.
Vieira gave his verdict on Parish and Crystal Palace, saying: “One of the challenges at Crystal Palace is that they would try at times to dictate the players that come in and going.
“I think as a manager, I should have responsibility on that because, at the end of the day, I’m the one who is out on the field and has to face the press.”
We perhaps saw that with the Marc Guehi saga on deadline day. But it appears Glasner had more say in that than Parish did, so whether Parish has changed with Glasner compared to Vieira remains to be seen.
Either way, Parish was right to axe Vieira, and definitely right to appoint Glasner.
