‘Plenty of signs’ – Crystal Palace chief explains Patrick Vieira sacking

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has explained the decision to sack Patrick Vieira and replace him with Roy Hodgson.

The Frenchman was relieved of his duties at Selhurst Park in March after the 1-0 defeat at arch-rivals Brighton.

Palace were the only side in the Premier League without a win in 2023 and sat three points above the relegation zone.

The Eagles replaced Vieira with former boss Roy Hodgson, who has won five of his eight games in charge and secured the club’s 11th consecutive season in the Premier League.

Palace played Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United and Brighton twice in a run of games before Vieira was sacked.

When asked if he thought about giving the former Arsenal captain the run of games Hodgson has had since coming in – mainly against sides also in the bottom half of the table – Parish told The Overlap: “This is when it comes to watching every minute.

“It’s not just about what the results are, it’s about how you’re playing.

“In that run of games, we lost to Southampton in the cup. We lost to Villa and drew with Brentford in the last minute – there were plenty of signs about the way we were playing.

“We didn’t have a shot on target in three games, and we were the only team in Europe in 2023 who hadn’t won.

“Who knows? In hindsight, we might have been okay. But it’s not just a question of not getting relegated, you don’t want to be down there with a couple of games to go, because luck just starts playing a massive part.

“You want to be where we are [now], which is out of it.

“The relegation fight is fascinating when you’re not in it. We had some decent results [under Vieira] against some better teams – we got some draws.

“But there was just something that wasn’t quite right. We had a great season under Patrick in his first season – we got to a cup semi-final and played some unbelievable football.

“Patrick will be a fantastic manager. He will learn from this experience. 

“Let’s face it, nearly two years in a Premier League job, getting to a cup semi-final and keeping Crystal Palace in the Premier League and being here when we did some fantastic recruitment, that’s a pretty good, solid, CV for a Premier League manager.”

PARISH PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD