‘I could not be sure of it’ – Steve Parish explains Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace sacking
Steve Parish has explained he was not convinced whether Patrick Vieira would have been able to get Crystal Palace out of the ‘rut’ they are on.
Parish sacked Vieira on Friday morning, with the 1-0 defeat at arch-rivals Brighton the French World Cup winner’s final game in charge of the South Londoners.
Palace are the only side in the Premier League without a win in 2023 and are three points above the relegation zone.
Speaking with SkySports, Parish said: “Obviously, it’s a shame because I have an enormous amount of time and respect for Patrick and for what he did for us.
“He got us to an [FA Cup] semi-final – it was a fantastic season last season.
“But it’s a results-based business. It’s very tight at the bottom, and I have to think about what gives us the best chance of retaining our status.
“We have to accept we’re in a dogfight at the bottom with some very good teams.
“When you look at Leicester, West Ham, Wolves, Southampton and us, and you think that three of those names are going to get relegated – they’re big names in the Premier League.
“When you don’t think that you’re going to get out of that rut, unfortunately, you have to change something.
“Maybe we would have, but I couldn’t be sure of it.”
Parish has placed U21 manager Paddy McCarthy in charge for the trip to league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
“Everybody loved Patrick,” added Parish.
“You saw from the performances – he never lost the players at all. Things just weren’t happening.
“We’re hoping there is a bit of fresh impetus and a few different ideas. Maybe we surprise the opposition a little bit by doing something different.
“I’m sure he will go on and be as successful as he was last year with us somewhere else, and he will maybe learn from the bits where it lost its way a little bit.
“We’re just going to get past Sunday.
“Paddy and Darren are in charge. We’re not interviewing managers while we have got a manager – it’s disrespectful.
“We will look at how we go on Sunday. Obviously, we’re starting to do that now. We have got our own lists and all those kinds of things.”
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