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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has sounded out Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick as a potential replacement for Patrick Vieira, according to The Guardian.
The Lowdown: Vieira sacked
Vieira took his Palace side to rivals Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday evening but couldn’t manage a first win of 2023 in what has proved to be his final game in charge.
The Eagles lost 1-0 for the third Premier League game in succession, with Solly March’s goal proving to be the difference between the two sides. Palace did end their run of three games without a shot on target in the early stages, though, which resulted in chants from the away support.
Palace are now averaging a point a game with 11 games to go and are just three points clear of the bottom three despite sitting in 12th place, with a trip to league leaders Arsenal next on the agenda.
Selhurst Park chiefs decided to sack Vieira on Friday morning and are now looking at replacements for the Frenchman, with the club chairman seemingly eyeing one fairly inexperienced manager in Carrick.
The Latest: Carrick rumours
The Guardian shared a story on Thursday lunchtime regarding Vieira’s future. They said that ‘Parish has been deeply unimpressed by performances in recent weeks and has begun sounding out potential replacements’.
One of those named as a potential target was Carrick, alongside Burnley manager Vincent Kompany.
The Verdict: A gamble?
Kompany has Burnley going great guns in the Championship and looks set to take the Clarets back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Meanwhile, Carrick has also impressed at the Riverside in his first managerial position, winning 71% of his 21 Championship games since taking over from Chris Wilder at an average of 2.14 points per game.
He has Middlesbrough pushing for the second automatic promotion spot in the second tier, however, a move for Carrick could be viewed as a gamble so late in the season. The 41-year-old is still new in the managerial scene and has no experience in taking a side battling to avoid relegation.
Changing manager this late in the season when battling relegation also ‘hardly ever leads to a better final league position’ as well, so it is a huge risk for Parish to make a change, but it could be one he felt he had to do with Palace in free fall, so it’ll be interesting to see who comes in as his replacement.
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