Vieira’s Palace sacking linked to Derry?

Patrick Vieira‘s sacking at Crystal Palace is not the only moving and shuffling behind the scenes at Selhurst Park, hints former Eagles midfielder Darren Ambrose.

The Lowdown: Vieira sacked as Palace manager

The Frenchman arrived as Palace boss back in the summer of 2021, in an appointment that was considered exciting at the time, especially given his pedigree as a player.

As time has gone on, however, Vieira has started to look more out of his depth and under pressure, with the Eagles failing to win any of their last 12 matches and not tasting victory in 2023 to date.

The 1-0 defeat away to rivals Brighton on Wednesday evening proved to be the final straw for the 46-year-old, who was officially relieved of his duties on Friday.

It means the search is now on to find Vieira’s successor as soon as possible, ensuring Palace don’t get themselves dragged into a genuine relegation battle in the Premier League.

The Latest: Ambrose reacts to news

Speaking to Sky Sports News on Friday morning, Ambrose hinted at some behind-the-scenes issues involving Shaun Derry, who departed in January amid rumours of a fall-out with the gaffer:

“The immediate reaction myself was shock, until I dug into it and looked at the real reasons. There are situations within the football club that hasn’t been fully released yet, like Shaun Derry, well not parting ways, but he’s on gardening leave at the moment.

“Who knows, he may return at some stage, but there just seems (to be) some kind of issues that were arising in the football club.”

The Verdict: Correct decision

While Palace fans have shown plenty of support for Vieira in recent months, as well as patience, performances and results have simply not been good enough for some time now.

The football on show has been bordering on unwatchable – the Eagles haven’t scored in their last four matches, dating back to the middle of February – and it is clear that a change was required before the team got themselves into real trouble.

The Derry side of things is intriguing, with the former midfielder joining Vieira’s staff in 2021 but then being placed on gardening leave on deadline day back in January.

Whether or not the situation surrounding him is anything to do with the sacking remains to be seen but reports of rumoured clashes with him did emerge following the move, adding fuel to the fire.

If everyone isn’t pulling in the same direction when it comes to the entire staff, it is so difficult to pick up positive results, and this potential bad blood may have proved fatal for Vieira.