Fabrizio Romano has insisted that Crystal Palace will be hoping to identify the type of manager they would like before the weekend is out.
The Lowdown: Palace scrambling around for a Vieira replacement
Steve Parish and the Palace board made the decision to relieve Patrick Vieira of his duties this week following the Eagles’ latest defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Brighton, leaving them just three points above the bottom three.
Palace still found themselves sitting very pretty in 12th heading into this weekend, which is impressive given the run of fixtures they’ve had to contend with over the last few weeks, having not played anyone below them in the table this calendar year.
Therefore, it looks to have been a thankless task for Vieira to pick up many points given this run, during which star man Wilfried Zaha has been absent for a string of games which certainly impacted the Eagles’ ability to score goals.
The Latest: Parish looking for a swift appointment
Speaking on the House of Champions YouTube channel this Friday, Romano admitted that Palace were keen to make some sort of managerial decision in the next 24-48 hours.
He said: “For Palace, it’s now time to decide. This afternoon [Friday] they will meet, I’m told, internally to discuss about potential options, to meet with managers and decide as soon as possible who is the right man to become the new coach.
“So there will be a meeting [this] afternoon, it is going to be important to understand how Palace will proceed – if they want an experienced manager or if they want to keep going with that [Vieira] kind of manager; a young manager with fresh ideas. So they will decide, probably, in the next 24-48 hours.”
The Verdict: Crystal Palace could take a big step backwards
Reports began to emerge last night that Palace would be keen to speak to and appoint former manager and current retiree Roy Hodgson as their new coach until the end of the season, which would go completely against everything Palace have tried to build throughout the last 18 months.
Under Vieira, there was a clear attempt to clear out the deadwood and bring down the average age of the squad, with players such as Wayne Hennessey, Andros Townsend, Gary Cahill and Scott Dann having all departed in recent times.
While at least some of these exits may have occurred regardless of Hodgson departing, appointing the 75-year-old as a firefighter-type manager would just show Parish has panicked and sacked Vieira without having a clear plan in mind as to who he wants to appoint and eventually get Palace out of this shocking run of form.
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