Midfield Legend Vieira takes New York Coaching Job and Begins NEW Chapter

I rank Patrick Vieira as the most complete central midfielder that I have ever seen play. From passing, shooting, creating, tackling, stamina, strength, technique and leadership; he really doesn't get his just dues. He is everything that a manager would want from a central midfielder. One of Wenger's many mistakes of his Arsenal tenure was not doing enough to keep Vieira, who would have been such a great help for the kids he had coming into the team.

After doing work at City working as a coach for the youth team, there was talk of him possibly taking the Newcastle job, which was taken by McClaren who is doing a splendid job. We should be expecting announcement of his dismissal anytime soon. But despite missing out on that job, you always felt that with all the years at City, a job would come round that he would take. I didn't see the MLS being one of them, but I do think that it's a nice project for him to cut his management teeth into.






He'll have veterans like Villa, Lampard and Pirlo and with his incredible wealth of knowledge he has of playing the game and coaching experience at City, I'm looking forward to seeing what he will bring the New York club. I can't just say it will be an easy job, because anyone who hasn't coached a fully professional senior team is going to struggle, in whatever league they are in. But this is a smart move on his part, because he will have greater knowledge of how tactics works by having been in a league that is of a much higher standard than MLS. So hopefully he can bring that to the other players who have never played in any of the European leagues.


There's also the issue of the lack of black managers. With Chris Ramsey and Powell both getting sacked (on the same day), the outlook does not look good for a sport that seems to restrict diversity in management. It's nice though to see Vieira being given a chance to coach, and hopefully can be a stepping stone for other black managers to appear in the sport. We surely can't have Hasselbaink do all the work all on his own out there, as it can get very lonely. So here's hoping that Vieira can make a name for himself in New York and can possibly be the successor of a certain French fellow for that North London club who wear red and white.


HH