Crystal Palace has sacked Patrick Vieira as their manager as their winless 2023 continued and will now look for a new man to save their season.
Former Arsenal midfielder, Vieira, was at the helm for 18 months and helped them sign some very fine talents as their head coach.
They started the season finely and did very well in the last campaign, but 2023 has been a disastrous year for the Eagles who are now just three points off the relegation place.
They have won none of their last 12 matches, a run that meant they were sleep-walking into relegation trouble and the club had to act to save the team.
They have now sacked the former Nice manager and placed on record that they appreciate the work he did at the club. A club statement from Steve Parish on its website reads:
‘It is with enormous regret that this difficult decision has been made.
‘Ultimately, results in recent months have placed us in a precarious league position and we felt a change is necessary to give us the best chance of retaining Premier League status.
‘That said, Patrick’s impact since joining us in the summer of 2021 has been significant, and he is held in the highest regard by myself, and all of his colleagues.
‘He led the team to a Wembley FA Cup semi-final and respectable 12th placed finish last season playing some exciting football, which was a challenging and crucial campaign for the club given the changes we made to the squad prior to his arrival.
‘Patrick has given his all to the club, and we all thank him and his team for their service.’
Vieira seemed the right man for the job after nearly guiding them to a European place last season, but Palace has been terrible in 2023 and someone had to pay for the poor form.
They defend well, but despite having some of the finest attackers in the league on their books, they have been toothless when they go forward.
The club’s leaders will now hope they can get a new manager who will help the team hit top form and move up on the league table.
