Jordan Ayew’s Crytal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has spoken about he became a football managaer after retiring from the game as a professional player.
“It wasn’t something that I was planning, to be honest,” he tells Sky Sports. “When I was playing, I used to say coaching wasn’t for me, that I wanted to do something else. It was not in my head.”
Instead, it was something others saw in him.
“When I retired from playing at Man City, Brian Marwood, who was sporting director, and Garry Cook, the chief executive, wanted me to stay at the club to use my experience,” he says.
The problem was that Vieira wasn’t sure how.
“In the end, they said, ‘Let’s take two years as an ambassador. You will spend a little bit of time everywhere in the football club and see what you are most comfortable with and what you want to do’.
“When I thought about it, I realised it was a fantastic opportunity.”
Vieira shadowed Marwood. “I followed him around,” he says with a smile. He worked closely with Cook too. “I went with him to meet players, to discuss things with agents.” There was a placement with the club’s financial department. Another in City’s foundation.
But it was during a spell in the club’s academy that something clicked.
“I realised that what I liked most was being with the players,” he says. “The way they looked at me, the way we talked to each other, the advice I was able to give them. Those were things that I loved.”
Vieira resolved to take his coaching badges – “that was the next step,” he says – and opportunity knocked when, just as his ambassadorial role was coming to an end in 2013, manager Roberto Mancini and his coaching staff were sacked, opening up a vacancy with the club’s U23s.
“Attilio Lombardo was the manager of the reserve team under Mancini but they decided to make a change and asked me if I wanted to take over,” says Vieira. “They explained I would have people around me to support me and I decided to go for it.”
‘New York City experience shaped me’
Vieira enjoyed his time with City’s U23s – the make-up of his Crystal Palace side now shows his commitment to youth endures – but it soon became clear he was ready to step up to a senior role.
