Crystal Palace have fired Patrick Viera, he is the ninth manager to be fired this season. Seven of the bottom ten teams have now replaced their manager this season.
A message on the team website reads:
Crystal Palace Football Club can confirm that Patrick Vieira has left his post as First Team Manager.
Three members of Patrick’s coaching staff - Osian Roberts, Kristian Wilson and Saïd Aïgoun - have also left the club.
Chairman Steve Parish said: “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.
“We also wish Patrick, Osian, Kristian and Saïd the very best for their futures.”
The process to appoint a new manager is underway, and we will provide an update in due course. Dean Kiely will remain as goalkeeping coach.
Palace are winless in 2023. They lost in the third round of the FA cup to Southampton in January and in 11 EPL matches have lost 6 and drawn 5. The team sit 12th in the league having played 27 games. However, with 27 points, they are only 5 points above bottom of the league Southampton.
The teams next match is against Arsenal and it would be fair to expect the league leaders will avenge their mid-week European defeat.
However, in April, Palace have 6 games with teams below them and in their final 11 games of the season play all 8 teams they sit above. If the new manager can help the team rediscover scoring, they have a good chance of a comfortable end to the season. That may be easier said than done. They have scored only 21 league goals in the 27 games played, they have failed to score in 14 EPL games.
Current speculation for a replacement revolves around 75-year old previous manager Roy Hodgson. He knows the club and many of the squad, having been the manager as recently as 22 months ago.
This would be an interim replacement, likely to the end of the season only. It would be hoped he could guid the team to the mid-table safety he achieved in each of his 4 seasons with them.
This would give the club longer to decided on a more permanent solution.
With the bottom of the table so tight the teams to have not changed manager so far must be considering their options.
Rumours are swirling around Brendan Rodgers having lost the trust of his squad and I would not be surprised to see him go should they lose to a confident Brentford team in their next game.
With a comfortable mid-week European win behind them West Ham's David Moyes will be hoping to take full advantage of a week without a game in preparation for Southampton at the start of April. Even if the Hammers continue to struggle in the EPL, the club may be unwilling to replace a manager guiding them towards European success.
Nottingham Forest seem content to stick with Steve Cooper and trust in the teams ability to survive.
The only other manager who would appear to be in imminent danger is Spurs Antonio Conte. For a team in Champions League contention that may seem strange to say, however there is a suggestion that he is disaffected with the club and there are already reports he will leave with the end of his contract at season's end. Should the club feel a need to pep things up for the run to secure a CL spot, he could very well be invited to leave early.
