Robert Pires says Patrick Vieira is 100 per cent ready to succeed Arsene Wenger and he hopes the club give his compatriot a call this summer.
The Gunners have begun their search for a new manager and their former captain is thought to be high on the list of potential candidates.
In recent days, Vieira, who is currently the head coach at MLS franchise New York City FC, has played down speculation linking him with a return to the Gunners although he did admit he’s proud to see his name connected with such a high profile position.
Asked by beIN SPORTS whether he former teammate has what it takes to manage Arsenal, Pires mused: “Right now? To be manager of Arsenal, if we talk about Patrick Vieira? Of course, he’s my friend. I talk a lot with him. I can reply, yes, of course.
“I think Patrick Vieira is ready because he’s doing very well with New York City for the last three seasons.
“He has a lot of quality, a lot of capacity to be a manager for Arsenal. I don’t know what’s happening during the summer, but I think Arsenal and Vieira, yeah, it should be good…very good.
"I think Patrick Vieira is ready."@piresrobert7 says his former @Arsenal teammate could replace Wenger as manager. #PL #AFC pic.twitter.com/i0WB6tjbDg
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) April 27, 2018
“I can imagine him in the dressing room to give some advice to the players. Now he’s a manager, not a player, that’s why he’s doing very well with New York City. I say again, I think Vieira is ready for Arsenal, I’m 100 per cent sure.”
Asked what Vieira would say if the Gunners board made an official approach, Pires went on: “I hope he will say yes, I’m ready. And I’ll come to take your seat on the bench. Is it possible? It’s my dream, yes. Patrick, come home. See you soon!”
Would like Vieira to have experience in a major league and if successful then it would be great to have Patrick as our manager.
What success had Wenger had in a major league before joining us?
Mitel, Wenger won the league twice with Monaco in France. He also lifted the cup with them. I would say that is success in a major league. I don’t think we should be going after Viera, it would be a heart over head move. He is not proven.
And lost the league at least once through Marseille’s owner fixing matches.
EXACTLY Wenger was not a total unproven when he joined us. He’d won two league titles and a French cup in the era of Bernard Tapie’s Marseille. Plus I think he led Monaco to a European Cup semi-final. Name me ONE thing these “up-and-comers” like Vieira, Henry, Arteta, or Howe have done to compare to that. Hell, name me something Thomas Tuchel has done to compare to any of that. The only “up-and-comer” who should even remotely have consideration is Leonardo Jardim (French League 2016-17). And even he should not be a top choice given all the established, proven winning… Read more »
Sorry for guessing your mind but you will be elated if Benitez, Moyes, Hogson or Harry Rednapp is appointed.
The best manager in the world had only managed barca b before raking over the main team and slaughtering the entire world. This demand for a “proven, winning manager” is closeminded.
First off, Pep Guardiola is NOT the best manager in the world. He’s the most overrated manager in the world. Diego Simeone or Joachim Low have already achieved harder and more noteworthy tasks than anything Pep has done. And Pep had talent of the level of Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, and Carles Puyol to build with. A team that had won the damn CL two years before he was hired (AGAINST US!!!). We don’t have that type of squad to gift our new manager. Our squad doesn’t have the CL winning experience needed to… Read more »
Most intelligent and in line with reality comment that I’ve read so far. Kudos Pachvasilion. ?
To say Pep is the best manager in the world is off the mark. To be honest I think what Jurgen Klopp is doing with the scouser squad at his disposal is alot more impressive as hard as it is to say.
I rekon if you threw 200 million pounds at our defense in January we certainly wouldn’t be looking like we are away from home.
He led them to a Uefa cup final where the players were shocked and distraught because the marsiellle match fixing findings had just been released, totally messed with the teams mentality before the game and they were easily beaten, Arsene gained a lot of experience from his time with Monaco. But hey times are changing, if Vieira surrounds himself with enough experience he’ll be fine, been my preferred choice for quite some time.
Not only is he not proven in a major league, I actually don’t think he’s been very good in New York. He’s had a massive budget (compared to the rest of MLS) that pretty much guaranteed they’d do half decent. If you don’t believe me, look no further than the playoffs 2 years ago against Toronto FC. TFC played them off the park.
Loved him as a player, but he’s nowhere close to ready. He wouldn’t even be my top choice for MLS managers to take over.
He had plenty of retired players like Pirlo in his squad to be honest. A squad built for marketing not winning. Only this year he has gotten some young players
This is true, but it’s also up to a manager to make the best use of the pieces you have. A wizened Pirlo can still be of excellent tactical use in the swiss cheese we call soccer on this side of the pond. Just needed someone to be unleashed at the end, and while Villa and Lampard were not those players, McNamara and a good number of U.S. Men’s Team all-star midfielders, forwards, and some raw physicality from other recruits elsewhere. MLS is a great league, don’t get me wrong–it’s passionate, it’s growing, and the competition is emotional since anything… Read more »
I still don’t understand why you all keepsaying Vieira has no experience in a major league. Has he not been managing a Major League Soccer team for 3 years?
Okay, I’m sorry.
Yup agreed. It’d be too moysey or nevilly to risk something like that. I say go for the safe choice with a proven manager in europe, and have one of our guys be assistant.
Zidane is getting close to winning three CL in a row. Zidane had much less leadership and communication skills than Vieira. Now, Vieira chose City as an organization over Arsenal, to be frank. He hasn’t remained a fan, not enough for what he had been playing for the club. I prefer those who are critical but remain fans.
Sorry for guessing your mind but Adams doesn’t have what it takes, Thierry doesn’t yet, and we don’t have anything to tell us if he ever will or not.
Would be even better if he had his breakthrough with us for me. I know it can go horribly wrong but I’m all for a Vieira, Arteta like solution. No one guarantees you anything so why now give it a try. He knows the club, he knows a lot about tactics and he‘s certainly a character.
If those in charge think either is good enough I would be very much in favour.
Zidane was a gamble, too, and he’s close to winning 3 Champions Leagues in a row.
Big difference is Real Madrid weren’t losing a manager they’d had 20+ years, they were there or there abouts in the league each season, and they weren’t in need of a fairly big squad overhaul.
Real Madrid also has the 1st or 2nd largest turnover in world football (depending on the year). If he hadn’t worked out, they could afford to put it right.
No one guarantees you anything, but that is no reason or justification for not hiring people more qualified and likely to get what you need or where you want to go than others.
I’m all AGAINST a Vieira, Arteta, Henry solution.
I want a Joachim Low, Massimo Allegrim, or Diego Simeone solution.
Zidane and guardiola’s success demonstrate that your assertion viera or arteta would be less “likely to get what you need” is unsupported by evidence.
That said, i’d take nagel, tedesco, allegri or (my favorite left field choice) seedorf.
Zidane and Guardiola literally walked into the best or second-best club in the world at the time of their first appointments. Squads that were ready-built, and had won CL trophies the year before or two years before. We are nowhere close to that standard. And unlike Barca and Madrid, we do not currently have the reputation or market attractiveness to get the very best players the world has to offer in our dressing room to bring us to that standard. We need to GET to that standard. We need to REBUILD towards it. That’s not a job for a rookie.… Read more »
I see Arteta more as part of Everton family.
He literally works in a ‘ major league ‘
eh eh ?
I’ll see myself out.
This. He needs experience in a league bigger than the mickey-mouse MLS. Where he hasn’t even won a single thing.
He needs experience in Europe. He needs to win things. He needs experience winning things in Europe.
Then, and only then, should he even be a consideration for manager of a club of the stature and supposed ambitions of Arsenal F.C.
If we are going to pick a former player he is the obvious choice
Zidane at Madrid
I wonder if Bobby thinks Pat is ready…
Talk about former players taking charge is highly risky. Ofcourse it could work, but if we want success we need someone proven.
I’m still holding out for Big Sam!
He’s doing a Hodor at Everton.
I’m not even sure what that means, doing a Hodor. But being a GOT fan that got a lol. And imagining fat sam ….
Killer comment! Take a bow!!
My guess is he’s holding the door up there. Maybe as a bouncer, and I really could see him in that role, or he’s actually holding the door delaying the whitewalkers from getting in while, err, Walcott or someone does a runner. Only with less elegance and eloquence than Hodor.
No! No! No!… Come to Europe, take charge of a lesser team. The job of our next manager is not for untried and untested people. What is his philosophy and playing style? If we are going for untested hands then let’s get Arteta.
I’d rather Henry, if we absolutely HAVE to have an inexperienced, untested former player take the reins. At least Henry knows what it’s like to play on a side that was truly legendary and won multiple major trophies, and knows what it takes to get there. All Arteta knows is what it’s like to play on sides reaching for glories long past that would never come again, aside from that last FA cup (and he didn’t even play in the final).
Give me the proven winner over the never-was.
Paddy won 3 league titles and 4 FA Cups (including 2 doubles) with Arsenal under Wenger, and was captain for at least 2 seasons (I think). Every season Paddy was at Arsenal except his first season, during which Wenger arrived, we finished either top or 2nd in the league. Thierry won 2 titles, 3 FA Cups (1 double), and was captain only in his last, somewhat ineffective season, when Arsenal finished 4th. They were both Invincibles.
I’d say Paddy’s the more experienced on that front.
I wasn’t comparing Henry to Vieira. I was comparing Henry to Arteta.
Both Henry and Vieira won things and were Invincibles. Arteta is nothing more than a never-was who was here as Arsenal were falling from grace and morphing into the shadow of what they once were.
I’d take Vieira over Henry too, if I HAVE to choose one of the “former players club”. Because at least Vieira has been a head boss of a senior side before.
Ah, ok. Sorry I misunderstood.
Actually, I think Arteta will, with experience, make an excellent manager in the future, possibly the best of the three. I also agree with other comments that he may well see his ties more closely with Everton than with Arsenal, but we don’t know.
Mikel Arteta has already stated that he’s not ready yet. I agree that he’ll make the best manager of those three, and I’d love to see him back one day. Maybe he could use Everton as a midway step, like he did as a player.
Sorry Bobby. Now’s not the time for experiments.
I’d be reluctant to see this happen but then that preview of Pires’s bearded face changes everything
no, he is not
Bring back David Hillier!
No. Just no. Not enough experience as a manager. Not enough success as a manager. Not enough of a name as a manager. We need to stop fooling around with these “link to the glory years” shots in the dark that aren’t ready like Viera and Henry. Stop considering past players like Arteta (who doesn’t even have the benefit of being part of the glory years to recommend him). Don’t waste time with overrated gits like Brendan Rogers or Rafa Benitez. No gambles like Howe or Jardim. We need proven quality. We need STAR POWER. Get Joachim Low. Or get… Read more »
With Wenger gone, our ties to the past are completely dead. So, hopefully, we can move on and start a new era of success with a well established manager.
To be fair, Diego Simeone started off coaching Catania and Racing Club, so sometimes ex-players do bring a LOT to the table.
We’ll see..
It’s not about not getting ex-players at all. It’s about not hiring someone JUST BECAUSE they were an ex-player, with nothing else experience wise or reputation wise (managerially) to recommend them. That would be what hiring, say, Arteta would be. Or hiring a guy with no record of being a top manager for club or country anywhere just because he played during our club’s most recent stretch of “glory years”. That would be what hiring, say, Vieira or Henry would be. Hire a manager who’s won things in a major European league or on the world stage recently enough to… Read more »
Doesn’t the way a coach plays make any difference to you? Simeone is one step away from Mourinho on the cynical/negative/ultimately boring scale of managers; they are Sam Allardyce with better players. I want someone who loves football, not just the result, because I am a supporter, not an investor. Managers as different as Wenger and Ferguson, Guardiola and Klopp, love the game. Let’s get someone like that.
Wenger was an experiment that raised a lot of eyebrows at the time, but he brought new ideas (and ideals) which changed the game. Who’s to say Viera wouldn’t do the same?
I don’t know about anyone else, but personally I’m bracing myself for a season or two of mediocrity/experimentation, regardless of who we sign and what experience they hold.
I really do hope some responsibility is given to David Dein on this. After all he recommended Arsene against the odds
David Dein lost a power struggle and was forced out years ago. It is hard to believe the current hierarchy would give him any role at all.
Sad truth I guess
Sad to say you are right. The sacking of David Dein was arguably the biggest mistake the board made. He had a brilliant working relationship with Arsene Wenger and was able to take the pressure of him in negotiating for new players. The decline started when he left.
David Dein wanted us to rent Wembley and never build a new stadium. Nobody knows the ins and outs of the politics at Arsenal, but Dein wasn’t the saviour he’s made out to be.
No thanks.
Sounds good on paper.
Not on the pitch.
It can’t get any worse, let’s just bloody do it, before he ends up somewhere else.
PLEASE let him end up somewhere else.
He needs to actually win something.
And get experience managing in a European league that sends more than one team to the Champions league every year.
Until he does that, let some other smaller-time club take a gamble on him and wait on him until he comes good as a manager (if he ever truly does to the point that he deserves a chance at a top world side).
I wonder how long it will be before the football media throw Unai Emery’s name
into the hat as Arsene’s possible successor, now that he has confirmed he’ll be leaving PSG at the end of this season.
Not the worst option
Pires, you were a great player but more of sycophant than a coach under Wenger.I hope you don’t get any position under Patrick Vieira if he gets the job.
I think of Pires more as that super-loyal best friend who bigs you up even when you don’t deserve it.
He’s the one who’ll walk up to a table of girls at a bar and get them all to come join your table because you liked one of them. Everyone needs a friend like Bobby.
Someone must be placing big bets on Luis Enrique (or many people place small bets on him) because some bookies now have Enrique at 6/4. Experiencewise, these odds are good predictions, because they tend to reflect all common knowledge, including such that is not publicly known.
-Common knowledge, not publicly known?….Really?
i think he means common knowledge not officially announced to the public
Is it not time for TGSTEL to return as TGMTEL?
Tell Paddy to get a job over here or at least in Europe and if he carries on doing well the job’s his when Brendan gets sacked
if were going for a gamble id get dyche in, he might not handle a big club well but whos to say any of the risky candidates will, even allegri might falter like conte has.
at least dyche knows how to organise a defence, laca ozil and auba can have free roles up front and theyd still manage a few chances a game.
Conte managed Chelsea to a league title before his “falter” at a club that is internally broken.
Leaving that aside, I’d go for Dyche over Vieira/Henry/Arteta. But I’d go for Ancellotti over all. All this focus on defensive, crude managers is missing the point. We don’t need a wanker like Simeone or Enrique to get Arsenal to stop conceding goals at the expense of the club’s soul. We just need someone who can get Arsenal to _win_. Ancellotti would fit the bill.
Actually, we DO need a “wanker” like Simeone to get Arsenal to stop conceding goals “at the expense of the club’s soul (lol, that is such a nonsense statement. Have you forgotten about the “1-0 to the Arsenal” days when Tony Adams was our captain?). Conceding goals the way we’ve become accustomed to doing is a chief reason why results have been so inconsistent for the last 10 years (and inconsistent is putting it as kindly as possible). If we can hire someone like Simeone get us tightened up at the back again, we will be so much better off… Read more »
If we’re going for a gamble, the longest-serving manager in the PL after Wenger is Eddie Howe. I’d prefer him to Dyche, I think. He’ll make some mistakes, but he’ll learn fast.
I don’t think Paddy has enough experience but to be fair, both Pep and ZZ only coached the Barca & Madrid B teams competing in La Segundo before they took the manager’s role with the main teams. Maybe Paddy’s time in MLS is his apprenticeship. Why Not? The more I think about It, maybe it could work?.
Bring back George Graham ?
God that man is handsome!