If ever there was a manager deserving of another crack at the Premier League.īrighton have been on an upwards march ever since. Very shortly after, I heard Hughton speak with great dignity at a League Managers Association dinner. It’s difficult for me to get it and to understand it, and I think that just shows there is still a long way to go,” he said in February, on being the only black Premier League manager.Īs an opposition fan I was bewildered when at the end of the 2018-19 season Brighton and Hove Albion sacked Chris Hughton, another rare black manager at the highest level. It will be little comfort that in a perverse way it proves that he has broken through a racial barrier that undoubtedly exists and which Vieira himself has spoken so eloquently about.

That he has been treated like any other manager on a losing streak says as much. None of which of course is sufficient in the football results business. Little wonder that on appointment in summer 2021, although reportedly not the board’s first choice, Vieira seemed emblematic of the club. Not because of Vieira, but because that is CPFC and has been for some years. There have been times this season when nine of the Palace first XI on the pitch have been black. Vieira spoke often of it reminding him of the Paris suburb he grew up in.

Crystal Palace is located in an ethnically diverse, relatively deprived corner of London. With his sacking, the Premier League once again has no black managers. Vieira’s image of course includes his ethnicity. Even the kick aimed at the pitch-invading Evertonian who goaded him last season somehow burnished his image as a leader who has what it takes. What you see on camera is exactly what you get behind the scenes. Vieira, though, is a standout for his decency, humility and dignity.

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