OB1
Well-Known Member
Damocles said:cibaman said:NoahCity said:Sorry if I missed something, but are people discussing the dismissal of Manuel because of a draw at Everton?
Nope, its more a debate about succession planning and how City handle his eventual departure. Which is a reasonable subject for discussion given his age.
On the subject of Vieira, I dont see how fans can really make more than a superficial judgement on him (or any other assistant coach), or compare him to Guardiola at the same stage. We know he conducts himself extremely well and that the juniors are well coached. But we've no real understanding of his role. For all we know he might simply be implementing Begristain's blueprint, and doing so very welll but without bringing any great tactical insight or ideas of his own. Or he might be knocking on Begiristain's door every morning with radical, innovative ideas. From the outside we're just guessing.
When Ferguson was at United it seemed that all of his assistants were described as tactical geniuses who would go on to become great managers. But once they were out on their own the reality turned out differently.
True but it's like Dave says, they might well have been excellent football brains but it takes much more to be a great manager. In fact the football brain is probably the least important bit as you can surround yourself with talent like Ferguson did for many years.
My idea of Vieira getting that top job is that we seem to have some sort of plan for him to get there based on his path at City. In his first few years he was nowhere near the training pitch and instead was our Football Development Executive, essentially a wide focused role that was supposed to teach him the ins and outs of what a modern football organisation looks like and how it operates. After he had learnt the business side then he was put into the football side, trusted with the future of the club and being the primary focus in their development. For where we are and how we look at those kids, being in charge of our highest youth team takes a lot of trust from the board.
It isn't so much about him being a player but rather we have attached the "blue chip" badge to him as a person who we have developed as an organisation like we develop players on the pitch. It all fits under the holistic banner and it would sort of ruin the plan if he were to bugger off to Arsenal or Accrington or something.
Maybe a year in Melbourne, New York or Yokohama could be his next step if its too early now but as I said in the original post, you get the feeling from some of his more recent comments that he wants to move up a bit
You'd expect Vieira to be hungry and ambitious but if City have him earmarked for the top (coaching) job one day, he would be wise to be a bit patient.