Matty
Well-Known Member
You have to shake your head in bewilderment at some of the opinions being proffered on the NYCFC Forums. They seemingly either view Vieira as a Manchester City "shill" (a term used by several posters), only there to aid Manchester City by developing his skill set before leaving, or they view him as not good enough, and lacking in vital MLS experience!
I can kind of see the "shill" argument, to a small degree. Vieira clearly isn't looking at building a long, successful, career in New York. His eyes will be on bigger and better things in Europe's top leagues. However NYCFC fans are failing to grasp their place in the grand scheme of things when they see this as an issue. I'm not talking about their part in the wider CFG plan, I'm talking about their place, and the MLS's place, in world football. A team like NYCFC is simply never going to get a top level manager to commit to them, certainly not for a long term posting, and highly unlikely even for a brief cameo. They need to either accept a long term manager of a lower level ability wise, or a short term appointment of someone who has the potential to be of a higher calibre. This is a difficult mindset for them to get themselves into as, with all other American based professional sports, the North American leagues are the best there are in the World. Coaches in MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA etc are at the pinnacle of the sport, you won't find better out there. Managers in the MLS quite simple are not.
As for Vieira not being good enough, well, he's inexperienced, that's for certain, but again, who were they expecting to take over from the last guy? Some on their forum are talking abut Fabio Capello like he was a remote possibility. It's that kind of, frankly, idiotic thinking that is leading to some of the anti-Vieira sentiments. They honestly believe someone with Capello's track record was even a possibility. Clearly he wasn't. He was never going to be joining NYCFC. The lack of MLS experience isn't an issue as it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how a professional football team works. They keep talking about salary caps, and judging financial issues, as if these will be Vieira's responsibility. They won't be. He will be charged with the football side of things, they will have people behind the scenes that deal with the finances, that identify players that meet needs in the squad identified by the manager. A lack of experience in how to juggle the specifics of the MLS market won't be an issue as Vieira won't be juggling the MLS market, that will be the job of other people at NYCFC.
I can kind of see the "shill" argument, to a small degree. Vieira clearly isn't looking at building a long, successful, career in New York. His eyes will be on bigger and better things in Europe's top leagues. However NYCFC fans are failing to grasp their place in the grand scheme of things when they see this as an issue. I'm not talking about their part in the wider CFG plan, I'm talking about their place, and the MLS's place, in world football. A team like NYCFC is simply never going to get a top level manager to commit to them, certainly not for a long term posting, and highly unlikely even for a brief cameo. They need to either accept a long term manager of a lower level ability wise, or a short term appointment of someone who has the potential to be of a higher calibre. This is a difficult mindset for them to get themselves into as, with all other American based professional sports, the North American leagues are the best there are in the World. Coaches in MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA etc are at the pinnacle of the sport, you won't find better out there. Managers in the MLS quite simple are not.
As for Vieira not being good enough, well, he's inexperienced, that's for certain, but again, who were they expecting to take over from the last guy? Some on their forum are talking abut Fabio Capello like he was a remote possibility. It's that kind of, frankly, idiotic thinking that is leading to some of the anti-Vieira sentiments. They honestly believe someone with Capello's track record was even a possibility. Clearly he wasn't. He was never going to be joining NYCFC. The lack of MLS experience isn't an issue as it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how a professional football team works. They keep talking about salary caps, and judging financial issues, as if these will be Vieira's responsibility. They won't be. He will be charged with the football side of things, they will have people behind the scenes that deal with the finances, that identify players that meet needs in the squad identified by the manager. A lack of experience in how to juggle the specifics of the MLS market won't be an issue as Vieira won't be juggling the MLS market, that will be the job of other people at NYCFC.