Ending his career at Manchester City, Patrick Vieira didn’t branch out too much.
While he might be on the other side of the pond, the former Arsenal defensive midfielder stayed within the City family, and is now manager of New York City FC in, well, New York.
Starting his first-team managerial career in the MLS, the 40-year-old saw his team lose the first leg of their conference semi-final 2-0 to Toronto FC on Sunday, with the return leg in New York scheduled for next Sunday.
Coming second in their conference, the Manchester City affiliated side saw a lot of improvement under Vieira, who was managed by some of the current greats during his career.
Speaking to France Football on Tuesday, Vieira was asked why players who played under Arsène Wenger and became coaches (Thierry Henry, Mikel Arteta, Marc Overmars…) never spoke about the Frenchman as an inspiration compared to the likes of Gary Neville or Steve Bruce citing Sir Alex Ferguson as theirs.
He said, laughing: “I’m not saying Arsène didn’t give me the want to manage. He might have done so without me realising, but he never guided me, never showed me the way. I don’t know if he did with the ones you mentioned or if Ferguson did it with the Nevilles, Hughes, Bruce…
“Maybe Arsène wanted his former players to do it on their own. I find that a bit of a shame because all those who left Arsenal and who are managers always got on well with him. It’s a bit sad to not see old players in Arsenal’s staff, and I’m not talking about the first team.
“There’s only Freddie Ljungberg. Those you mentioned all have something in common. They love the club. After that, it’s not because we played at Arsenal that we deserve to be manager. All is earned, but the desire is there.”
Ljungberg, who played for Arsenal between 1998 and 2007, is currently the U16s manager at his former club.
Maybe he was his favourite?
