We scored 2 goals from open play in last 16 games under Vieira. He wanted to go for the Leeds job in the February. The players were unfit and unhappy under him. He would’ve been in charge at Arsenal but he went missing on the Thursday after Brighton game (as he had done the previous game v Villa) and wouldn’t answer any of Parish’s calls so they had no choice but to sack him.

There couldn't be a greater contrast between the two seasons, yet ironically our league position remained the same. I didn't hear anybody complaining after the first season, actually there was a collective sigh of relief upon the departure of Hodgson and hope for the future. I'm guessing there must have been a major fallout early in the second season. PV acted in a manner to get himself sacked, that's for certain.
Jump to the present and after a fairly bright start we've slumped to 13th place, and with the tough run of games coming up in December I think Roy is in for a torrid time. I wonder who is on Parish's shortlist?

Edited by southnorwoodhill (13 Nov 2023 5.27am)

Surely by now it is evident that there isn't a coach/manager out there who can significantly improve Palace beyond being a solid, unfancy mid-table side that trades in prosaic, practical football with occasional excitement and skill in something like a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio.

We have had all sorts of managers now, used over a hundred top-flight players, and nobody has achieved more than mid-table, or played noticeably better football than any other (at least not for very long).

The most significant characteristic of any prospective new coach/manager is not to make daft mistakes, not fall out with anyone, not believe it to be Barcelona, and instead make the best of what the club, who spends every penny it can and some more that it can't, can provide - i.e a lower mid-table budget.

What Parish has correctly understood is that keeping Palace in the top flight, as safe from the risk of relegation as possible, is a minor miracle, best served by the avoidance of foolishness rather than the chasing of a dream.

That is not to say he lacks ambition in his managerial appointments, but given the farce of De Boer, the messy fallout with Vieria, the 'toys out the pram' financial demands of Pulis and Allardyce, and the merry dance we were led by the likes of Nuno Espirito Santo and Favre I expect the essential criteria next summer to be more practical than magical.

If Roy remains fit and well, I'd understand the instinct to get one more year from him. Replacing him will not be easy.

There's one constant in all this, one common denominator if you like. Step forward Steve Parish. After 11 seasons doesn't have the wherewithal to progress the club, but finds it difficult to walk away, knowing that he tried to do his best.
As for Roy, I really don't know why he took on another term, there's nothing for him to prove, he's been all over and had some decent achievements in his career. Perhaps he's addicted and can't stay away.
Parish may have a few names pencilled in his notebook, but who in their right mind would come and work for him? It only takes one look to see this is a club in limbo treading below mid-table water, with little chance of progression and no finance to fund that progression. Perhaps our best players will be sold for a tidy sum, but then we will have a really poor side. Every season there's a couple of weeks flirtation with the relegation zone, at some point we'll drop into it and that will be it. This season is as good as any, we don't score many and we are fragile at the back, so come January we may well be there or thereabouts.
A tricky time for Roy Hodgson and Steve Parish, who may well have to open the purse strings.

I would agree with most of what you say in terms of the limits of the club and the nature of the challenge for any new manager. It is a premier league club, so it would attract lots of candidates; My point (and perhaps yours in a different way) is that the successful candidate must understand those limitations from the outset, or there will be tears before bedtime, again.

I would put Parish' tenure in a very different light to you, though. His is the most successful, most stable, most productive tenure of any Palace chairman in history, perhaps by quite some distance. Whether another person might have achieved the same or slightly more is not really the point - everyone else to have tried has achieved less, often far less, and sometimes disastrously less.

To say that Parish cannot walk away, you would have to know that someone better able to progress the club has offered to buy it. That would be news to me.

What we do know is that Parish has diluted his share in exchange for investment to try and speed up the academy and main stand. Those projects are key - Bill Gates could buy Palace tomorrow and our transfer budget would not increase. In that sense, a new owner would still be working to the same restrictions when appointing a new manager.

We are what we are.

Parish may have a few names pencilled in his notebook, but who in their right mind would come and work for him? I