Patrick Vieira has done the “hard miles as a manager” so he deserves to be given the Bournemouth manager’s job, according to ex-teammate Martin Keown.
The Cherries are on the lookout for a new manager after Jason Tindall was sacked after only six months in charge. He took over from long-serving boss Eddie Howe this summer.
Vieira is among those to be linked with the vacancy along with John Terry and David Wagner.
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Unlike Terry, Vieira already has past managerial experience. He was in charge of New York City and French side Nice for a total of 179 games between 2016 and 2020.
Speaking with talkSPORT, Keown suggested that this experience will stand his former Arsenal teammate in good stead if he is given the Bournemouth job:
“I think he’s done the hard miles as a manager.
“In 2013 he was given the job to run the Man City reserve team and did that to really good effect, he then went to New York City, managed there for three seasons, he’s just done three seasons at Nice.
“I think he’s somebody who has got great leadership qualities, he knows exactly what he wants, he loves the game and wants to be a manager and he has that education, that grounding.
“He was very clever at the beginning, he pretended he couldn’t speak English when of course he could speak it and understand it perfectly well.
“I remember him flying across the dressing room and grabbing someone – I won’t say who it was – by the throat as they were talking about him in English. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy and he sorted that problem out, as he did with many problems.
“In the latter years, I found him to be a great person to be with. We sat next to each other in the dressing room and I helped him in whatever way he wanted.
“He is a special individual and he and his wife are a great couple. All he wants to do is manage and be in the game and I really sincerely hope he gets another opportunity, because he deserves it.
“His ability on the pitch was unquestioned, he’s one of the all-time greats, for me, and maybe he doesn’t quite get the credit he deserves.
“Management is another thing for him, but I think he has the calmness and the intelligence to be successful as a manager.”
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