Patrick Vieira
Former Gunners captain Vieira, currently in charge of Man City’s MLS offshoot, ought to be pretty familiar with the weight of expectation at Arsenal. The 40-year-old spent nine seasons at the heart of Wenger’s midfield between 1996 and 2005 (not so coincidentally, the most successful period in the club’s history).
There would be scepticism, some of it understandable. Affinity with the Emirates crowd is nice and all, but what about genuine coaching credentials?
After a slow start, things finally started to go Vieira’s way during the latter half of his first season in the Big Apple. Major League Soccer is one of the most egalitarian (and therefore competitive) divisions in the world, so steamrolling your way to the title is never going to happen – even if your roster does feature the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard and David Villa.
Inheriting a squad which looked less like a functional team and more like a smorgasbord of expensive marketing tools and unproven youngsters, the Frenchman got his side into the end-of-season play-offs, however. They may have suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of Toronto, but few expected New York City to make this kind of progress so rapidly.
After hanging up his playing boots, Vieira spent five years behind the scenes at Manchester City – first working as Football Development Executive before taking up the post of youth team coach. In other words, he’s taking the long road to top-level management – and that’s a promising sign.