Patrick Vieira says that he recognises the desire for Crystal Palace to win silverware but warned the Eagles still have a long way to go before they can start thinking of lifting trophies. The Frenchman saw his Eagles side progress into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup on the weekend after overcoming south London rivals Millwall at The Den. They now face a kind home tie against League Two’s Hartlepool United.
Patrick Vieira said: “I fully understand, talking with the Palace fans and talking about the people who are around the players or working in the football club. There is this kind of expectation of these football clubs to win silverware. It’s about what can we do to give ourselves the chance to win something. [But] where we are now and winning the FA Cup or challenging teams in the top ten, we still have a long way to go.”
Vieira only arrived in south London last summer, replacing Roy Hodgson at the helm as Palace went through a squad overhaul, releasing eight first-team players at the end of their contracts and spending just over £60million on new, young talent.
Patrick Vieira added: “We came here and we adapt ourselves to the football club. We don’t want to change the heart of this football club because this club exists before and it will exist after us, so we adapted ourselves to the football club. It does take time. This is a new direction that the football club wanted to go. This is the direction that the chairman wanted to take this football club; I arrived at the right time to make those changes. It was a new chapter of this football club: people, players, were out of contract, so that was the right time to make those changes.”
