42-year-old Crystal Palace wanted before Vieira could now secure 2nd place, bottom when hired

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Back in May, Crystal Palace were managerless after the departure of Roy Hodgson, and a number of candidates were under consideration.

Valerien Ismael, Nuno Espirito Santo, Lucien Favre, Patrick Vieira, Steve Cooper and Sean Dyche were in the running, and according to 90min, Steve Parish wanted to hire the latter.

However, the Crystal Palace co-owner found himself embroiled in a civil war, as his partners Josh Harris and David Blitzer wanted Cooper.

The Welshman’s agent was even spotted at Selhurst Park as speculation intensified.

Eventually, it was Vieira who succeeded Hodgson, and Cooper eventually joined Nottingham Forest, where he is now thriving.

What’s the story?

Well, if 90min‘s news was true, Harris and Blitzer clearly have an eye for a coach, as the 42-year-old is working wonders at the City Ground.

Cooper took over from Chris Hughton in September, when Forest were rooted to the bottom of the Championship and seemingly in real trouble.

Now, the former Swansea boss has guided his side to third place in the Championship, and amazingly, he could even secure automatic promotion.

Following yesterday’s 1-0 win over Fulham, Forest are just three points behind Bournemouth, with the pair set to play each other on Tuesday.

Effectively, that game now looks like a straight play-off for second place in the Championship, and we fancy Cooper to emerge victorious over Scott Parker.

The Cherries have one win from their last five games, whereas Forest have won four of their last five Championship outings.

Steve Cooper would’ve done well at Crystal Palace

In our view, Cooper would’ve done a very good job at Selhurst Park.

The former England Under-17 boss is clearly a bright coach, who has previously worked with the likes of Marc Guéhi and Conor Gallagher at Swansea.

Cooper even won the Under-17 World Cup, so he surely would’ve done well working with prospects such as Tyrick Mitchell and Michael Olise.

That isn’t to say Vieira hasn’t done a good job – in fact, the Frenchman has been superb, and in our view, should be in the running for Manager of the Year.

Clearly, Parish, Harris and Blitzer identified some strong candidates last year, and even those they opted against hiring are now shining elsewhere.