Crystal Palace, like so many clubs, have gone through a fairly exhaustive list of managerial types in recent times.
They have gone popular former player, Alan Pardew doing a decent job for a while. They have gone firefighter, Sam Allardyce keeping them up at the end of the 2016/17 season.
They have gone canny veteran, Roy Hodgson also keeping their head above Championship water. They have gone trendy Dutch, Frank de Boer in charge for a brief, calamitous spell.
They have gone iconic Premier League star, Patrick Vieira’s tenure eventually going the same way as Steven Gerrard’s did at Aston Villa and Frank Lampard’s at Chelsea and Everton.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, and none providing anything spectacular to write home about. Since returning to the Premier League for the 2013/14 season, they have finished 11th, 10th, 15th, 14th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 14th, 14th and 12th.
It’s a smashing club, Palace, lovely club to go to, lovely fans, the team has been known to play some decent stuff. But without being disrespectful, not a club that would be sorely missed by the Premier League if they were relegated.
No offence but that is a fact. The list of potential successors to Vieira is a familiar one but what if the Palace hierarchy thought outside the box? What if they asked a top female manager to be interviewed?
Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman have plenty left to achieve in their current roles and it would be highly unlikely they would leave their jobs at Chelsea Women and England respectively. But one day, someone in the mens game will surely take a gamble.
Hayes and Wiegman are hugely successful coaches with innovative, impressive approaches to the job. Of course, a club should not appoint a female manager for its men's team just so it can claim to be the one that breaks new ground, the one that is a pioneer, the one that strikes a blow for equality - although there will be an element of that when it happens.
A manager should be appointed on merit, as judged by the ones doing the appointing. But do executives at clubs in the Premier League and EFL know what the likes of Hayes and Wiegman really have to offer? No, because I’m guessing they never speak to them.
Who should Crystal Palace appoint next? Have your say in the comments!
There is absolutely no reason why a female coach should not be capable of achieving good results in the mens professional ranks. The only thing stopping that happening is culture. At least in the NFL, there are half a dozen women on coaching staffs, albeit in assistant positions.
If a female manager is ever appointed to a professional mens team, it is more likely to be in the lower leagues, although you suspect the macho culture runs deeper in some smaller clubs. And, initially, it might even be a PR stunt but, hopefully, it will happen.
In the meantime, there is obviously no chance of Hayes being asked by Palace if she is interested in at least applying for the job. No chance whatsoever. And the truth is that she might not have what it takes to succeed at that level.
But, then again, as we look back at the 16 full-time Palace managers over the past two decades, she would not have a lot to live up to.
