It could have been difficult early on at Palace.
It's fair to say that Patrick Vieira is doing a good job at Crystal Palace, despite two defeats in 11 games in the premier league.
After taking over from Roy Hodgson, few expected the former captain to perform as well as he has done in the past.
He is flourishing despite being involved in his journey from the day he retired as a player.
A coach who was reluctant in youth development.
It was not a natural progression from playing to being a manager. It was not a move he was particularly interested in.
When his playing career ended at Manchester City, Patrick Vieira spent time in different roles at the club, acting as a club ambassador and meeting fans before games, as he tried to decide what he would do after he retired.
Brian Marwood, the former football administration officer at Manchester City, was the one who turned his head towards management.
"When I stopped playing, I didn't know what I was going to do," he said. I was fortunate to have Brian next to me and he helped me open my mind on the managerial side.
He pushed me to spend time with the kids at the academy at Manchester City and the more time I spent there the more I loved being around the players. I fell in love with my job.
Learning the trade in Wales.
If the passion to get into coaching was sparked by a former player and on the training pitches in east Manchester, then the management style and philosophy was created by the outskirts of Newport.
The home of Welsh football was the place where former France team-mate and former Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly recommended to Patrick to take his coaching badges.
The National Football Development Centre in Wales has no egos and everyone is treated the same, which is what made it appealing to Vieira.
The Football Association of Wales has a coaching programme for big-name athletes.
He was not the only one who thought that, as his class-mates included ex-Wales forward Craig Bellamy and Belgium manager Roberto Martinez.
All were cutting their teeth as well as other football players and managers in the Welsh premier league.
Craig Harrison was a defender for Crystal Palace and a manager for TNS.
Harrison remembers a very different person to the combative and aggressive opponent from his playing days.
He said that Patrick is intimidating to look at because of his size, but he is a nice guy.
He is very quiet. He is not aggressive when he is talking. He is methodical in what he does.
He is thoughtful. A lot of people will have seen Patrick Vieira fight Roy Keane in a game, but not in person.
He is very knowledgeable about football. If you are going to go to the top, you need to be obsessed with it.
A hard taskmaster and a friend.
Jack Harrison is credited with having a big role in the development of Vieira.
When he took up his first senior management role as head coach of Major League Soccer side New York City in November 2015, those characteristics were also evident.
With a mix of big-name stars from European football and local players with only MLS experience, it was a challenge for Vieira to manage those personalities.
The manager of the dressing room at New York City when Vieira arrived had no problem bringing the room together.
He said that players at Palace quickly buy into the system because of the respect they will have for him, and also because of what he is like as a person.
He almost comes across as a mentor.
He was not afraid to come down hard on players when needed, as White himself experienced, but he seemed a friend for the most part.
The defender was dropped from the starting XI after arriving late to a pre-game meeting because of traffic.
White said that the captain is hard at the right times and soft at the right times. You respected the rules that he had in place.
Jack Harrison was turned into the player he is today by the influence of Vieira's coaching roots in the youth teams of Manchester City.
The youngster was helped into the first-team by the help of Vieira, who was the club's youth coach.
White said that Jack benefited from Patrick. He helped him blossom.
Success in New York, but trouble in Nice.
After his arrival at Nice, there were changes of ownership.
When an opportunity to manage in his native France came up, he took it, as he did well at NYC, guiding them to fourth in his first season before a runners-up finish in his second.
His time in the south of France showed how important it is for him to surround himself with people who believe in him.
The key to his decision to join Nice were the club president and the sporting director. A change in ownership led to their departure.
In his first season, Vieira guided the club to seventh in the table, one place better than they had in the previous season, and then fifth the following year.
Things started to fall apart quickly because of increased expectations and criticism of his playing style and use of players.
The first few months of his third season at the club were enough for him to be fired.
The right team and the right manager?
There was a man on the bench for England.
In the summer, when he was named Crystal Palace boss, he made sure he had people around him who he trusted and believed in.
Osian Roberts was the technical director at the Football Association of Wales and oversaw the coaching programme that Vieira attended.
The rest of the coaching staff and they set about resolving the many issues at Palace, not least 12 out-of-contract players.
Many of the dozen left allow Vieira to shape his own squad. He brought in exciting youngsters such as 19-year-old Michael Olise and 21-year-old Chelsea player Conor Gallagher on loan and replaced an aging defence with younger players.
His background in nurturing youth has been evident once again, with the Frenchman 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609-
He has scored four goals in 10 appearances in the top flight, having been used in a more advanced attacking role by Vieira, and that form has led to him being called up to the England squad.
It is still early days for Vieira at Palace, but he is proving to be a good fit for the Eagles, suggesting his decision to push aside his initial reluctance to become a manager was eventually an astute one.
