Vieira: Scholes return a sign of weakness

As much as he admits to yearning for the masochistic pleasure of participating in a title run-in, the 35-year-old former Manchester City midfielder will not stand at the foot of the tunnel, contemplating what he is missing. For Manchester City’s football development executive, Vieira’s grand title at the Etihad Stadium, there will be no following his old adversary, Paul Scholes, out of retirement and back onto the pitch. Manchester United might need their battle-hardened war-horses to come to the rescue, but not City. “Doing that has never entered my mind because I made the right decision,” Vieira said. “Paul Scholes is a player that I really love and admire, one of the best English players of the last few years, and seeing him come back is good for him and for United. “But for him to come back just shows a little bit of weakness in United, because they had to bring a player back who was 37. “I think it shows that, in the next few years, it will be really difficult for United to cope with other teams because, with all the respect I have for Scholes, him coming back shows that they don’t have talent in there to replace him. “When you see United losing young players like Ravel Morrison and maybe Paul Pogba, they should be really worried because that wouldn’t have happened in the past.” Standing four points clear of City at the top of the Premier League, ahead of their rivals’ clash with Chelsea, United would appear to be the ones with least to worry about. But the presence of City, gnawing at their heels on the pitch and making giant strides off it, has undoubtedly had an impact at Old Trafford. City beat United to the signature of Samir Nasri last summer and persuaded Carlos Tevez to cross the Mancunian divide three years ago, so while talk of edginess or nerves at the Etihad might be emerging, Vieira insists City have nothing to fear. When United lost (the title) to Arsenal, they were in Manchester and Arsenal were in London, so it is different.” Vieira said. “It will hurt United a lot more to lose the title to City. “The mind games will only come when people are afraid of competition and when people are trying to de-stabilise other people.They only do it for one reason and that is to try to make the others feel your breath on the back of their ears. “At Arsenal, it didn’t affect us at all. We didn’t want to waste our energy on what people say or any comments. “The strength of United, I believe, is that they don’t look at other teams or what they are doing. “They just put their head down, concentrate on what they are doing and believe in what they are doing. “This is a good example of what to follow, so we shouldn’t think about what they are doing.” A three-time title winner with Arsenal, Vieira arguably possesses the experience and nous Mancini’s team has yet to develop. As such, when he retired at the end of last season, the club created his current position in order not to lose his presence and knowledge. Vieira’s role is a diverse one. On one hand, he has responsibilities to improve the club’s academy, yet he also promotes the City brand on a global scale, putting his face to new enterprises in the Middle East, Africa and, last week, China. He remains determined to explore a career in coaching and has registered with the Football Association of Wales, on the advice of former City team-mate Craig Bellamy, to take his qualifications this summer. Yet while his value to the club off the pitch comes from his status as a globally-recognised figure - one, many would argue, is rooted in his success at Arsenal - the here and now ensures that Vieira’s experience of how to win a title will be key to Mancini and his squad. “My role here is really interesting,” Vieira said. “I am with a club that is growing really fast, but I don’t know which area I want to go into yet. “Brian Marwood (City’s football administrator) has given me the opportunity to look at things, though, and learn and gather information and, for me, that’s fantastic. “Obviously, I spent nine years with Arsenal at the most crucial period of my career, between 20 and 29, so I understand when people ask why I didn’t go back there because the club will always be in my heart. “But the response is simple - it’s the fact that opportunity was here at City. It was interesting and something I wanted to do, so it just happened. “Helping the players here is also one of my roles, though, especially when it gets to a period like the last few games of the season. “I have been there and I know how to deal with it, so it’s my duty to be close to the players, to talk to them about it and make them understand that it is better to be in this position than not to be. “Arsenal and Chelsea, they all want to be in our position, so it is something we have to enjoy. “You want to feel the pressure when it is a positive pressure. You would rather feel that pressure than the one that comes with being at the bottom. “When you get into the last ten games and the pressure starts to build up - it is getting exciting.” Vieira’s arrival at City in Jan 2010, a month after Mancini was appointed as successor to Mark Hughes, highlighted the bond between the two men which was forged during their time winning *scudetti *together at Inter. And having also worked under Arsene Wenger, Fabio Capello and Jose Mourinho, Vieira insists that Mancini is equally capable of guiding a team through the tension of a title run-in. He said: “With Roberto and Inter, the team was winning and we were strong because Roberto was believing in himself and what he was doing. “I think, as a club, to believe that we can win the league is quite important and Roberto gives that belief. It comes from the manager. “Roberto is calm and he knows that the calmness could be the decisive factor. “Yes, United have a four point lead at the moment and, of course, we have to win against Chelsea. “But even if we don’t win, it won’t be the end of the world. It is not going to be the end of our chance to win the title. “So many things can still happen and ten games is a lot. It is still a long way from the end.” It could all come down to one game, the Manchester derby at the Etihad on Apr 30, and Vieira admits that clash has the makings of a title decider. “I think that game will be really important.” He said “It will be the key, so we have to be as close as we can to them because the home game will be crucial.”