Carried away shoulder-high? It’s more like shouldering the blame!
ROY: I REGRET WE DIDN’T SUCCEED, BUT NOT TAKING THE WATFORD JOB
C PALACE v WATFORD Selhurst Park: 3pm
BY MIKE WALTERS
ROY HODGSON does not expect to be “carried shoulderhigh out of the ground” when he makes an encore at Selhurst Park with doomed Watford.
But on the eve of his curtain call at Crystal Palace, the former England manager revealed why he refused to grant his successor Patrick Vieira an immediate audience to discuss the Eagles squad he left behind.
Hodgson, 74, has promised his futile attempt to save Watford from the drop will definitely be his last assignment as a manager after inspiring only two wins in 14 games at Vicarage Road.
Palace, by contrast, have prospered under Vieira and Hodgson revealed: “He actually asked to see me straight away, before he’d even got his feet under the table.
“I said I didn’t think that was a good idea – it was better that he assessed the club first, saw what it was, and I said if any time after that you want to meet up, I’d be very happy.
“And that’s what happened. He invited me out to dinner, with our wives, we had a very nice meal together.
“It was a very much easier conversation.
“I didn’t want to be seen at the beginning making suggestions, I didn’t want the players thinking I was talking about them behind their back.”
Hodgson is relishing his chance to acknowledge Palace supporters after his short-lived
retirement last summer was played out behind closed doors.
But he admitted: “What sort of reception I get on Saturday might be different, because I don’t think Watford has ever been one of Crystal Palace’s favourite opponents.
“I’m not expecting them to race out and embrace me with open arms.” Much of the enmity has been generated by Wilf Zaha’s perceived issues with gravity, although he was the aggrieved party at
Vicarage Road in August 2018 when former Hornets captain Troy Deeney admitted Watford players took it in turns to foul the Ivory Coast winger to lessen the risk of a red card, something which left Hodgson deeply unimpressed.
But it didn’t stop Hodgson taking on his short-term rescue mission at Vicarage Road – which is destined to fall miles short.
“Yes, I regret that we didn’t succeed in the task we took on, which was to help the club out of the relegation zone,” said Hodgson. “But I don’t regret taking the job.
“And I don’t regret that the send-off this time won’t be anything like the one from Crystal Palace last year.
“If your hope and ambition is that, every time you leave a job you will be carried shoulderhigh out of the ground, then you are very naive and stupid.”