Hodgson on THAT jibe by Big Sam
Hodgson hits back at Allardyce over insults
ROY HODGSON says he has never received a private apology from Sam Allardyce and insists it is ‘far too late’ to make up for comments he made in 2016.
The Crystal Palace boss and Allardyce come face to face tomorrow for the first time since the Everton manager — during his time as England boss — was caught on camera mocking the 70-yearold’s speech impediment. Allardyce called him ‘Woy’ and said Hodgson would ‘send them all to sleep’ if he became a public speaker.
Those remarks were revealed during an undercover newspaper sting that led to Allardyce’s sacking by the FA after a single game in charge. He had just succeeded Hodgson, who resigned after Euro 2016.
The pair had previously had a good relationship, but Hodgson made it clear the dynamics have now changed. Allardyce will look to speak to his counterpart at Goodison Park, but it is unlikely to change Hodgson’s view. Asked whether Allardyce had ever apologised and if it bothered him, Hodgson said: ‘No. Do you like being insulted? No, not particularly. Did it bother me? I didn’t lose any sleep over it. My relationship with him was good. Now I would expect it to be less good.’
Pressed on whether Allardyce should say sorry face to face, Hodgson continued: ‘No. Far too late. It has gone. It belongs to the distant past.
‘In jobs like I am doing at the moment, when you are the manager of a Premier League club, you live very much in the ultimate present and the future.
‘I’m not interested. I’ve said what I’ve got to say. I’ve come here to talk about Crystal Palace football club and Everton football club. It could have been Ronald Koeman against Frank de Boer.’
When asked for his side of the story at Everton’s Finch Farm base yesterday, Allardyce was clearly contrite about what occurred and explained that he tried to phone Hodgson, but could not get through.
‘I’ll hopefully speak to him and see him at the game,’ said Allardyce. ‘A lot of time has passed since that unfortunate situation. I (apologised) publicly and I did it more than once. If you are going to do something like that I prefer to be private. I’ve never had the opportunity privately to talk about it which would be better than a conversation on the phone. Hopefully he is fine with it.’
Hodgson is focused on trying to secure three points that could be crucial for Palace’s survival and wants to take advantage of an Everton team who are chronically short of confidence following last week’s 5-1 loss at Arsenal.
‘ He’s in a better situation because his team have four more points,’ said Hodgson, who will be without Wilfried Zaha for a month due a knee problem.
Allardyce used Hodgson as an example as to why he returned to management. He admitted to doubts after the loss to Arsenal, but explained why he puts himself through the mill.
‘I was terrible last week,’ said Allardyce. ‘But this keeps me alive. You see Arsene Wenger, you see Roy doing so well, so you keep going.’