Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PREMIER LEAGUE PRIDE & ROY
Rejuvenated, happy and looking younger, Hodgson is putting England behind him to focus on helping his hometown club
AFTER the failed Frank de Boer experiment left dark clouds over Crystal Palace, his replacement Roy Hodgson breezed into the club like a breath of fresh air.
Hodgson had a spring in his step when he bounced into his unveiling yesterday, grinning from ear-to-ear as he greeted some familiar faces from his days as England boss.
This was a very different Hodgson to the one who looked chastened and haunted the last time he was in this setting, the day after his resignation and the Three Lions’ embarrassing Euro 2016 exit to Iceland last June.
Hodgson, 70, has returned to football looking refreshed, revitalised and even younger after a year out of management. He is now just a few kilos off his fighting weight from his playing days.
He might be the oldest man hired as a permanent Premier League manager, but Hodgson said: “I’m feeling as good as I’ve ever felt. There were times in my 40s when I felt a lot less physically and mentally adept than I do today.
“I’m pleased to hear you say I look younger. That’s down to a good few gym sessions.”
His time off has helped him process the Iceland debacle and consign it to the past. That meant discussing it and most things England was of little interest to Hodgson.
He added: “First of all, I’m not interested in Iceland. We’re going down a route which I’ve said, reasonably politely, is a past chapter. Who cares? You might. There might be people in Carlisle who’d like to know that about England, but I’m in south London, Beckenham.
“A lot of Palace fans reading this, the ones who interest me, will be thinking, ‘What does he have to say about my team?’.”
Hodgson can associate with them, having been born and raised in Croydon and his appointment at rock-bottom Palace, who lost their first four league games without scoring costing De Boer (below) his job, brings him back to where it all began for him as a player. He “didn’t get very close to the team” but his journey coming full circle was the only time he was prepared to look back.
“When I was a child, my dreams were playing for the club,” he said. “I would have accepted managing them if I wasn’t good enough to play for them. It’s been interesting, the journey, from home in south west London to Selhurst Park, passing familiar old places.
“There’s a smile from time to time, a memory of a building or road I pass.
“But I don’t live in the past. It’s the present and the future.
“Now it’s a chapter in the book of life opening for me, and one I’m hoping brings joy to the Palace fans. That would be special as I am a Croydon boy and didn’t leave here until I was 24 years of age.
“I believe the team will stay up. Absolutely. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t.”