Roy Hodgson said returning to Crystal Palace was not a ‘difficult decision to make’, two years after leaving. The former Liverpool, Fulham and England boss, to name a few, had retired following Watford’s relegation from the Premier League last season. Speaking about the reasons why he made a return to the Palace dugout,
Roy Hodgson said: “The time I spent here was [four] very good years. I forged a very good relationship not only with the owners and the sporting director, but with a lot of people around the place, not least the players. In terms of coming back in that respect, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make. I wouldn’t big up too much the fact that, as everyone knows, it was my boyhood club, but it does mean that things fit in quite seamlessly now I’m back, because people know me and how I like to work, and I know so many of them. Knowing [chairman] Steve [Parish] and the owners as well as I do, I’m sure they’ve got ideas and plans going forward. They’ve asked myself and Ray [Lewington] to do a very specific job: work with this group of players and try to make certain that, at the end of the season, we are still a Premier League team. I like it that way.”
Hodgson’s first game in charge is against Leicester City on Saturday, with the Foxes currently 17th and one point above the drop.