by Roy Hodgson admitted his job is under pressure after Crystal Palace were hammered 5-0 at Arsenal amid fan protests against the eventual ownership.
Hodgson, 76, has guided Palace to safety or better in five of their club-record 10-season stays in the Premier League, but the scale of the win and current run have undoubtedly raised questions. Banners from disgruntled Palace fans about “wasted potential” and “poor decisions” raised the temperature for chairman Steve Parish and his co-owners and Hodgson admitted the manager was always vulnerable.
Hodgson has said this will be his last season in a 48-year managerial career, having returned last March when Patrick Vieira’s side were in relegation trouble. Against that backdrop, Steve Cooper is now available as well as another contender to replace Hodgson.
These include Julen Lopetegui, most recently Wolverhampton Wanderers; Bo Svensson, a Danish coach who was most recently in charge of Mainz’s Bundesliga side; and Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna.
Former Chelsea and Brighton manager Graham Potter was in a hospitality suite at the stadium with his two children but is not considered an immediate contender for the Palace job. Manchester United are still of interest if they decide to make a switch in the summer.
When asked about fan protests, Hodgson said the manager was always ultimately responsible. He said: “He’s an integral part of football and always has been. These days when it’s so important to stay in the Premier League, and that fear of relegation, that kind of situation could come around a little faster than it might have done years ago. But the situation hasn’t changed since I came back to England in 2008 – the reality is that when a team isn’t doing as well as it should be, someone has to be held accountable and that’s the manager always.”
He was asked directly if he felt he had the support of the Palace ownership, mainly Parish; US investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer; and Eagle Football led by another US investor, John Textor, Hodgson said that was not a question he could answer.
“Well that’s a question for them isn’t it?” he said. “If you’re asking me, ‘Did I ever feel like they lacked support?’ No, no, they were good. Now in the situation you expect that must be an issue for them.”
Hodgson used to be the solution – now he’s part of the problem
Standing in the dugout at the end of Crystal Palace’s humiliating 5-0 defeat at Arsenal, waiting for his players to slowly make their way off the pitch, Roy Hodgson bore the look of a man who knew it was over. There was a streak of pain across his face, the realization that most careers, no matter how extensive, no matter how resilient, no matter how high their peaks, end in failure.
Certainly, it has happened many times before when the super survivor managed to say goodbye. There was an exit press conference at Watford and Crystal Palace, when it was thought he was going to devote more time to his memoirs, not to mention reading the great canon of the American novel. Every time before, after saying that he was off, the management Frank Sinatra has bounced back, surprising everyone when he refused to obey the chronology. For Roy 76 for a long time the new 50.
This time, however, the signs are dark. This time it looks like the end has finally been reached. At the end of this game, because of all his presence on the training field and working hard on the training field, the man’s influence was going through the motions.
Because in a game where he needed his team to buckle down and respond, Hodgson was undermined from the kick-off. As Arsenal systematically bullied them, and then cut them back, Palace’s players hardly represented their manager. There was no fight, no fire, no resilience. Never mind, the Eberechi Eze is top notch, absolutely no creativity.
Hodgson, a man renowned for his organisation, for the rigidity of his defence, must have watched in agony as Arsenal – with George Graham in attendance – rolled back the years and went to school at corners to score. twice in the first half. . On both occasions, his team was like a damp paper bag, his centre-backs in disarray, his goalkeeper, Dean Henderson, looking after Andre Onana as a model of resilience. He may have complained afterwards that his players felt they were hindered, but at the time, as he was in the technical area, static, silent, hardly reacting, his body language was gone.
Watching from the directors’ box as Arsenal’s goals kept coming, Palace chairman Steve Parrish was seen quickly typing a message into his mobile phone. Moments later, elsewhere in the stadium, Graham Potter was filmed, watching his children, consulting his own phone, as if the two were in direct communication. It was a brilliant idea: Potter has higher ambitions than what Selhurst has in store. What’s more, Parrish hardly knows that it’s the best way to turn on an increasingly angry fan base towards the former Brighton manager.
Not that the Palace supporters’ unease was directed at Hodgson. Even if things are getting very uncomfortable for the league’s standing, it has delivered far too much over the years to blame fans who have a lot to be thankful for. Instead, Parrish and his fellow board members were the target of some direct and strong criticism from the Palace department. “There is no shared vision. No structured plans,” read a series of banners held aloft as Arsenal’s fourth goal was registered. “Wasted potential on and off the field. Postponing weak decisions.”
Freeform verses are not a common sight at football stadiums. But the point was clear: Selhurst needs change. And for Parrish, the easiest and most straightforward way to get the operation back on track is the man he’s called to relieve past firefighting crises.
Hodgson is not one to register a complaint. If anyone does, he knows the score. And when it’s 5-0, he can’t argue.
“I’m working today,” he said. “The reality is that if a team is not doing as well as it should be doing someone has to be held accountable. And that’s usually the manager.”
At Palace in the past when things have gone wrong, when the team is struggling, they know what to do. They have called Roy Hodgson. This time, that solution is not available. What happens next is interesting.
