IT’S been 7½ years since an FA suit called Martin Glenn sat beside Roy Hodgson and clumsily declared: “Iceland will not be your epitaph.”
That was the day after Hodgson quit the England job — the most high-profile of his 22 managerial appointments — in the aftermath of Euro 2016 humiliation by Iceland.
But his words were not appreciated by Hodgson, a fiercely proud man and one of the most respected coaches in world football.
Hodgson had won titles in Scandinavia, managed Inter Milan, led Switzerland to third in the world rankings and been named LMA Manager of the Year after guiding Fulham to a European final.
In 2016, approaching his 69th birthday, he never doubted he would manage again.
Glenn, a former fishfinger salesman, has faded back into obscurity since his stint as FA chief executive.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
But Hodgson has spent the vast majority of the intervening time managing in the Premier League, with three largely successful spells at Crystal Palace and one failed attempt at saving Watford from relegation.
At 76, Hodgson’s 48-year career in management may well be at an end now.
His collapse at Palace’s Beckenham training ground yesterday was first and foremost a worrying turn on a human level, though he was described as being “stable” in hospital last night.
It was also especially horrible timing for Palace, who are believed to have reached an agreement with former Eintracht Frankfurt boss Oliver Glasner to succeed Hodgson.
Most read in Football
The club are being widely accused of treating this grand old statesman shabbily — by allowing him to limp on while a new manager was lined up, only for his health to fail him.
Such talk gained greater credence a fortnight ago, after the furore over Michael Olise being sent on as a substitute when Palace were 3-0 down to arch-rivals Brighton, only to suffer a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
Hodgson’s comments, that he had followed the advice of Palace’s medical department, did not go down well internally.
But the idea Palace have somehow been taking advantage of Hodgson is a simplistic take, and patronising to the man himself.
Sources close to Hodgson said last week that he was surprised to still be in a job and was fully aware that Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish and the club’s ownership group had been touting for a successor for some time.
Yet potential candidates, including former Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper, ex-Wolves chief Julen Lopetegui and current Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna, had all been reluctant to take the job now.
Especially as Palace have several of their best players out injured and are still in relegation danger after three wins from 19.
Just five points separate them from the drop zone, with Everton and Burnley up next.
But Hodgson is old-fashioned enough to respect a contract, dedicated enough to work until told otherwise. There is a sense of duty about him.
He also remains a hands-on coach, at his happiest on the training pitch, drilling men young enough to be his grandsons to stay in two defensive banks of four.
Despite this age gap, the vast majority of those who have played under him in recent years like and respect the man.
And besides, Hodgson is earning £3million for his year at Palace — however much you’ve banked, that is a tidy sum to walk away from.
Those who know Hodgson well will tell you he has given short shrift to well-meaning suggestions that he might be too old to cope with the stresses of managing at the highest level, even after he was taken ill and unable to make the dugout on a trip to Aston Villa in September.
No pipe-and-slippers man
Despite his well-earned reputation as a bookish intellectual, Hodgson is very capable of meeting talk of his advancing years by swearing like a Tilbury docker.
He is no pipe-and-slippers man, especially as he gave up smoking cigars on medical advice some years ago.
Yet, as one associate told me recently, Hodgson is five years younger than Joe Biden — the leader of the free world with his finger on the nuclear button.
By contrast, Hodgson instructing Jeffrey Schlupp on how to cross a football is no onerous responsibility.
Like anyone who has survived in football for so long, Hodgson has an ego and can be quick to mention his CV.
Once, while managing Fulham, he was asked if he’d ever managed a better left-back than Paul Konchesky.
He replied: “Well, I did have a fella at Internazionale called Roberto Carlos.”
Croydon-born Hodgson is a contradictory figure. On the one hand, a workaholic coach and a football addict, who couldn’t say “no” every time Palace came calling.
Yet he is also rare among long-serving managers in having a vast array of interests — an ever-curious traveller, an avid reader and a talented linguist, who knows more than most that there is far more to life than football.
In hindsight, bowing out after last season’s excellent short-term stint at Palace, his boyhood club, would have been a fitting curtain call.
But football isn’t an ideal world.
And, even for the brightest men, knowing the right time to call it a day is the toughest call of all.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
