Palace manager has revived the Eagles and his reputation, while his appetite is as keen as ever at 70 – despite the torment the job bringsRoy Hodgson is not one for sentimental reflection. Looking back has never really been his thing. If it were, as he admits, he might linger on his life going full circle in restoring him to the club he supported as a boy, “walking with my dad to watch the reserves one week, the first team the next” from their regular vantage point on the bleak concrete of the Holmesdale Road terrace. Or hoarding programmes, a youngster craving an audience with Johnny Byrne or Terry Long “and waiting to collect autographs by the changing rooms”.It had been a sense of Crystal Palace’s underlying ambition, and a desire to fling himself back into work 14 months after leaving his role with England, that convinced him to return to the club where a career spanning more than half a century had begun with evening sessions in the youth team. Yet, when Hodgson allows himself a second to contemplate, he can acknowledge some would spy romance in last autumn’s return. Related: Don’t judge players and managers too soon in this season of comebacks When you have been lucky enough to move up, all you see is the slide back down. You don’t see the further steps upwards Continue readingreadfullarticle
