Crystal Palace fans cherish chance to give Roy Hodgson a proper goodbye

A year on from his exit as manager, Hodgson returned to Selhurst Park on Saturday where a full house said a final farewell to one of their favourite sons, writes Jim Daly

Roy Hodgson bid farewell to Crystal Palace fans a year on from his departure as manager (Getty)

Saturday will go down as not just the day Watford were relegated from the Premier League for the fourth time, but also the day Roy Hodgson trolled their fans so hard I think he’s now banned from Hertfordshire.

Despite being one of the nicest men in football, Hodgson is a strangely divisive figure; Liverpool and England fans hate him, Fulham and West Brom fans love him, and everyone else knows him from memes. But the club where it really felt like a perfect fit was Crystal Palace. Local boy turned youth team player turned (eventual) manager. And it was to begin with; Hodgson helping drag his boyhood club away from the Premier League relegation zone in his first season after the team had started the 2018-19 campaign with seven defeats and no goals remains a top flight record.

However, by the end, almost a year ago, his tenure had soured. The football was at times unwatchable, the squad was seriously underfunded and many fans’ love towards him had dwindled. His final game against Arsenal, in front of a Covid-restricted attendance of 5,000 fans at Selhurst Park, was fun but wasn’t quite the send-off he deserved for comfortably keeping Palace up for four seasons.