Welcome back, then, Roy. And rejoice Croydon, for he has returned. The news that Crystal Palace will turn to Roy Hodgson to replace the departed Frank de Boer is perhaps unsurprising given the background noises of the past few months. For all that there will still be a tendency to roll the eyes, to mock the sudden shift in footballing direction – from the Ajax Way to Purley Way – and to point out that Hodgson is 70 and hasn’t had a club job in five years.
This is undoubtedly a little unfair. In isolation Hodgson to Palace makes plenty of short-term sense. Plus it would be foolish to underestimate Hodgson’s determination to prove a point, his popularity with players and his vast experience. And yet there is no escaping the wider sense of dissonance here. Even in a league defined by its habit of vacillating comically between methodologies and personnel, the lurch from De Boer to Hodgson is one of the more bizarrely abrupt about-turns in Premier League history.
Related: Crystal Palace revert to short-term policy after ditching Frank de Boer experiment | Dominic Fifield
Related: Crystal Palace to appoint Roy Hodgson after sacking Frank de Boer
Continue reading...