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Hodgson, 76, falling out of love with soccer as Crystal Palace plummets in EPL

December 14, 2023

If this is to be Roy Hodgson’s final stint in his long, itinerant coaching career, then the oldest manager in the English Premier League is going out swinging.

As Crystal Palace plummets in the standings, the 76-year-old Hodgson is losing his temper — and maybe his love for the game. Having to visit Manchester City, the English and European champion, on Saturday with a heavily depleted team has hardly improved his mood, either.

“We’re going through a bad spell,” Hodgson says, “and it looks like the bad spell will continue … it’s not going to be a good time for us.”

Hodgson’s mood hasn’t just darkened because Palace has lost six of its last nine league games, winning just once in that streak. Though that clearly hasn’t helped either. After a miserable home loss to Bournemouth by 2-0 last week, a Palace fan threw a small missile at Hodgson as the former England coach walked off the pitch to jeers. Hodgson later said Palace supporters had been “spoilt” in recent years, a comment he said a few days later that he bitterly regretted and had left him “distressed.”

Source: “Hodgson, 76, Falling out of Love with Soccer as Crystal Palace Plummets in EPL.” SooToday.Com, http://www.sootoday.com/national-sports/hodgson-76-falling-out-of-love-with-soccer-as-crystal-palace-plummets-in-epl-7981319. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.