Crystal Palace podcaster Dan Cook has claimed that Roy Hodgson would only have returned to the club if he was fully confident that he could help the side avoid relegation.
What happened with Crystal Palace and Hodgson?
The 75-year-old came out of retirement to return to Selhurst Park following the dismissal of Patrick Vieira, after a disastrous run of form left Palace winless in 2023.
In a move that has been seen by some as a step backwards, Palace may have acted out of desperation, with the club just three points above the relegation zone despite being in 12th place.
Speaking on the HLTCO Palace Podcast, Cook claimed that given Hodgson's previous reputation at the club, he would not have taken the job if he wasn't confident in guiding the side to survival.
He said: "I do not believe for a single second that a manager as long in the tooth, and someone with a career and a CV as varied as Roy Hodgson would come back at the age of 75 on a short-term contract to the club of his youth… and lead them to relegation in what will almost certainly be his final managerial role ever, I just can't envisage that he would even contemplate it unless he was 100% sure that he could get the necessary points on the board.
"It would make no sense, it would be a hiding to nothing, it would go to further damage [his] reputation, which took a few blows towards the final six months of his previous stint with us.
"So my only real view on this is that Roy Hodgson has seen more than enough across the last couple of months, even with the poor results, to feel as though he and Ray Lewington can rev this team up enough and can get those points that are needed to retain our Premier League status."
Have Palace timed their gamble to perfection?
Although there are big questions over whether the decision to bring in Hodgson to replace Vieira was a good one, one may point to the timing of the decision as the best point in the season to make it.
Palace had to navigate an incredibly tough run of fixtures in the last few months, which saw them face Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal in their last eight matches, as well as having tough trips to Brighton and Aston Villa – with all of these teams above them in the table.
In their final 11 games of this season, they face just two sides currently above them in the league in Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham, and therefore remain in control of their own destiny. With the table as tight as it is right now, picking up wins against the teams below them will be massive as they aim to avoid the drop.
If Hodgson can bring an immediate new manager bounce or help unlock an attack that has struggled for goals recently, the gamble will likely pay off as they face an arguably easier set of games than they did before.
