The European Super League has been the topic of discussion across the footballing world recently, and Roy Hodgson has focused on the fans' impact recently.
He said: “They’ve really stepped up to the plate and made it perfectly clear we don’t want this to happen, even if we happen to be fans of one of these privileged clubs, we still want the competition, we want the jeopardy, we want the right to lose, and if we’re going to get there we’ll get there on merit.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s always been the fans that we play for. They are the ones whose approval and love we’re always seeking. I think it was very strong of them to mobilise themselves in such a way.
“I don’t think I’ve ever underestimated the power of the fans. I hope I haven’t. I think they are our lifeblood, there’s no question of that.”
Discussion then turned to Palace’s season so far, assessing how far they’ve come during his fourth season at the helm. Hodgson explained:
“I’m really pleased that we’ve broken the back of our objective which was to make certain we got through this season as best we could and to ensure the club can now prepare for next season, the ninth one in the Premier League consecutively.”
A question of progress for the Eagles was poised to the manager, with regards to West Ham’s success this season under David Moyes. Hodgson affirmed: “I don’t see any reason why that couldn’t happen here either.
“The difference really sometimes between around that middle area and actually breaking into the top six or seven teams is a fairly small margin and I’d like to think the players we have here at the club, and the way the club works, that would be a possibility for us.”
Finally, with the season drawing to a close and the rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament on the horizon, the topic turned to the prospects for the England team, which Hodgson used to manage.
“I think the good thing for Gareth [Southgate] now is that these young players, albeit they don’t have a vast amount of experience, are playing on a regular basis and they are getting matches, not only at national level but at Champions League level.
“I’m delighted at the way these players have been brought through and I’m very excited to see what England do in the summer and I have every faith that they would do extremely well and could quite easily win the tournament.
“To do that they’ll need the bounce of the ball. You must never forget that you don’t win football matches in front of a jury who decide that you were the better or worse team on the day, you win it because you’ve got to score more goals.”
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