Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson focused on ‘journey’ after surpassing Sir Bobby Robson
Roy Hodgson insists he stopped counting at 60, as the Crystal Palace manager prepares to overtake Sir Bobby Robson as the oldest man to manage a Premier League game.
The former England manager will be 71 years and 198 days old when Palace take on Leicester City on Saturday, but Hodgson says he has not given his advancing years much thought.
„My views regarding age haven’t changed,“ he said. „You’re as old as you feel. It’s a milestone, a historic mark, which I guess I can be pleased about because it’s nice to have such a good career, but otherwise I don’t pay much attention to it.“
Hodgson’s managerial career spans 43 years, but it was not until 1997, when he was 50, that he got his first job in the Premier League, in charge of Blackburn Rovers.
Spells in charge of Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom followed, with his role at Crystal Palace making it 16 teams in eight different countries.
He admits „the game changes, and for the better“ – but does not believe it is escaping him.
„Age is definitely just a number,“ he said. „There are people much older than me who show no signs.
„I don’t know what age Sir David Attenborough is now, but you watch him working and see his documentaries, you’d have to be a very strange person to start saying ‘I don’t think it’s very good because he’s old’.
„Most of us think it’s very, very good whatever age he happens to be. He was good when he started doing it and he’s still good today.
„That gives me the encouragement that in football – why should it be any different to documentary making?“
Hodgson will be without Palace’s latest hot prospect, Aaron Wan-Bissaka for the game against Leicester this weekend due to a hamstring injury.
The 21-year-old has been a standout performer since being given his first-team opportunity by Hodgson, who says he does not have a problem with maintaining player-manager relationships with younger members of his squad.
„You’re not obliged to keep up with the music they listen to or the films they watch because that’s not part of your daily conversation,“ he said.
Palace are just three points clear of the relegation zone, but Hodgson believes a top-10 finish is still possible.
Reflecting on his own career will have to wait.
„When you’re in the middle of an important job, fighting every week for Premier League points and to make sure the team you work for does well and survives in the Premier League – I don’t often think there’s much time to reflect on where you are, it’s really the journey you’re on at the time which occupies all my thoughts,“ he said.
„Luckily age doesn’t come into my thoughts because I made a conscious decision to stop at 60… That’s enough and all the time I’m feeling OK I’ll stay at 60 and it doesn’t matter what it says on my birth certificate.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
