At 71, Roy Hodgson is still learning. The oldest manager in Premier League history has travelled all over the world and concluded that “no one has a monopoly on knowledge.” Now manager of Crystal Palace, the club he grew up supporting, it isn’t clear whether Hodgson views this as the twilight of his career, or another learning experience. At Palace’s training ground in Beckenham, he speaks with verve and enthusiasm that do not suggest this is a man ready to bow out of football anytime soon. “I’m always looking for ways to improve as a manager and a coach.”
Although Croydon-born, Hodgson’s route to the Palace dugout was far from straightforward. After a playing career spent predominantly in non-league, supplemented by work as a PE teacher in south London, he progressed to full-time coaching at the age of 29, taking charge at Swedish side Halmstads.
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