Hodgson: I almost missed out on Fulham, Crystal Palace experiences

Roy Hodgson has said he almost walked away from management 14 years ago.

His contract at Crystal Palace is up at the end of the season and a decision has yet to be made over his future.

Hodgson has revealed he could have called time on his managerial career 14 years ago were it not for a broken promise he made to Inter Milan.

“It was Christmas 2007 and my first game with Fulham was on January 1, 2008,” he explains.

“I could so easily have retired after Finland and even contemplated going down a different route to management and coaching.

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“The major one I’d basically decided upon and, had even given a guarantee I suppose, was when I made a promise to replace Giacinto Facchetti at Inter Milan and work alongside Massimo Moratti at the club, but not as a manager, more like a director type role.

“That was immediately thrown into confusion by the fact I received a couple of other management offers which made me think again.

“When the Fulham one came it was the one that definitely tipped me back to perhaps where I should always have been, I don’t think I should have been thinking along those lines and I’m very grateful that Massimo Moratti released me from that promise I had made.

“I am really pleased I didn’t go down that route because it has given me such a fantastic time, with living in London all that time and working not only with England for four years but with the two excellent London clubs in Fulham and Crystal Palace.

“It means a long period of my coaching life which has taken place here in London, where I suppose you could argue I belong because it’s where it all started.”