COMMENT: Roy Hodgson. In the end it caught up with him. No not the tactics. The approach. Nor even the so-called 'modern game'. The reason for Hodgson's downfall this week was easy: injuries.
The revisionism. The patronising. For this column, it's been a disgrace. Okay, okay, Hodgson took ill on Thursday. He was admitted to hospital. But the way he's been portrayed these past few days...
A frail old man, clinging onto a job that's overtaken him. Overwhelmed him. A season too far... blah, blah, blah. What a load of patronising garbage this is. At 76, Hodgson is as fit and as robust as they come. He proved over his time back at Selhurst Park that he could handle everything coming his way. That we even have to discuss this is insulting.
After all, it was Hodgson who never faltered during last season's relegation scrap. The steady pair of hands, they said. But he proved more than that, much more - and we'll get to that in a sec...
Cycle back to the end of last season and no-one was questioning the renewal of Hodgson's contract. In terms of available alternatives, there were some decent names floating about. But Hodgson and Palace again proved a good fit. For where the club was. For how this team was progressing. Going with Hodgson for another 12 months made sense. And he knew the score. Hodgson never talked about the job as a long-term proposition. Whenever the situation was put to him, the tone of the response was that he was there as a bridge, to help the board move from one stage to the next - and smoothly. Again, Hodgson was never heard discussing five-year plans. He always brought a dose of reality when discussing the job and where he sat with the board.
And as we say, no-one protested his new deal. How could they? After all, he had the ringing endorsements of Ebere Eze and Michael Olise. It was under Hodgson that Eze played his way into the England squad last summer. Just as it was with Hodgson that Olise produced the best football of career.
Again, this revisionism... Hodgson was actually good for these two attacking talents. A positive force. Building his system to free up Eze. To exploit the creativity of Olise. The players thrived under their old gaffer. And their endorsement came in the new season as both players committed to new Palace contracts. With so much transfer interest swirling around them, neither player is inking new deals if they're unhappy with their manager.
Ditto Cheick Doucoure. A player who didn't quite click in the first-half of last season under Patrick Vieira, but found his feet with Hodgson and played a key role in last season's late push up the table. Indeed, so much so that Doucoure was being mentioned with Napoli and Liverpool last summer, at least that was before the snapped Achilles.
Which is the common thread through this season. Doucoure. Eze. Olise. They've all missed large chunks of the campaign. You take such quality out of a midfield of Palace's status and any and every manager is going to struggle. Couple that with two relatively quiet transfer windows and you wonder just what was Hodgson supposed to do?
Hodgson and his methods haven't suddenly become outdated. The energy and passion for the job hasn't suddenly waned. For this column, you can see Hodgson making a management return. His work with Eze and Olise proof enough that he has plenty to offer to those who'll listen.
With Palace, it was job done. He went in there with the team spiraling and the players disillusioned. And he leaves a playing group which is more united and - when everyone is available - far stronger than what he inherited. Oliver Glasner should be grateful. And he is. The Austrian just the type of prospect Hodgson was holding fort for. Again, it's job done.
And to be fair to Steve Parish, he saw that. The chairman had no real appetite to move Hodgson on. At least not at this stage of the season. The plan was always to get to the end of the campaign, see what's available, and then make a decision. Loyalty and integrity were involved in standing by Hodgson, but for Parish it was also a case of circumstance.
Injuries - and a lack of spending - had caught up on Palace. Not on the manager. Nor on his methods. It was simply a more and more crowded medical room that proved his downfall.
