May 14 2020

Roy Hodgson

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson says the coronavirus pandemic won't stop him from managing the team.

The Premier League and world sport has ground to a shuddering halt due to the highly-contagious virus.

Hodgson, who is the oldest manager in the top flight, is at a higher risk category due to his age.

But the 72-year-old says he feels happy to return to the dugout once the season finally gets under way.

"I think age is age isn’t it. It's how you feel," he told Be In Sports. "Your age doesn’t relate to your fitness or how your feeling, or your capacity to do your job.

"So as far as I’m concerned I feel every bit just as good as March the 10th, perhaps even better because this time has given me more chance to work on my fitness than I had to when I was working on a daily basis.

"I have no qualms about it, and when I get called back to work, I shall be very happy to go to go back to work."

He added: "The Premier League is doing its level best with its stakeholders and shareholders along with the teams and broadcast partners to try and reach a solution to enable for it to be played again.

"The reality is that it’s never going to be an ideal situation. We are never going to go back to March the 10th.

"Whatever happens and however football is able to reappear it will be in a lot of different ways, and there will be compromises to deal with I suppose."