‘He will always be appreciated here’ – Jack Butland hails former Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson
BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
Jack Butland has hailed former Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson and believes the 74-year-old will always receive a warm welcome any time he revisits Selhurst Park.
Butland was handed his England debut when he was just 19 years old by then manager Roy Hodgson, becoming the youngest ever to play in that position when he faced Italy in August 2012.
And just under 10 years later, Butland – who was signed by Hodgson from Stoke City for the Eagles in October 2020 – has praised his old boss. Croydon-born Hodgson is set to retire from a long managerial career after witnessing his former side relegate Watford on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park.
“He’s an incredible manager, he’s achieved a hell of a lot, but he’s also an incredible man. That’s why he gets the reaction he gets because of the person that he is,” said Butland to the South London Press.
“Hopefully at the end of the season, he really does go and chill out now. He came out of retirement and was thrown into a quite stressful job, where we’ve obviously witnessed the relegation of Watford today.
“It’s a sad day for him to come back, but he’ll always be appreciated here, and pretty much anywhere he goes. Roy can come back here whenever he wants, and he’s always going to have an incredible reaction from everybody.”
Butland also took the opportunity to look to the future too after the victory, with academy goalkeeper Joe Whitworth part of the squad on Saturday, one of the many young goalkeepers who regularly join the first team at their Beckenham training ground.
“They’re across the road from us where the training ground is set up, but we do get them across when we can,” said Butland about the regular academy visitors to first-team training.
“The gaffer (Patrick Vieira) likes to use four goals at times, so you need that fourth goalkeeper. The young lads come over, and they’ve done great.”
So does Butland enjoy working with that next generation of goalkeepers, mentoring them on their path to becoming professionals?
“I do, I enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve been used to it, whether it’s with England, whether it’s with Stoke, I’ve either been the old one or been the younger one. I know how important it is to be looked after, as well as looking after the others – we’re in it together.
“They’ll be playing when I’m long finished, and it’d be nice when I do hang up my gloves in however many years’ time to see a couple of young lads playing. That’d be really nice.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD