Roy Hodgson’s career enjoying late bloom at boyhood club Crystal Palace after England’s Iceland debarcle

England’s infamous 2-1 defeat by Iceland at the 2016 European Championships could easily have been the end of Roy Hodgson’s management career.

Embarrassed by one of the national team’s biggest ever shocks, Hodgson resigned immediately and was heavily criticised for his side’s dreadful performance, negative tactics and team selection.

Aged 68 and with 40 years of management behind him, it would have been understandable, and perhaps even expected, for Hodgson to retire and get away from it all.

His long-time assistant Ray Lewington told BBC Sport recently he was up “for not doing anything again”, but as the months ticked by Hodgson began to get restless without football, speaking to Lewington with renewed enthusiasm for the game. After some time away from the spotlight to reflect, he wanted to buy back in.

It just so happened that in September 2017 Frank de Boer’s disastrous spell at Crystal Palace was cut short after just five games, presenting the opportunity Hodgson had been looking for: the chance to manage his boyhood club.

Despite being “very excited to be back in club football” and talking of Palace’s “enormous potential for growth” it wasn’t an easy situation in which the Croydon-born coach could ease himself back into the day-to-day life of management.

Palace were winless and goalless, at the bottom of the league and in a state of flux, having burned through nine permanent managers in just seven years.

In the words of Hodgson’s former employer, ex-Football Association technical director Dan Ashworth, Palace were “in a really difficult moment when they looked almost certain to go down”. His 20th job was set to be one of his most difficult.

But not only did they not go down, Hodgson righted the ship sufficiently to finish 11th in his first season.

There were difficulties again for Palace this campaign but a run of form, laced with memorable wins over Manchester City in the league and Tottenham in the FA Cup, has returned to leave them looking up the Premier League table, rather than over their shoulder, despite Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat by Manchester United.

What makes the upturn particularly notable is that it has come at the same time as a significant landmark. Palace’s impressive counter-attacking 4-1 victory over Leicester last weekend saw Hodgson, in his 43rd year of management, surpass Sir Bobby Robson to become the Premier League’s oldest ever manager.

The fact Hodgson has managed to turn around the fortunes of his side and his own public perception at such an age is to his huge credit – and, he says, it’s all down to his love of the sport.

“It’s nice to still be working. I’ve always thought that when the time came to retire I’d know it and as yet that time hasn’t dawned on me,” he told BBC Sport. “Then [when I do retire] I hope I have enough wits about me to dampen my passion for the game and learn to live without it.”

The golf course can wait. Palace head to Burnley on Saturday and for the time being Hodgson’s passion is showing no signs of abating.