Palace boss Roy Hodgson honoured to be awarded Freedom of Borough of Croydon

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is to be awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Croydon, council leader Tony Newman has announced.

Croydon-born Hodgson took over from Frank De Boer in September following the Dutchman’s dismissal just four matches into the Premier League campaign, with the club at the foot of the table.

The Eagles failed to pick up a point until the eighth game of the campaign, but the former England boss led a remarkable comeback to help guide the team to an 11th-placed finish on 44 points.

Boyhood Palace fan Hodgson, who was a youth player at Selhurst Park, will receive the honour ‘in recognition of his contribution to Croydon and to football’.

“It is a great honour to be awarded the Freedom of the Borough and I would like to thank Cllr Newman and his colleagues for awarding it to me,” he said, quoted on Palace’s website.

“I could never have dreamt that my journey in life would take me from walking to Selhurst Park with my father and sitting on the crossbar at the Holmesdale Road End, to managing the club I have always supported and to being recognised by Croydon Council for my career in football.”

Cllr Newman said: “I’m delighted to be recommending Roy for Freedom of the Borough as he represents all that is great about Croydon.

“Born and raised here, he’s had a remarkable international career in football, and to cap it all he’s now the manager and saviour of Crystal Palace.”