Roy Hodgson has admitted that he did not want his 40-year football coaching career to end on the sour note of England's humiliating 2-1 defeat by Iceland at Euro 2016, after taking up the reins at his first club, Crystal Palace, in the Premier League.

'We're four games in and the start has been a poor one, we can't deny that, but there's 38 games in the league season and there's 34 more to play and quite frankly the relegation issues are not going to be decided this side of Christmas, they're probably not going to be decided this side of Easter. The Dutchman was sacked on Monday after just 77 days at the club. With his contract due to expire next summer, the disaffected Chilean will be free to flirt with foreign clubs from January and Spanish sports magazine Don Balon say Real president Florentino Pérez has included his name on a lengthy shopping list that also includes Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Andrea Belotti.

A well-travelled and globally respected coach who has worked at clubs in England, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and Norway, Hodgson will extend his managerial career to a 41st year.

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"I am very excited to be back in club football", Hodgson said, "and it is a long while since I have enjoyed the day-to-day sessions of training". He has also managed the national teams of Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Finland. If Wilshere remains on the fringes of an Arsenal side in which he is expected to feature against Cologne this evening, Hodgson could make a move for a player he capped 29 times for England.

"It is very rewarding to find myself here now, in different times, as the Palace manager at a club that I have always loved and admired with a huge potential". "I think we changed the team around and the young, exciting team you see today is the team I was putting together".

Hodgson's first game in charge of Palace will be against Southampton at home on Saturday.