Things haven’t really gone too well for Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace this season.
The Premier League’s elder statesman was parachuted in by chairman, Steve Parish, last season after Patrick Vieira was relieved of his duties, and he had an immediate impact.
The Eagles were flying again at the back end of 2022/23, but any thoughts of a repeat this season have been misplaced.
Ahead of their match against Liverpool, Palace sit in a lowly 14th place, and if results elsewhere were to go against them, they could be as low as 16th at the close of the weekend.
Nottingham Forest currently occupy that position, and their manager, Steve Cooper, also appears on the brink of being shown the exit door.
However, it’s entirely possible that Cooper could walk out of one job and straight into the next if Hodgson is sacked after the Liverpool game.
“He (Cooper) is a manager that Palace have admired for a while. I know that he is impressive in the way that the club’s future is mapped out and how Palace might want to step forward next time around,” journalist, Dean Jones, told Give Me Sport.
“When they kept Hodgson on for this season, it was because they couldn’t find the right manager that fitted where they wanted to go next. But I know that Steve Cooper is one of the managers that they definitely admire.
“He is in a pretty good situation, I think. If second season syndrome does strike at Nottingham Forest, he has pretty much already got an out here.
“I don’t know whether Crystal Palace would be willing to sack Roy Hodgson midway through a season because, to be honest, he has done a massive favour by helping them through a period when they were struggling after Patrick Vieira.”
If Hodgson is to fall on his sword, whilst it could well signal the end of his career finally, and he will take the well earned retirement he was coaxed out of, it would still be the end of an era.
The 76-year-old has been a remarkable and enthusiastic ambassador for the English game and a shining light for any young coaches coming through.