Roy Hodgson has left the door open to staying on as Crystal Palace manager next season - if the club want him to.
The 75-year-old led Palace to their first victory of 2023 against Leicester on Saturday in his first game back in charge at Selhurst Park.
Hodgson came out of retirement to take replace Patrick Vieira on a short-term basis until the end of the season and has been tasked with keeping Palace in the Premier League.
Palace have started a search for a long-term appointment but Hodgson has said he would be open to a longer stay.
“I came back very simply because the club wanted someone to come in and help between now and the end of the season, some they knew and believed in,” he said.
“They turned to me and to Ray [Lewington, his assistant]. We were happy to say: ‘Thank you for having that faith in us. If we’re the ones you want then we’ll come.’”
Hodgson retired in the summer of2021 but returned in January 2022 in an unsuccessful bid to save Watford from relegation, before retiring again last summer.
“I don’t know about that,” Hodgson said, when asked whether he might stay on next year. “Even though I don’t particularly feel my age, the fact is, it’s the truth that I am getting older.
“I would be very surprised if Crystal Palace wanted to go down that route — and I certainly won’t be pushing them to go down that route. But then [again], I wasn’t pushing them to come to me and ask me to come back either. I don’t push people. I’m flattered that they asked me to do the job.
“The one thing I am definitely not going to say is that when the summer comes, ‘I am retiring.’ I don’t like the word retiring. I prefer: ‘I’m stepping back, and I’m not actively seeking to keep going.’ But who knows what the future brings? If it brings something like this, then I always want to be able to say I’ll do it without saying I’ll come out of retirement.”
