Roy Hodgson revealed he has been suffering from shingles as he prepared for his second Palace engagement of the week.
The former England coach received his CBE from Prince William in an investiture at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, but he goes back to his former club Crystal Palace on Saturday with Watford on the brink of relegation.
Hodgson said he expects the Hornets to be front runners for an immediate return to the Premier League next season as he answered criticism from some fans that he wore sunglasses throughout last weekend's calamitous defeat against Burnley, which all but sealed Watford's fate.
He said: "I'm suffering from shingles (an infection which causes a painful rash), so in actual fact I wasn't actually supposed to be at the game.
"I wasn't well, for a start. I'm still not well, it really doesn't go away in a couple of days, but my eye is 10 times better than it was on Saturday, when it was really like a balloon and my face was swollen.
"I think wearing sunglasses was a suitable thing to do - I wasn't trying to make a fashion statement, I wore them because I had an illness which has disfigured my face."
Hodgson, 74, had confirmed, 24 hours earlier, that his short-term contract at Vicarage Road will be the last managerial assignment of a 46-year coaching career.
He will bow out on the back of a poor return – just eight points from 14 games to date – and he warned some of the players were playing for their future at the club.
But he insisted: "There's a lot of very good things at this club. There's a big squad of players and we haven't perhaps even seen the best of all of them.
"Maybe there's a lot more to come. I would be very surprised if I don't see Watford among the frontrunners next season.
"I'm sure the players themselves that have gone down with the club this season are going to be very anxious to show they can do better than that and can help the club back into the Premier League again.”
