Watford Fans Annoyed After Roy Hodgson Applauds Crystal Palace Fans

Roy Hodgson was criticised for taking applause from Crystal Palace fans, after his former club sent Watford down from the Premier League on Saturday.

It was announced earlier this week that Hodgson was set to step away from Watford, and retire from football management, no matter what happened.

He knew that his side had to avoid defeat against his old club, Palace, if they were to delay going back down into the Championship, just a year after returning to the top flight.

Unfortunately for the Hertfordshire side, they couldn't get the result needed, with Wilfried Zaha's penalty enough to earn the hosts all three points at Selhurst Park.

It would have been very disappointing for the away supporters and they were left even more annoyed by their manager at full time.

Whilst walking towards the changing rooms, Hodgson was given around of applause by the home fans and he applauded back, but the 74-year-old hadn't given his own fans in the away end a similar reception.

Speaking after the game, the former Fulham manager explained why he didn't go over to the Hornets' fans, saying, "Unfortunately they were a bit too far away," as per the Watford Observer.

"The fans deserve an awful lot of credit...I don't think the players or the club could have anything other than respect and admiration for the way they've tried to keep the team going.

"I think there's enough to write about in the game," adding that he doesn't usually go over to acknowledge the following away support.

The former England manager was born in Croydon and was a Palace fan, he managed the club for nearly four years, from September 2017 until the end of last season.

When he left the club last summer it was expected that he would retire from management, but he was brought back by Watford midway through the season.

On the response from the fans of his former club, he added, "It was great to come back and really touching."