Roy Hodgson has 'no doubts' over new Crystal Palace contract and reassures fans over transfer strategy

At the helm | Roy Hodgson
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Jack Rosser @JackRosser_8 February 2020

Roy Hodgson has held further talks over agreeing a new deal with Crystal Palace and is ready to sign an extension as soon as a contract is presented to him.

The Palace manager - whose current deal expires in the summer - has been in "very positive" discussions with chairman Steve Parish this week over a contract which will see him through until the end of next season.

Parish, who was at the club's Copers Cope Road training ground on Friday to meet with the 72-year-old, has given his manager further assurances that the board intend to invest in the squad this coming summer following a disappointing transfer window.

Palace face Everton this weekend and the game is followed by a winter break, during which the two will meet again.

"I can’t demand that a contract is put on the table, that has to come from them," said Hodgson. "But I have never had any real doubt or fears that wouldn’t happen.

In Pictures | Crystal Palace vs Sheffield United | 01/02/2020

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"Certainly it has been made clear to me now that that is something the chairman really wants to do. He wants to put that contract in front of me for me to look at and sign.

"So here we are, obviously a lot closer in that respect than maybe some people have given the club credit for. And I think that all the way through I have maintained a very clear approach to it all. I haven’t wanted to go out and make bold statements until there was a time as there was a statement to be made.

"Hopefully something will be there soon for me to be able to say.

"The fact is the chairman and I had very positive discussions during the week, so I have no reason to doubt the intentions of the club are any different now to how they were: to ask me to stay. I’ll be having further discussions in the coming days and we’ll see where that leads."

Hodgson again insisted that everyone involved in recruitment proceedings at the club, including Parish and sporting director Dougie Freedman, are on the same page when it comes to what additions are needed to the squad.

The Eagles were close to adding young right-back Nathan Ferguson from West Brom last week until a complication over a knee injury arose in his medical and the deal collapsed.

The failures of the last two windows have led to concerns among the fanbase as to the long term prospects of the club, but Hodgson says it is time to put any negativity behind them.

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"I think football throws up these moments," said the former England manager. "It could have been very different if the Nathan Ferguson transfer had gone through, if [Cenk] Tosun hadn’t got injured in his first game, people might have been looking at things a bit differently to the way they are looking at them now.

"It’s important for us to get back to the positivity to believe in what we have and to make sure the players know that we believe in them, that we believe they are capable. It’s not a question of we can only do it if a load of new bodies come into the club. We don’t necessarily need a load of new bodies, the guys we’ve got are more than capable.

"But we need to do that as well and the fans need to understand that we do that as well in tandem with not burying our head in the sand and just saying how everything is hunky dory, there’s nothing to concern yourself about. We know that the recruitment issue is a major issue that we have to come to terms with."

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