Hodgson: Pandemic ‘will pass as long as everyone plays the game’

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson issued a missive to the Eagles faithful on Sunday, detailing his life during the coronavirus pandemic and encouraging all to continue the social distance fight.

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Hodgson insists that the Premier League season must be concluded properly, and knows that he may need to get his players back to fitness without the benefit of a normal-length training camp.

Hodgson praises the medical workers of England as well as the work of the players in spreading the word and donating money.

More importantly, though, he bleeds the passion of life as a fellow football fan. He’s clearly missing the game just as much as the rest of us, but knows it’s imperative that society comes out of the pandemic as healthy as possible.

From Crystal Palace’s official site:

I know that all of you are missing football every bit as much as we are, but this time will pass. I can’t give a timeline of course, but it will definitely pass as long as everyone ‘plays the game’. When we get back together we’ll have a group of players who are raring to go and do their best for the remainder of this season to finish strongly. It’s been a good season so far, and we’re more than happy with it. But we’re going to be working really hard to ensure the last nine games don’t see a slide in our performance. We’ll come back motivated, and I have everything crossed that we will be playing in front of you, our magnificent supporters at Selhurst Park as soon as the government and authorities deem it safe to do so.

The piece also shows the disparity between elite athletes and the rest of us, as Palace delivered fitness equipment and set up home gyms for their players in quarantine. Roy, if you know anyone in the Great Lakes region, I could use something more than a pull-up bar and ab wheel.