Steve Cooper’s agent has been spotted in the Crystal Palace director’s box amid reports suggesting the Swansea City manager could take over from Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park, according to The Sun (23 May, page 59).
Whoever takes over from the oldest boss in Premier League history will certainly have his work cut out.
Palace are looking to knock down everything Hodgson has built at Selhurst Park and start again from the ground up, with a host of experienced, first-team players out of contract and heading for the exit.
So Cooper, Frank Lampard, Sean Dyche, Valerien Ismael or whoever else gets the job won’t have it easy.
Palace will put their mettle and methods to the test, with owner Steve Parish keen to create an attractive, exciting, up-and-coming team on a budget best described as ‘shoestring’.
Did we mention Ebere Eze, arguably the club’s most influential attacker – and yes we do include Wilfried Zaha in that – could be out until 2022 with an Achilles injury?
If Swansea City beat Brentford in Saturday’s play-off final, Cooper could be forgiven for ignoring Crystal Palace’s advances in favour of a prolonged stay in South Wales.
The former England U17 boss has a new agent and, according to The Sun, was spotted in the Crystal Palace director’s box recently.
It’s uncertain at this stage whether Cooper’s representative was in south London for talks with Parish or whether there’s a more innocent explanation.
Either way, much will depend on the outcome of Saturday’s decider, the so-called ‘richest game in football’.
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