Prior to the final game of the season against Nottingham Forest, Salako looked back on what he deemed a “crazy, unprecedented season.”
“We started knowing that for the first time we'd stop mid-season, Christmas, to have a World Cup and we didn't really know what to expect from that. So, in the first half of the season, before the World Cup, we started well and we were getting results.
“We weren’t playing particularly at our best. I think Villa was probably the best performance, and we also did well against Leeds at home and Wolves, but we were getting some nice wins.
“Going into the World Cup break, we got a great result at West Ham and then should’ve beaten Nottingham Forest away. In all honesty, I think everyone enjoyed the World Cup in the end. It was great to see [Lionel] Messi lifting the trophy.
“Then that first game against Fulham was arguably the worst game of our season. They [Fulham] were good and we weren't at the races for that restart.
“Then we went and got a great win at Bournemouth, which then turned out to be our only win in 17 and that poor run of form kept on going, you know, all these draws and we were losing. I think, in the end, Chairman Steve Parish made a great decision to bring back Roy [Hodgson] - it was a masterstroke.”
