Hodgson looks back on Palace landmark pre-Chelsea
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson marked the evolution of the Academy as one of a number of key developments during his tenure at the club.
“There's been so many [changes during my time at the club],” he pointed out, ahead of his 200th game in charge on Monday night.
“If you wanted just one single thing [that’s been the biggest positive], then I would say the Academy of course.
“A lot of money went into that, a lot of thought, a lot of effort and I think that's lifted the club up to a higher level.”
Palace’s Academy achieved Category 1 status, the highest level possible for academies in the country, back in July 2020 and since then has seen them compete in the top youth competitions at domestic level.
Current Palace first-team players Tyrick Mitchell, David Ozoh, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Joe Whitworth have all come through the Academy in recent years, demonstrating the impact the investment has had already.
The Academy was not the only thing that has changed during Hodgson’s 200-game tenure, as he went on to point out the impact of key players arriving in various transfer windows: “I think that the other big change really was two years ago when the club invested quite a lot of money by our standards for four players.
“They bought [Marc] Guéhi; they brought [Joachim] Andersen; we had bought [Eberechi] Eze, but he'd only been there a few months; and they brought [Michael] Olise; and they signed Conor Gallagher on loan and Wilfried Zaha was still here.
“I think that was a major shift. Those six players going into the team when I watched them play were very different to the team we'd had, which I had admired and liked and I thought they did an excellent job keeping us in the league for four years.
“So no criticism of the team before, but if you say when did you see a potential leap forward in terms of the team, I think it was then and in terms of the club in general, I think the Academy and the plans for the new stadium [Main Stand].”