Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has bamboozled fans by sending a message to Roy Hodgson after he re-joined Crystal Palace as their new manager on Tuesday morning.
The Eagles announced that Hodgson would return to Selhurst Park until the end of the season following the sacking of Patrick Vieira last week. The Frenchman was dismissed after Palace had failed to win any of their last 12 matches.
In fact, Palace are the only Premier League club yet to win a game in 2023 and decided to sack Vieira on the eve of his return to former club Arsenal. Paddy McCarthy took charge of the Eagles for the trip to the Emirates Stadium as they were thrashed 4-1 to leave them three points above the relegation zone.
Hodgson's appointment has caused mixed reaction from the Palace fans on social media, 22 months after he initially left the club. However, Blatter has welcomed Hodgson back into football ahead of his next role.
Blatter told Twitter : "Dear Roy, welcome back old chap! Good luck with your first love in football!," followed by the hashtags: " #RoyHodgson, #ChrystalPalace, #England, #TheEagles, #SelhurstPark."
Fans on social media could not believe what they were seeing from Blatter as they reacted to his comment. One said: "You've convinced me Sep, you're a good lad." Another added: "Tweets you don't expect..."
A third commented: "Just went you thought today couldn’t get any weirder." A fourth said: "This is very bizarre and the only link I can think of is Blatter being Swiss and Hodgson coaching the national team in the 90s."
Another tweeted: "Excuse me?!" A sixth said: "Only thing worse than his appointment today is you tweeting about it."
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This isn't the first time Blatter has wished Hodgson well after he was handed a job. The 87-year-old former FIFA president was complimentary of Hodgson following his appointment of the England national team.
Blatter tweeted back in 2012: "Congratulations to former FIFA TSG member and Grasshopper coach Roy Hodgson on his England appointment... I wish him well."
They have come into contact on further occasions as Blatter tried to build relationships with international managers. However, Blatter was banned by FIFA's ethics committee in 2015 for eight years - which was reduced to six years by FIFA's appeals committee and upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport - and Gianni Infantino came into power at the top of the house at FIFA.
As for Hodgson, meanwhile, he will be aiming to keep Palace in the Premier League with the Eagles currently in a precarious position. They sit 12th but are just four points ahead of bottom side Southampton.
