Roy Hodgson insists he ‘couldn’t do any more’ to save Watford from relegation

Roy Hodgson says his conscience is clear despite being unable to keep Watford in the Premier League.

A 1-0 loss at his old club Crystal Palace on Saturday proved the final nail in the Hornets’ coffin and confirmed they would be back in the Sky Bet Championship next season.

Veteran boss Hodgson and trusty assistant Ray Lewington were parachuted in to replace Claudio Ranieri at the end of January after Watford dropped into the bottom three following a 3-0 reverse at home to Norwich.

The 74-year-old won his fourth match in charge of the Vicarage Road outfit but an overall run of 11 defeats in 15 games has resulted in a second relegation in three seasons.

Hodgson said: “When you take over a team at the bottom of the league you know it’s never going to be easy to move them up the table.

“Of course you understand that but my conscience and Ray’s are 100 per cent clear.

“We have worked to the very best of our ability and the things that we did here which helped Crystal Palace, we have done exactly the same with Watford with the same degree of passion and the same energy and enthusiasm.

“So we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say ‘what could you have done more, where did you go wrong?’ And I don’t honestly think we can answer that other than by saying we couldn’t do any more than we have done.

“Unfortunately our message wasn’t strong enough to get through to the players and turn them around.”

It was confirmed earlier this month that Hodgson would leave Watford at the end of the season, having penned a short-term deal with the club on January 25.

A new manager will be required for the Hornets’ latest promotion push and will be the 17th different person, including caretakers, to have sat in the Vicarage Road hot seat since