Outgoing England manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that he did not understand why he needed to face the media following his side's shock Euro 2016 exit at the last-16 stage.
The 68-year-old announced his resignation in a statement less than one hour after the Three Lions' 2-1 defeat to minnows Iceland in Nice on Monday night.
Hodgson did not do any media interviews last night, and he initially had no plans to join FA chief executive Martin Glenn in this afternoon's press conference, but due to perceptions that he was "afraid" of facing the press, the ex-West Bromwich Albion boss made an appearance.
"I don't know what I'm doing here because I thought my statement last night was sufficient," Hodgson told reporters. "I was told by everyone it was important I appear here because people are smarting from our defeat. I suppose someone has to stand and take the slings and arrows that come with it.
"I'm disappointed. I didn't see [the result] coming. I had no indication that we were going to play that badly. I'm still recovering from what happened. It was not a good night for anybody. We go home as losers in the last 16 and retain that wretched record of not winning a knock-out game in the tournament."
When a question posed to Glenn suggested that Hodgson was forced to be at the press conference, the outgoing manager chimed in to say: "I wasn't forced to come. I was anxious to make certain that no-one in this room could accuse me of being worried or afraid to face the media. I don't think it was necessary.
"I did so because I have never shirked a press conference. I maintained I am unhappy about it because it's no longer my job. Nothing I can say can do anything but fuel the flames. I don't want to come here as Uriah Heep and I don't want to come here in a bolshie way either."
Meanwhile, Glenn has claimed that the FA is open to hiring a foreign manager as Hodgson's replacement.
Danielle Joynson
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