Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Shaun Derry has left the club to become Wolves’ new assistant manager.

Derry was axed from Patrick Vieira’s first-team coaching staff last season in February.

But the French World Cup winner was sacked a month later following a 1-0 defeat at Brighton.

Derry never officially left the club and joined Hodgson’s coaching staff ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.

However, Julen Lopetegui left Wolves before the start of the season and was replaced by Gary O’Neil on Wednesday.

Hodgson said: “He was contracted to the club, but he was on gardening leave for a period of time.

“He was on gardening leave when we joined in March.

“He was being paid by the club but wasn’t doing any work.

“He wanted to work, but there were no vacancies for him.

“The previous manager and management staff hadn’t wanted him.

“We – myself, Paddy McCarthy, Ray Lewington and Dean Kiely – were happy to welcome him back to work with us.

“We thought it would be good to have him with us again because we like him as a person – he’s a really good coach and a really good Crystal Palace man.

“It was going very well – we were very happy with him.

“But suddenly, another friend of his – who he has worked with in the past – Gary O’Neil, gets the job at Wolves and asked him to become his assistant manager.

“There is no way we could stand in his way.

“We would have been happy if he said: ‘I can’t accept this opportunity.’

“But when he said: ‘I need to take this opportunity – it’s a big step forward in my career. I can’t turn this down,’ we reluctantly said: ‘We understand and you go with our best wishes.’

“I would have been happier if Gary O’Neil had not come in and tempted him away.”

Hodgson confirmed he has no plans to replace Derry.

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Veteran manager Roy Hodgson cannot wait to get another Premier League campaign up and running with Crystal Palace.

Hodgson may have turned 76 earlier this week on August 9, but has no intentions of taking things easy just yet after agreeing to stay on in charge at Selhurst Park.

The former England boss returned for a second spell at his boyhood club in March following the departure of Patrick Vieira.

Having safely guided the Eagles clear of a relegation battle at the time into the safety of a mid-table finish, Hodgson is ready to attack the new campaign head on as Palace begin life without Wilfried Zaha, who completed a summer move to Turkish giants Galatasaray.

“I wanted to carry on because the club asked me to carry on,” said Hodgson, who has also managed Switzerland and Finland, counting Inter Milan, Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom among the many clubs of which he has taken charge during a lengthy coaching career.

“Basically, because I so much enjoyed last season working with the team that I was able to work with for the last 10 games, the opportunity to carry on working with them was one that I certainly had no intention of resisting.”

Hodgson continued in his press conference: “The excitement, the build-up – after what seems like quite a long pre-season, especially these days with travelling – all of that really is for this moment, which is going to start for me at 3pm tomorrow afternoon.

“That’s we’ve been working for and looking forward to. That’s the lifeblood of our jobs, so I have just as much excitement and just as much hope that things are going to go our way just as I did before my very first game, which was a very long time ago.”

Despite the loss of Zaha, so long the club’s talisman, Palace have strengthened with the addition of midfielder Jefferson Lerma following the end of his contract at Bournemouth.

“The fans will like him. He’s a good signing, there’s no doubt about that,” Hodgson said of the 28-year-old Colombia international.

“We were lucky to get him – his quality as a player, his experience, his character, the type of football he plays, his whole-hearted efforts which he has made for so many years now for Bournemouth.”

Palace will be without several players for the season-opening trip to Sheffield United, including France Under-21 international Michael Olise and Will Hughes, as well as summer signing Matheus Franca.

Hodgson is expecting a stern test against the Blades, who secured a return to the top flight with a second-placed finish in the Sky Bet Championship last season.

“Sheffield United is a difficult place to go. Like ourselves, they have a really good support – a support that gets behind the team,” the Palace boss said.

“We expect them to be really geared up for the game, fired up for the game. We expect to be put under pressure from both the players on the field and the fans behind them.

“These are things you have to learn to resist and find a way of resisting, and then hopefully we can play the football I’m hoping we’re going to be capable of playing this season.”