Roy Hodgson: ‘English’ Jack Grealish made the right decision

Roy Hodgson has dismissed Jack Grealish’s Irish connections as “distant” and said the Aston Villa player made the correct decision — and also the “bolder” one — in declaring for England.

Grealish this week ended a protracted will-he-won’t-he saga by committing himself to England’s senior set-up despite Ireland manager Martin O’Neill’s efforts to persuade him to progress his international career with the country he had previously represented, through his grandparentage, up to U21 level.

“I’m very pleased,” said Hodgson yesterday. “I think it is the right decision. “Frankly he is English. Having met him and his father, it is an English family albeit with fairly distant Irish roots.