Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson feels Wayne Rooney can bounce back from his sacking at Birmingham City.

Former Manchester United captain Rooney was sacked on Tuesday after 13 games in charge.

His former England coach Hodgson said: “I know him well. I worked with him for four years. He's got an outstanding football brain. He was a magnificent footballer. He's an icon of English football. One always hopes that when an icon of English football gets a chance to step up back in English football in the Championship, he's going to get a chance to really show what he can do.

“I can only agree with him: I think the amount of time he was given to really show his ability and his qualities was a short one. It's the world we live in at the moment and I know Wayne understands and accepts that like we all do, but I'm sad that it happened and I know that he will bounce back.

“I've read or heard that he's going to take a little break from the game. I think that's an intelligent thing to do, because there's no doubt that Wayne Rooney will always be on people's lips and in people's minds when it comes to future jobs because he really does understand football.

“He's proved that and as a player I always thought he was very thoughtful and very astute tactically.

“It's perhaps more a question of the climate that people work in these days. I think sometimes the bigger name players might be given a chance at a top club, or a club in an elevated position – and I'm thinking in particular Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, even more than Wayne, got that chance.

“But unfortunately way the climate is these days that the judgement on them will come very, very quickly and will be quite severe. They'll be welcomed into the club because of their name and they'll be expected, because they are Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, that suddenly they'll come in and the team they're taking over, which hasn't been doing brilliantly, is suddenly going to fly. I think that's an unrealistic demand…

“That's where the dream, or the myth which is quite often proliferated, is that a manager has some sort of magic wand, and he will wave that wand and the team was doing badly will now do well because he's there. Sometimes it works… but it's by no means a certainty.

“I wouldn't, at the moment, want to cast aspersions on any of those three in terms of their ability to be good managers. I might even say, if I was to be philosophical that these experiences might even help them along the way, because somewhere along the way you're going to suffer some real blows in this game as a manager, perhaps more than you often suffer as a player… if they survive them they'll come out even stronger… I'm convinced that they have the qualities both as coaches, managers, and leaders to succeed."