But the thing is, if it was any other word, would it have been offensive?
Basically, Hodgson was asking the other players to give Townsend the ball. Because Townsend was the one making things happen.
Exactly like the monkey in the joke - the one that was getting things done. So he said "Feed the monkey" because it used the joke to illustrate exactly what he wanted to happen. Not because there was any indication that he has an even remotely racist stance. And one other player (NOT Townsend himself) decided it was racist but instead of saying so at the time, he reported it outside. Sounds more like stirring than a proper issue to me. I actually wonder if the player who 'leaked' it didn't know the joke so didn't get the reference. Because I didn't know it until this blew up and I googled it. Taken out of context it might sound odd and possibly racist. Once you know the context, I don't think it does.
If the joke had been about a dog, would it have the same connotation? Would we even be discussing it? If the player in question had been, say, Wayne Rooney, would it be an issue? Because surely what we are aiming for is total equality, which also means being able to repeat the same joke to a friend who is white, a friend who is black, a friend who is gay, a friend who is whatever minority, with no-one being the 'butt' of it, and no-one thinking they might be. Surely, in this instance, checking himself and not using it would make a more obvious distinction between the black players and the white players (I can say this joke to you and it's fine, but not to you, even if you as an individual would get the reference and find it funny.)
So the whole 'controversy' is born out of the fact that Hodgson was using an old joke to get his point across and has fallen foul of that joke. Not fallen foul of using racist language, but of using that particular joke. Are we really saying that there are certain jokes we cannot make reference to with certain people? When those jokes actually don't have race/ethnicity at their heart, but a genuine animal??? Let's face it, the real butt of the original joke is mankind, being outwitted by a monkey and being put there just to provide for it. He's got 15 minutes in a high pressure situation, and what he said was meant to be a joke among themselves. It was not a comment meant for public dissection. And I think that makes a difference.
While I get that the word does now have these connotations, I think we also need to be a bit careful about how far we take it. In that, the player involved was happy.