By Patrick Johnston
(Reuters) – The Football
Association’s decision to hold talks with Roy Hodgson about the vacant England manager’s job has left soccer fans and
players shocked, and the West Bromwich Albion coach keenly aware that he would have to win over a sceptical public should he
take the role.
manager Roy Hodgson reacts during their English Premier League match against Aston Vill, October 22, 2011. REUTERS/Darren
Staples
Despite winning 13 trophies on his travels through largely unfashionable clubs in
Europe, the 64-year-old former Inter Milan and Liverpool boss has already been deemed ‘Mr Average’ by sections of the
hard-to-please English media.
When Fabio Capello left the England job in February, Tottenham Hotspur’s manager Harry
Redknapp seemed the only candidate, with former captain David Beckham heading a long, credible list calling for his
appointment.
Monday’s edition of The Sun, England’s biggest selling newspaper, asked “why didn’t Harry get it?” and
claimed eight out of 10 fans in their poll said Hodgson was the wrong choice.
“With the greatest respect, there’s not
going to be a great wave of excitement about the appointment of Roy,” the paper quoted Mark Perryman of the England
Supporters Club as saying.
While Perryman went on to praise Hodgson’s credentials, the overwhelming feeling remained
that he is second choice to Redknapp.
“Surely Roy Hodgson can’t be the only name on the ‘list’??”, former England
international and Everton captain Phil Neville tweeted after the FA said they had only spoken to Hodgson.
The
overwhelming support for Redknapp when Capello exited in the wake of the row over John Terry and the captaincy, had led most
to believe it was a foregone conclusion that the Spurs manager would get the job he wanted.
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Credited with being a strong man-manager who would be able to get the best out of a side that had failed to
reach the semi-finals of a major tournament since Euro 96, Redknapp’s strengths appeared to outweigh the sceptics’ concerns
that he had won only one major title in his 30-year career.
“Harry is an excellent man-manager and I believe that
Hodgson is second choice, whatever the FA says,” former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson told the BBC.
The last
obstacle had appeared to be hurdled in February when Redknapp was cleared of tax evasion, but his admission during the
hearing that he is “the most disorganised person in the world” and that he writes “like a two-year-old and can’t spell” may
have been his undoing with FA bosses.
Hodgson speaks numerous languages and is considered an astute tactician.
Considered too defensive by Liverpool fans, his success at Fulham and now at West Brom have come by building from the back
and counter-attacking.
His contract with West Brom, who sit 10th in the Premier League with two games remaining, is up
at the end of the season and appointing him as England manager would be a much cheaper option than buying Redknapp out of his
Spurs contract.
Titles in Sweden, Denmark and taking Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup — and a best ever world
ranking of third — outweigh anything Redknapp has achieved but, with few English players and managers plying their trade
outside of their borders, Hodgson’s past glories are often overlooked.
Couple that with an 18-month spell in charge
of Blackburn Rovers, where he was sacked at the foot of the table just three years after Blackburn were crowned Premier
League champions; and a poor six months in charge of Liverpool, and the pessimism becomes perhaps more
understandable.
At Liverpool, Hodgson was appointed despite the fans’ clamouring for club legend Kenny Dalglish. Six
months later, Dalglish had replaced Hodgson and has been afforded far more time with fans despite an equally difficult league
campaign and greater investment in the side.
Should Hodgson be appointed England manager and the team struggles at
Euro 2012 in June and July, the FA could find themselves being forced into a very similar situation.
