Hodgson enters as England begin new era

Simply shameful to decide amongst themselves - without interviewing others.

Phil, this is really disappointing from you. 'Defence'? What defence is needed for the appointment of someone with extensive international managerial experience over someone who has only ever won an FA Cup (against Championship opposition)? Give Hodgson a chance please!

Way too old, tactically naive, another disaster waiting to happen. I don't understand the obsession with having to have an Englishman managing the team surely you want the best instead we stick to good old English national pride. Jose Mourinho was the guy who they should have gone after.

I think Hodgson should be given a chance. But I'm skeptical about the decision to first appoint him, but also choosing to just interview him. I just hope some pride and passion can be restored to team, features that have been severely lacking in many recent England sides.

FA just saved 10-12m on this!!!

Same old same old expect a quater final exit in euros with the same team Capello would have played (possibly with Zomora to hold the long ball football we will play) followed by a Hodgson exit during qualifying for Brazil. Poor appointment, vast expierance however lack of success at the top level. No matter what the FA say this was a financial decision clearly England needed to take a chance on Redknapp.

stefan p - Why on Earth should they interview other candidates if they are sure that Hodgson is the man for the job? To pacify the toy-throwing fans who want "Our 'Arry" on the grounds that he has taken Spurs into the top four - and straight out again? On that argument Alan Pardew has by far the better claim.

I like Hodgson as a man but for he is the second choice of the fans and most importantly the players. Harry has a way of bringing a team together and controlling individuals and his fluid energetic style that he likes his teams to play with is prefect for England. For him not to even be interviewed is absolutely shocking and another blunder in the saga that is the FA.

However, whats done is done, Roy is are man and lets get behind him and England. If i was Hodgson i would have just come out and said 'im sticking with Parker as captain' to avoid all this nonsense concerning JT, Gerrard or Rio. Parker can be lifting the trophy come July with a bit of belief and as always in football, luck.

@7 - Tbf Harry Redknapp has done an excellent job at Tottenham as when he joined them they were bottom of the league and two years later they were in a Champions league quarter final, and are competing for the top four year after year. He also won an FA cup with Pompey and kept them in the premiership for longer than they probably should have been. did a decent job with southampton aswell

It is only in England that d appointment of a national team manager becomes a national debate. In other big football countries, it is done quietly, without any fuss, and everyone gets on with it. As a neutral, there's just nothing in Harry Redknapp to suggest he's better than Hodgson. Infact, i believe that the FA has made the best choice. Hodgson has international football experience. It doesn't matter where he had it, the exposure that comes with it is all that matters. Harry doesn't have the nous of a national team manager. That you play good football without trophies at an expensively assembled tottenham does not mean you will succeed as England manager. It's a different ball game entirely. England are way behind other european teams like Germany, Spain and Holland so, the idea of playing free flowing attacking football will spell doom for England due to their apparent inferiority. It's pathetic the slamming of Hodgson especially from the press. As for the players, they are suppose to play for the country, not the Manager, so it doesnt matter who the manager. If they are not happy with Roy, let them stay at home and let him take his boys. It's good riddance to bad rubbish anyway!

9 Voice of reason please say you are a Pompey fan Harry was awful at Southampton just brought in a load of over the hill players and got relegated. He has done ok at Spurs but im sure Hodgson could have taken that collection of players towards the top of the league. However Harry would be more suited to the England role mainly shown by Spurs performances in last years champions league. Also a more attacking style would suit the current crop of players.

ShrimpinaKilt –
I think you answered your own question by mentioning two other names. Even if they were sure about the man they wanted, interviewing other potential candidates would be logical, simply to rule out any doubts. They were sure about re-negotiating Capello’s contract prior to the world cup!!

NeilP mourinho would never manage england, he needs to be in the spotlight all the time and would hate the long breaks without a game. As for too old, he's around the same age as the other main contender Redknapp and is seeming to peak with success at fulham and west brom. Yes liverpool was a failure but we know about all the dalglish talk while he was there, and lets be honest theyre not exactly doing much better with the king there. Finally, claiming he his tactically naive is an embarassing statement. He took fulham from relegation certainties to their highest league position and the final of the europa league. With a solid if unremarkable group of players, he made them vastly overachieve and become very hard to beat, as well as claiming numerous big name scalps not least juventus. Hodgson's tactical style is perfect for England and will contain the likes of Spain and Germany who have far superior technical players. It may look defensive or boring, but as we proved in the recent success against Spain, it does work and is our only hope on the big stage

I got a BBC online ID just to say that was a particularly boring blog, which is a particularly boring comment

@9 I wouldn't say Harry Redknapp's work with Spurs has been excellent, he took on a vastly underperforming team, who have a great plan A when all players are fit, but no Plan B. Their recent run of results has shown that. As for over-performing with lesser sides Hodgson has much more experience with this than Redknapp.

I think Redknapp's appointment would have caused the sort of over-hyped media frenzy that happens year on year when England approach a major tournament. He may well have the gift of the gab, and is a great man manger so long as he likes you, but as for converting that into actual substance, i'm yet to be convinced. England are an outside chance and need an astute and focused manager to get the best out of them. I think Hodgson is the ideal candidate.

14 Mattb085 Contain why should we do that? ok Chelsea did it for 2 legs against Barca but that will never work again. And technically not as good rubbish. You cant tell me that Rooney Gerrard Sturridge Barry etc are technically worse than foriegn players England should compete by playing football not by trying to hang on with 11 men behind the ball unfortunatly i fear this it what Hodgson will do.

I think every decent england fan will sit back and give Hodgson a fair chance, like i will, but as fans we also have every right too give our opinion, i'm not convinced too be honest, true hodgson did great things with Switzerland but the pressure was less, the players have their own personal agendas, England are more renound globally for their football and have players of better quality and our media are impatient, so theres not much margin for error. i've heard players saying he's 'very organised and will make us hard too beat which is what we need', but we already are difficult too beat because of Capello's defensive style, so we're already pretty solid, we need someone who can concentrate on our attacking play, more fluid and dynamic, because the top nations have the right balance, if Hodgson makes us just'organised' then what have we gained?? a few more nil nils?, Hodgson's biggest task in my opinion is giving our attacking players the confidence too prove they are match winners, and be clever tactically too allow them too do this.

Thatsolney - with all due respect I'm not sure England need someone with experience of top level success; surely Hodgson's record of making distinctly average teams overperform is more useful than a manager who makes a top team win everything (like Capello) We'd surely be considered underdogs against pretty much any side that makes a WC quarter or european semi...

You really only have to read a few lines of this article to see the media's disappointment that the new England manager won't be giving 'frank' interviews out of a car window, using the gutter press as his first port of call and giving them brash quotes to build fanciful stories around. McNulty's indignation that he's been deprived of this fountain of journalistic opportunity has been getting more and more obvious over the recent few blogs.

What on earth has the FA got to defend about appointing a man who worked wonders with Switzerland and Finland and has a good record of getting average teams to overperform (that's a category I would firmly place England in) over a man who is tactically naive at best, useless at worst and cares more about his own reputation and bank balance than any job he's ever held, not to mention inevitably stick with the 'old guard' for the foreseeable future?

And why would the FA bother to interview other candidates? It's obvious to everybody what both managers' strengths and weaknesses are, the FA was merely choosing which of them hold the most weight, which is best done by proper in-depth analysis and perspective and not sitting in a room with somebody.

Interesting how Phil uses this article to pre-meditatively justify future criticism of Hodgson on the basis that it's fair questioning of the FA's decision-making process. Whatever makes you sleep at night. This is the journalist who churns out 4 or 5 blogs on England every international break, which will normally include the full spectrum from blind ambition to desolate despair based solely on the most recent result. For example, pre-Bulgaria everything was looking worrying, and then things looked fantastic again after a solid win with great prospects like Phil Jones and co, before the Wales game showed how average England are and how the likes of Lampard and co need replacing. Taking a step back, how can anybody possibly think England have gone from no-hopers to world-beaters to average in the space of 5 days?

If I was actually an Englishman I would be feeling sicker than ever at the way in which the media insist on turning the national team into an absolute circus. That's without even mentioning the disgraceful headline the Sun are going to print. Calling for people to give him a chance is ironic seeing as this article makes it clear that Hodgson is firmly in the media's crosshair within hours of getting the job for having the insolence to conduct himself and his business in a dignified manner, not pandering to the media and therefore "not being Harry Redknapp" as Phil puts it.

And sorry to pick on you again but I'm pretty sure you can say Rooney, Gerrard, Sturridge and Barry are technically worse than their counterparts in foreign teams. Maybe not Wazza but I wouldnt take any of the other three over, say, iniesta, silva and xavi or even schweinsteiger muller and ozil...

It always astonishes me how negative people can sometimes be generally, and how England fans seem able to excel themselves at it, in particular in situations regarding the FA and management. Hodgson is obviously a good choice. If he'd have had the backing (both financial and the unconditional love and forgiveness of the fans) that Dalglish has had, he'd have been successful at Liverpool too. Please, let's get behind the new manager and remember that England remain one of the top ten or so sides in the world. This means setting expectations accordingly. England should make it to the last eight of Euro 2012. Less world be failure. A semi-final appearance would be a success and a final appearance, or even winning it, although unlikely, would prove Hodgson's appointment very sound indeed. Let's not forget that in sport, particularly one where there are so few goals, luck plays a huge part.

The start of this blog infuriates me. You obviously can't move on from the fact that Hodgson has been chosen, not Redknapp. It's about the new England Manager - why is there even a need to mention Redknapp in this blog?

"Bernstein backed the process which, to widespread surprise, ignored Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp."

What widespread surprise? You keep spouting the same old quotes of Redknapp being "the peoples choice". No, Phil, he was "the media's choice". Good luck to Hodgson.

As for Redknapp's FA Cup win, other than beating United with some favourable refereeing decisions Pompey didn't even play a PL team if I remember correctly and stumbled through every round. In getting to the Europa League final, Fulham turfed out the likes of Shakhtar, Basel, Hamburg and Juventus, before taking Atletico to extra time. You decide which is better and which serves as a better qualification for international football management.

Yeah totally agree with 20. We have speed and strength but in comparison to our spanish, and german counterparts we are lacking in the technical department. To say barry is technically gifted in a tad naive, just because he can pick a pass does not mean he is 'technically gifted'. As for sturridge he uses stepover and his pace most of the time... @thatsolney - you epitomize the typical english fan... think way too much of our players when really we are a pretty mediocre team

18 what a bill Hodgson may hav had success turning small teams into competative ones however this is England a team flooded with international stars, please dont say they are not because they are, and im not sue this will impress them. Also bar a mad world cup Cappello's record was impressive. Most importantly lets not forget the last England manager who had a record of competing with a samll team in europe the wally with the brolly Hodgson will face the same problems.

St George's Park - that is what's important.

Why is Harry Redknapp even being talked about for the job at all? What has he achieved in the game? An FA cup. Fair enough, he guided Spurs to the Quarter finals of the Champions League, but did he also secure 4th spot that season? No; and now Spurs look to miss out again. This is despite having a much stronger squad than both Arsenal and Manchester United, who will both finish above Spurs this year. Hodgson is the best candidate by a country mile.

In the last fifty years the FA hasn’t had a great track record of appointment winning national team managers. Only two have delivered any kind of success; Alfe Ramsey and Bobby Robson. Bobby’s contract wasn’t renewed after steering the team to the most thrilling match of the 1990 WC just a penalty kick away from the final. And Alfe, who delivered the biggest prize of all, has been all but pushed under the carpet and forgotten about. Look what Man U and Arsenal have done to honour their greats, when folks arrive at Wembley they should be greeted with a wonderful statue of the one manager who has given us any footballing pride ... even if it was 6 trillion years ago.

Good luck Roy!

Congratulations to Roy Hodson, the best man to lead the England Team now Capello has returned to Italy. Roy is English with a great international CV - as is now well known - and I am sure will do a great job for England, certainly as well or better than the other English candidate(s) who have achieved very little between them. England fans of course would love to pick the Team, but it is the new manager's job, so let's wish him well and give him all our support and goodwill. Incidentally, as my family would confirm, I suggested as soon as Capello departed that Roy Hodgson would be the best man for England. He certainly has a better cv on becoming the England Manager than any previous Englishman including Alf Ramsey, so with luck we might have exciting times ahead . . .

I think every decent fan should do much the same as the FA did to the fans over this issue....ie stick two fingers-up and go their own way.

To be fair to Roy he has little chance of making any impact with the England team as its packed with mediocrity. But essentially he is mediocrity personified, a grey man employed by other grey men whose biggest priority has always been how to maintain their own position irrespective of how England perform. So well done to the FA you have chosen the perfect candidate.

I feel sorry for Roy. He is a decent man and hopefully the £2m+ will soften the hurt that's bound to come, but I'm pretty sure in his heart of hearts he knows he's not up to it. Making a plea for players support before you've started doesn't bode well. The Liverpool contingent will have zero respect for him, it will be similar for those from Man U and Chelsea. Player power is not a welcome thing but at the very least you have to have someone in place they respect and poor old Roy knows he doesn't have it and never will.

As for the position of England manager its a career graveyard. The press will see to that. I think they will be very disappointed Harry was not given the job. The number of stories they had ready in the pipeline to bury the guy as soon as things went wrong must have been enormous. Never mind lads I don't think Roy will last long so keep your powder dry!

Note to Martin Samuels. Good try at defending your profession today but it just won't wash.

#27 I'd contest the assertion that a Spurs squad that has been exposed as paper thin in the last few weeks despite enduring a very lucky season on the injuries front is better than an Arsenal squad who has missed its best midfielder for the whole season, not to mention at times having 6 or 7 defenders injured and playing 5th and 6th choice centre backs at full-back, also having 8 very difficult CL fixtures thrown in and yet appears to be likely to finish above them.

However, suggesting the Spurs squad is much stronger than United is pure insanity. Spurs can't cope with one injury if it's to Bale (or Parker or Adebayor), and are forced to bring in that donkey Sandro. United will probably amass 89 points (far more than Spurs have ever got before) despite playing in Europe all season and suffering some of the worst luck with injuries I can remember any side having at times.

All this nonsense about Hodgson getting the best out of weak players, making small teams better, he's experienced etc. Long term, the big 4-6 of the EPL are the best clubs in the world (evidenced by the success in CL over recent years). Most of the England team are playing for these teams- they've just always been a collection of individuals who lack passion. Hodgson wasn't successful at Inter or Liverpool (both big clubs, we have big club players as I said). People don't seem to understand as I alluded to, for most of the England players it appears that playing for England doesn't mean anything to them- how many players have you seen show the kind of determination Jack Wilshere does for England say? We have a new generation of players coming through like him, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hart who could be world class potentially- they would have loved to play for Redknapp, but instead we got the tactical equivalent of the French High Command in the 1930s: Just stick with the Maginot Line and you'll be fine! *facepalm*

Compared to Spain, Holland and Germany, England are underdogs. So, u need a manager that has the experience at making "small" teams play better. Redknapp is just a media cassanova with an FA cup medal that has sent Portsmouth to journey of no return. National team coaches dont give interviews often from car windows. And to those who say England is flooded with international stars, it's pure "delusion 101". Apart from Rooney who cant be trusted or maybe Ashley Cole, no other player strikes me as Pub class, let alone World class. Redknapp like his spurs team is flattering to decieve!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I really don't think there's much between Redknapp and Hodgson as managers so either would have done really. The one problem I see, and in a perfect world this wouldn't be one, is that seemingly most of the England players, a lot of the country and last but not least the media wanted Redknapp in charge. Hodgson now has almost no leeway to make any errors before everyone's all over him and asking why Redknapp wasn't appointed.

Is it just me that would have preferred Benitez? Great tactician and tournament manager, add itself his transfers were awful but that's not a problem with England!

How can people say we have a poor team. Are we forgetting that gerrard single handedly carried a awful team to winning the champions league. Hart & Barry play for an all star team if they were not any gd theyd be gone. Young and Milner dont even play and they are very good players. Rooney & Cole are world class. Lampard 20 goals a season in the best league in the world Terry & Ferdinand regarded as 2 of the best center halves of the modern era. Hardly pub class altough i will except that certain players such as Walcott & Wellbeck are very very average Englad do have a very good sqaud to pick from.

Given the recent court case involving Harry Redknapp it is hardly surprising that the FA chose not to go there? There have been other rumours over the years that hint towards potential future embarrassment for them that would potentially detract from what Harry is best at, managing footballers. Harry Redknapp has never been convicted or shown unequivocally to be dodgy but the English press are always looking to undermine public figures and they would no doubt redouble their efforts to dig something up if Harry had been given the England job. Shame really as Harry does produce good footballing teams?

Is Roy second best? No I don't think so both men are capable I am sure of doing a great job. Harry has charisma in abundance and Roy oozes professionalism and to be honest for me Roy inspires more confidence.

It will be interesting to see how he fares and to those who decry the choice of an Englishman to manage England look at the records.

Honestly, some of the comments on this page are laughable. If Hodgson is too old then so is Redknapp, Hodgson is one year younger than Redknapp is and unlike Redknapp, Hodgson has INTERNATIONAL experience, taking average sides like Switzerland and Finland to competitions they werent expected to qualify for. Taking Fulham to the Europa League FINAL, they werent expected to get past the group stages, and taking West Brom to the best league position that they have ever reached. The deluded owners of both Liverpool and Inter at the times Hodgson took over there, are about as deluded as some of the commenters on here. Give Hodgson space to do a job and he has delivered in the past. Do you really think Jose Mourinho would go for the England job... Anybody who says we need a top manager and doesnt think Hodgson is one, is either a Chelsea or Man City fan. We need a manager who can make a group of players work better as a unit, which Hodgson is. Like Brian McDermott at Reading, Hodgson has brought a group of players together to make them a strong team capable of taking on anyone. Good appointment by the FA and good luck to Roy in the England job

(btw, I dont believe for a second that Harry Redknapp wasnt approached for the job, I agree with Lawro. The FA dont want to look like a group of fools and suggest that Redknapp turned them down at this point. Redknapp would have been approached unofficially, away from the media to avoid the news going public in the event of rejection)

I think many pieces (including this one to an extent) reacting to Hodgson's appointment, reek of sheer arrogance. To the journalists who backed Redknapp, the only conceivable reasons the FA could even consider not appointing him, is because either Redknapp doesn't want the job, or because Hodgson is simply a cheaper option. When in fact, the FA have, put simply, chosen the best English manager currently active in the game.

I ignorantly believed Hodgson had publicly ruled himself out of the England job, such was the lack of media attention on this man. Then a few weeks back I read an article about negotiations regarding his new contract at West Brom and how the England vacancy 'was still an option'. Then it fell into place for me: The Redknapp bandwagon was a media fabrication; there never was any real public support for 'arry. I think we can all see that now.

I'm just relieved the FA wasn't hoodwinked by the media's agenda like I was.

Hodgson for England, I wish him well. What concerns me is that the attitude of the FA chairman. This is not a Fortune 500 company with shareholders as the constituency but many millions of stakeholders who are interested in the success of England football team. The method of selecting the manager is a classic example of the “We know best” approach to management; the one that has not had a track record of success. Had this been explained earlier so it was understood that would have been better, but the cover was “a general timetable” which in turn resulted in a long silence. Just describing what was in the minds of the “Just Four Men” would have helped. Arrogance is something the English have long been accused of and here is another example, “I will not discuss my (or my colleagues) actions” does seem at least a pompous statement, particularly when the average fan can’t understand the basis of the decision. It leaves out the appearance of “Fair Play” the very basis of the sport. Moving goalposts comes to mind, as does being above criticism. There is a strong feeling that sharing, particularly early sharing, is something that the FA have little experience of and consequently are not good at. They have again come across badly. Egalitarianism in sport, a national playing field is where the fan feels he has a say, but there has been no effort to make this appear to be the case. The fans might have been persuaded that “Roy is right” but now still thinks “Harry was robbed.”
Roy Hodgson has a good record but he hasn’t Harry’s off the cuff humour that brings English fans together: Roy maybe an excellent man manager but he did fail at Liverpool, and rather than saying that’s water under the bridge I for one would have like him to say he has learnt from it. Mistakes happen let’s hope the FA’s arrogance has not produced another.

Given England's protracted period without trophies, it's hardly surprising that a new managerial appointment promotes all flavors of response: negative, neutral, and positive. But let's admit some reality into the proceedings. Since Sir Alf, we've had managers both home grown and imported and none of them has been able to produce the desired end result. Even the late, great (and indeed, sainted) Sir Bobby Robson, the closest we've had to a manager with a magical touch in nearly 50 years, fell just a little short.

The fundamental problem for England managers and England fans is that expectations are always inflated (even unrealistic), the pool of available talent ebbs and flows (and is rarely consistent even across the decades), and there's never enough time to prepare a squad for major competitions. Whether the manager is Harry or Roy, Fabio or Jose (or even Josie), they cannot do a lot more than morale boosting and ra-ra. The challenge to create an England team capable of being competitive at the highest level is at least a one generation project. We as a sporting nation have simply assumed we deserve our share of trophies, and have become periodically bitter and vengeful when "Buggins" fails to get his "turn". Competitiveness and consistency require the commitment of blood, toil, tears, and sweat. But England continually hangs its footballing expectations on luck and a fair wind. If we seriously meant business, we'd have have addressed the training, development and resourcing issues at least a generation ago.

So with the die cast, what's any manager to do? If Hodgson is able to get some impetus behind the work at Burton, he will have begun something that might, eventually and at long last, be capable of giving England the football team it deserves and that the country expects.

I hope Roy has both luck and a fair wind during his tenure, however long that proves to be. It might even be beneficial if the media, for once, were to quit playing fantasy football with the national team...neither they, nor the chap really in charge, can perform alchemy in the immediate future. If we want better, we need to change attitudes and structures, not just the guys in sportswear.

@9 Redknapp 'did a decent job at Southampton'.... WHAAAATTTTT?!!! As a saints fan I lament that comment, he relegated us and ensured we had no chance of a promotion straight back, before leaving to go back to pompey when he realised the terrible job he had done. I have managed to regain my respect for Harry since, however he is simply not the man for the job realistically. His style is far too open for an average England side (If he had got the job I would have considered putting serious money on a string of embarrassing defeats similar to that against Germany), and his real strength lies in his ability to sign quality players cheaply, something irrelevant in the international game.

Hodgson's strength is his ability to get the best out of what he's given, making average teams (absolutely no disrespect intended towards WBA or Fulham) very hard to beat, in other words a perfect fit for the current England team. I hope we play the long ball at the euros, it's about the only chance we've got of getting anywhere.

Also agree with @38 haha what kind of deluded fool would think Jose Mourinho would take the England job?!

People keep banging on about how great Redknapp is and how he is the peoples choice........
errrrrr yeah
Hes won 1 trophy in 30 years of management, hardly an amazing record, while spending vast sums of money £227M from 1984-2010. £227M and hes won 1 trophy....
I dont know anyone who actually wanted him as manager, I think it must have been printed by a tabloid paper that was was favourite and the "peoples choice" and then its just continued on from there.

I think Hodgson is a very good choice and certainly a better one than Arry

Hilarious comments from one and all 'arry backers. The man has won one, that's ONE FA Cup, and for that he got his checkbook out and look what happened after he left.
His record speaks for itself as does conversely RH's. The FA have the best qualified Englishman for the job, the lahndahn media are in crisis because they predicted wrong, AGAIN. There's nothing, NOTHING to defend. nuf sed.

#41 "Roy Hodgson has a good record but he hasn’t Harry’s off the cuff humour that brings English fans together:"

What a ridiculous statement!! So someones sense of humour should get them the england managers job....... crazy!!

For all the criticism of FIFA and the World Cup host selection process, the FA have just done exactly the same thing. Completely un transparent process, final decison made by a few men around a table. Proudly saying we didn't interview other candidates ...... that's incompetent, I couldn't get away with that in my company, Harry should have at least been interviewed together with the other so called candidates

The media & the masses wanted an Englishman, the FA have given them one ( of their preferred choice ) . Clough, Venables & Redknapp all carried baggage & opinions which the blazers don't like. Is there a better choice, maybe, is there a better team is the main problem. Any manager with a poor or mediocre workforce, will fail in the business he's in.

It seems like I'm just perpetually criticizing the media, but one further point I must bring up is their widespread usage of the words "public" and "fans", both in print and press conferences.

"Roy, the public preferred Harry..."

"Arsene, the fans probably want to know this..."

My theory is that it is about covering their tracks. If Harry gets the job, then flops, they can always qualify their support of him by saying it was what the silly naive public wanted.

Key point: under-performing & lesser teams aren't the same. Spurs were under-performing before Harry; West Brom are a lesser team. So if we believe England are under-performing (i.e. have the talent underneath though) then we should have gone for Harry. If we believe England are a lesser team (e.g. compared to Spain, Germany), then we were right to go for Roy. (Drastic simplifications I know).

Despite being slightly surprised by Roy's appointment, I am now quite happy with it & also quite optimistic. As a Liverpool fan, I just hope he learnt from that experience...

Hodgson may not be the perfect choice, but he is good enough; and must be given a chance. You simply cannot have a 30-year career in good-level football management if you're rubbish; you would get found out too easily and discarded. And we need to get real...the likes of Mourhinho and Guardiola are just not going to take this job...no matter how much money they throw at it.

I'll say it again - only once - but I'll say it again. Sort out St George's Park and we'll see what happens in 12 years time. We do not have the infrastructure to build an excellent international team, and that is what our international manager should be looking at doing. If Woy is there as a coach and that's all he has to do; good luck to him. But I want to see a good footballing England team before I die and the best way to do it is sort out the site at Burton.

quiddenC @ 49

Spot on, read an article stating the " whole UK is excited by the upcoming Olympics " . Time for the media to admit, it's them making up excitement & interest. The fans / public just shrug their shoulders and get on with real life.

It's quite obvious why people are moaning, ever watched paint dry?

An important event in terms of keeping good service life of a wall, but fancy watching it?

The sad thing is that Hodgson will inevitably "fail". The only really hopeful news in terms of his management is the apparent demise of Murdoch. The hysterically sensationalistic English press are the senior team's real and most hateful enemy. If Hodgson is allowed space by journalists and editors, maybe watching England might become an enjoyable exercise again.

By the way: it wasn't all media-fuelled the desire to see Redknapp become the new boss- did you not notice a great number of current players and pundits (ex-player pundits) also saying they thought he was the best candidate? Who cares if he hasn't won trophies- he hasn't been in charge of big clubs. Tottenham weren't doing great before he came along don't forget- it's not just Hodgson who can turn sides around. And as post 50 touched upon- on paper the england squad are the equivalent of a top four english side! (before ther EPL's current, temporary slump period as well). Don't be surprised to see another passionless display from the 'team' this summer anyway.

If people are insistent upon having an English manager for the national team (which I have never understood), then there will be a limited choice of top quality managers. Personally, I think (and hope) Roy Hodgson should do well with a group of average/good players to try to get them to punch above their weight, having done that most recently at Fulham/WBA.

And that is what the current England squad are, nothing more, nothing less. No doubt the media will have you believe that they are world class, but believe me, they are not. They are mainly made to look good in the Premier League with the significant help of foreign players.

Hodgson also has had success in international management and won league titles (admittedly overseas), something missing from 'arry's CV.

I hope Hodgson is given time by everyone, although given the comments by Alan Green and the Sun's football "expert" on 5live before the Manchester derby on Monday, I doubt it.

Hodgson fails & gets the boot no problem. The government will pay him a fortune, to teach his interview technique to the unemployed. Employers will be taking on anyone with an average CV, without looking elsewhere. Yes, I said average, it doesn't compare to Erikkson let alone Capello. There are many UK managers with far better CV's or performance results. The FA like him ( one of our boys ) wish him well, because they'll hang him out to dry. It was the wally with a brolly, it's never us, we just give you FA.

If the England manager had to be English, then Hodgson is a good choice. The problem is, the England manager does not have to be English.

I wasn't going to join into this debate but then one post made me laugh out loud so I had to.

@41, "Roy Hodgson has a good record but he hasn’t Harry’s off the cuff humour that brings English fans together"??? Really? Did you mean Harry Redknapp or Harry Hill? You'd rather a guy with no tactical ability or remotely relevant experience managed OUR national team because at least he can tell a decent joke? Presumably this off the cuff humour would be particularly soothing after we've just got taught a footballing lesson by any team that can defend and counter attack?

I respect Redknapp as a manager in what he's done at Tottenham...he's produced a side that, on it's day, plays some amazing football....but he's done it by finding the quality players that are not wanted by other clubs or that other clubs wont take a chance on, buying them cheaply and getting them playing together....not skills required of an England coach - and make no mistake, the PRIMARY role of the person in charge of the national team is to coach. Whether that be patterns of play or formations or set pieces, it's coaching...not managing.

Every fan here could pick a squad of 23 and I more or less guarantee that 15 - 18 of them would be common...we'd probably all pick 8 of the starting 11. Anyone can pick a squad or a team, only someone with top level experience can coach what is required to compete at the top level. Redknapp doesn't have that, Hodgson does at both club and national team level.

In my view, Hodgson is the best choice the FA have made in national team manager for many, many years. I think this is a good time for Hodgson as well, there's little expectation with real football fans of England achieving which will give him some time. The upcoming Euros could be that one last "hurrah" for the last of the so called "golden generation", Hodgson can start to build a team for 2014/16...we have the nucleus of a good crop of players emerging with hart, young, wilshere, cleverly, jones, smalling, welbeck, sturridge etc...complimented with the experience of rooney, parker, cole...not world beaters today but in 2 years? in 4?

As many have said, the only people disappointed with Hodgson is the media...Redknapp was not the "people's" choice..unless by "people" you mean tottenham fans. Some of the players have been drawn in to the media's world that Harry was a shoe in and have publically shown support for him...and who can blame them...they're not gonna come out and denounce him are they.

I do feel sympathy for redknapp, not that he didn't get the job...but that the media made such a big deal about him getting it. Still, there might be a role for him with Club England...according to poster 41 he has a decent stand up routine

Captain Hindsight wasn't all media-fuelled the desire to see Redknapp become the new boss- did you not notice a great number of current players and pundits (ex-player pundits) also saying they thought he was the best candidate?

Current players on twitter, past & present player pundits on TV, do you understand what media is ? Those you list thrive on it, they don't argue it.

@61 I do indeed understand that is part of the media, the point I was making is that some people were erroneously saying that it was all just a bunch of tabloid writers who made it seem like he was a legitimate candidate. The fact that so many current/former professionals endorsed him is telling, and guess what- for us to know what they think we'd probably have to hear through what? that's right- the media!

All I can say Roy is pick players who WANT to play for you/us.You dont get many chances in life to make your mark.This is your chance,your opportunity.Be brave,let them know who is boss and GO FOR IT.

"Hodgson impresses on England debut". Debut? What debut? You mean a nice little chat in front of a bunch of hacks? His debut is his first game in charge - Until then it's all just waffle.

Yawn.

Hodgson's performance yesterday was as nervous and devoid of substance as would be expected of a man whose two most recent international coaching assignements were Finland and the UAE.

Detailed scrutiny of his career shows questionable achievements at Inter, failure and derision at Liverpool and a habit of making small, poor teams improve to the level of mediocrity, or slightly better.

But in this year of the Evra-Suarez and Ferdinand-Terry incidents, his performance in outlining his his past in Apartheid-era South Africa was simply unacceptable. He was a grown man who chose to move to Pretoria, the HQ of Apartheid, to play and coach at a time when he was well aware that cricket and world opinion had ostracised contact with the country.

Hodgson's sporting contact with Apartheid South Africa and his refusal to apologise or or express regret for it means that it is astonishing that he could be considered a fit or appropriate person to determine whether or not Terry can play for his country.

For Roy is his experience and his ability to organise. West Brom are unrecognisable from the team he took over just 15 months ago with largely the same players. He performed similar miracles with Fulham and the Swiss and Finnish national teams. However his magic touch does not always work. At Liverpool he had little chance but he hasn't had 18 jobs because he is universally liked and accepted everywhere. there have been failures. He is already making mistakes here. The old guard are not good enough to lift the trophy this summer,he is trying to make out they are and speaking about wanting to 'win over' men he should be ditching in favour of younger players who would gain enormous experience and perhaps be ready for the next world cup to mount a serious challenge. I wish him well but believe honestly that the job is not right for him and he is not right for the job. He should have stayed at Fulham two summers ago and he should have stayed at West Brom this time. Knowing your limits is half the battle. Despite many years and 18 jobs Roy has failed to recognise his.

“Bernstein backed the process which, to widespread surprise, ignored Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp”

Not interviewing doesn’t mean they ignored him. I think the author's your nose is out of joint because his prediction was wrong. Predicting is dangerous, especially when it’s about the future, as someone famously once said.

Choosing only between Hodgson or Redknapp is a fairly close call on face value, but if you base it on relevant experience then Hodgson is the clear choice. What else would you base it on?

#66. Didn't Graham Gooch play in SA (could be wrong)? He's now coaching the England team.

Could we please also critically appraise the meaning of "having taken Switzerland to the world number 3 ranking"?

What exactly did he do?

In 1994 World Cup qualifying he took Switzerland to the USA by finishing second behind Italy. The next closest teams were Portugal, who had qualified for one international tournament in 28 years, and a Scotland in deep decline.

In Euro'96 qualifying he took Switzerland to the top of a group containing a feeble Turkey, Hungary and Iceland and a Sweden team which had been dismantled after USA'94.

And how did he fare at those major tournaments?

At USA'94 his record was:
P4 W1 D1 L2

At Euro'96 his record was;
P3 W0 D1 L2

I am really struggling to see any way in which he performed better as national coach of Switzerland than as the failed coach of Liverpool.

"Roy Hodgson appointed England manager"

"Jose Mourinho appointed England manager"

Which one would YOU get excited about?

Hodgson was pathetic, what decent manager has to grovel for players, fans and media support before they even start the job? This is England accepting that we want a very average team and deciding we want to play dreadful football. Roy knows inside that he doesn't deserve this job and he knows players and media know that too.

There's been far too much emphasis on six months out of a whole career spent at just one club. The problem with Hodgson at Liverpool was Liverpool not Hodgson. A club with a dangerous mix of a sense of entitlement combined with a far too prevalent nostalgia for what they used to be. There is a potential parallel here to England of course, but even England and its media does I think deep down have more realistic expectations of where they are and less wallowing in what they have ceased to be.

The other factor at play over Redknapp may well have been the issue that six out of the last seven England managers have gone because of reasons other than performance on the pitch. The FA may well have seen the same potential for Redknapp and wanted a manager who will be judged as much as possible on the results.

All we are saying is give Roy a chance! At the moment only Cole & Rooney could compete with the best in Europe.

There are 2 issues here for me
The issue of whether it should have been Rednapp or Hodgson will by in large be done to personal choice amongst fans. I don't think there was much between them. I do think way too much has been made of Hodgson's international experience. Most of this experience was a fair while ago and in many cases he was sacked from the post for failing to reliever positive results. For most he is a mid table team, he obviously wasn't good enough at Inter and he was a failure for whatever reason at the only big club he managed here - Liverpool.

Rednapp has not achieved much either. But what he did do for most of this year and part of last year was get TH playing a style of football that was slick, fast and exciting. The sort of football we all long for England to produce. Hence I think he became the people's/ media choice. Personally I wouldn't have gone for either of them

What I think is more concerning is the actions and behaviour of the FA and the process they have followed. The big four in the old boys club making decisions on things that tick boxes and probably driven by personal likes and dislikes. We complain about UEFA our FA are no better in many ways worse yet they all wear their nice Teflon suits so when their decisions go round for whatever reason nothing sticks to them.

Hodgson is being set up to fail by the FA here. By putting all their eggs in one basket if Hodgson does not deliver from day 1 he will face an impossible task. if Hodgson fails and there is a big chance he will the FA should be held to account and the gang of 4 pay the price with their own jobs for how they have gone about the appointment and their lack of transparency.

Once again Britain have committees who are completely out of touch - I would like to see us "try" and win something - the Appointment of Roy Hoddson can been seen nothing than another "Bore draw" - he will pick the old ones to play ( oxygen mask included) he has no understanding of youngsters coming through either-
Ok Harry has baggage but he is a more astute manager who has the ability to change things during the game.
If they didn't want Harry then let him advise Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate who can offer the vision of the future - but not go backwards even further into obscurity

Why won't Bernstein reveal who the other candidates "they considered" are? What's with the secrecy? Does he think he's the CEO of some company who has to keep client confidentiality? England fans have a right to know who was considered, it's OUR team after all.

It is pathetic that a new England manager has to go cap in hand to the fans and the media on day one ,and says all you need to know about what is wrong with the football management merry go round. Hodgson was hounded out of Anfield for their poor league form ,though getting them into next round of Europe.Enter the messiah and now look at their league position. Fans wanted Keegan for England ,well we all know how that went.FA have at least not given in to media pressure and appointed someone who will do what the team need rather than what the public want. All managers suceed and fail over a long career,inevitable in a results driven business

No 9 Voice of reason wrote:"Tbf Harry Redknapp has done an excellent job at Tottenham as when he joined them they were bottom of the league and two years later they were in a Champions league quarter final, and are competing for the top four year after year. He also won an FA cup with Pompey and kept them in the premiership for longer than they probably should have been. did a decent job with southampton aswell"
The bit about Spurs is true and they are certainly performing above their ranking (well they were until all this blew up) but as for Portsmouth and Southampton! I'm personally not sure that bankrupting one of those and nearly the other in a failed attempt to avoid relegation is a particularly good track record. In addition leaving Southampton as soon as they were relegated for Portsmouth (similarities with a certain manager in the Birmingham area here?). There are very few things that Southampton and Portsmouth fans agree on but I think you'll find that most are at best ambivalent about Harry and a lot are far less friendly

Hadn't Fabio "won everything"? So the 'what's he ever won?' argument is now superfluous. That goes for both Redknapp and Hodgson.
Looking at their records all Harry has done at Spurs is turn a mid-table team into a top 6 team. Hardly earth shattering. Remember Spurs were underachieving massively under Ramos and were never a bottom 3 side. He bankrupted Portsmouth and relegated Southampton.
Look at what Hodgson has achieved at Fulham and West Brom; both of which can easily be classed as 'relegation' outfits (and weren't Blackburn top of the league in December 1997 before finishing a respectable 6th?).
Hodgson is clearly the better candidate.

"I like Hodgson as a man but for he is the second choice of the fans and most importantly the players. Harry has a way of bringing a team together and controlling individuals and his fluid energetic style that he likes his teams to play with is prefect for England. For him not to even be interviewed is absolutely shocking and another blunder in the saga that is the FA."

Yeah because the fans are always right, step forward Keegan (@ England), Shearer (@ Newcastle), Dalglish (@ Liverpool), your next argument will be that the players wanted Harry Redknapp, again frankly, what our spoilt and over-indulged players want doesn't really matter. It is what is best for the nation, and Hodgson is by far a better choice that Redknapp. One top four finish and one FA Cup win against Cardiff does not compare with playing at the World Cup. Redknapp shot himself in the foot when he said he writes like a 2 year old, that is frankly unacceptable from any potential England manager.

The fact is the current crop of England players are either in decline or average. Gone are days when we had numerous world class players at the peaks of their powers. We want an English manager and we got a good one with a good record. Give him time. The only person that could truly inspire this England team is Jose not Harry.

Really can't see what all the fuss is about!

England are the West Brom of international football and now we've got the West Brom manager...perfect fit!

Maybe Hodgson can get England to "over achieve", seems to be his specialty at club level. We might even make it out of the group stages at the Euros!!

76. At 06:59 2nd May 2012, steveg0822 wrote:
Why won't Bernstein reveal who the other candidates "they considered" are? What's with the secrecy? Does he think he's the CEO of some company who has to keep client confidentiality? England fans have a right to know who was considered, it's OUR team after all.

Are you serious?! What difference does it make? Only gives fans like you a reason to bash them.

Hardly significant the international experience is it? Switzerland, Finland and the UAE. In any case, whoever the manager the issues remain the same; burned out players in June who think they can manage the team from the pitch

Pleased Roy Hodgson has been appointed - has far more experience than 'Arry. Ideally Stuart Pearce should work with him as he knows all the young English players. FA need to think now of successor for Roy and begin to blood those potential candidates.
Never pleased Harry Redknapp was being considered, for those saying Hodgson has won anything and is tactically naive, consider Redknapp - a player wheeler dealer but he has only won one trophy, hasn't international experience, only had a dabble at European football
Redknapp was only the media choice not the fans choice, but the media obviously didn;t print that
Really pleased for Hodgson - might actually support the team now, could never support England when full of prima donnas who didn't perform and didn't seem to care.
Stop paying the players to play for England - it should be an honour for them to do so

@75 Spurs fans are notorious in their criticism of Redknapp's inability to change a game and critical of the fact he always picks the same players. I think you have your managers confused.

When will people realise that Redknapp being the people's (read media's) choice was all pie in the sky. Do you really want someone in charge of our national team who openly admitted he writes like a two-year old? or would you rather a manager who can converse in five languages? This is not only a win for common sense over popular culture, but also a win for intelligence over ignorance. The FA have gone with the right choice, as frankly, Roy Hodgson is a by far superior candidate for the role and a better representative for this country.

What about the really important question, what are his views on 70's South Africa ?


I still can't believe one of you lot asked him that.

Frankly, I could care less who they chose as manager. Let's be clear here that Hodgson was the attractive option because of Redknapp's buy-out cost and his baggage so Roy obviously had the inside track, but it's not about that.

What is crucial here is whether or not Hodgson is going to change the culture of the senior squad from this group of older players who have the entitlement attitude to allowing our young players to break through and plan for the future.

We no longer need reputations in an England shirt. We need young, passionate, talented players who want to play for England and who won't play afraid.

Today makes me think that this will not be the case with Hodgson.

https://www.soccerlimeyinamerica.com/?p=3759

Has Hodgson been given an AVB-type role ahead of the Euros? This would be as the fallguy to banish English International football of the likes of Terry, Lampard, Cole and Gerrard. Once such self-serving premadonnas (who never play as well for their country as they do when they are playing for their employers) are consigned to history maybe Roy will stay, maybe A N Other will get the role. Regardless of who has been appointed manager, I fear that whilst there are 'unmanagables' within the squad, England will not prosper.

I never really understood the clamour for Redknapp unless it was media-driven; you'll always get a better story about something involving Redknapp.

Get behind Roy; at the very least he can't do any worse than most of the previous managers and at least we'll get coherwent ;) communication, not to mention his squad, many of whom struggle with English anyway.

Phil Brown was available. ;)

Given that the main criteria for Hodgson's appointment are that he is English (priority # 1) and that he has international experience, can we say that he will be England manager for a long time to come. Next in line is .... Peter Reid. He ticks the main boxes. We cannot keep shifting the goalposts when it comes to criteria!! Let's hope Hodgson can motivate the current players to rise above themselves; it's time they took the rap for the results. After all, we have had good managers in the past.

Excellent news! Now when things go wrong you can blame an Englishman!

"boxes were there to be ticked" would be a better title for the article, or indeed for the whole process.

Dont worry everyone, all is well Stevie G welcomes Roy !!!!!!!!!

Several people are blaming Hodgson for the Liverpool problems. Liverpool were an average side when Hodgson was appointed, it was in turmoil with the ownership and Hodgson had very little money to spend. With unhappy fans and Dalglish hovering he never stood a chance.

Liverpool are still an average side even after spending so much with the only positive on the playing side being Suarez, although between Suarez and Dalglish's handling of the Suarez affair the club has suffered in reputation worldwide.

Liverpool fans are looking to blame anybody but Liverpool. Give Hodgson a chance and he will produce. England as a football team are technically way behind other nations so don't expect Hodgson or anybody else including Rednapp or mourhino to be the messiah, They can only work with the talent at their disposal and the English footballers are pretty average apart from Rooney.

10.At 00:19 2nd May 2012, rambo_chambo wrote:

"It is only in England that d appointment of a national team manager becomes a national debate. In other big football countries, it is done quietly, without any fuss, and everyone gets on with it"

Really? What are you basing this on? Is it because it does not get widely reported on in the English press?

I can assure you that the appointment of the national coach is a massive talking point in other countries.

@93
and Neville Chamberlain announced "Peace in our time" ...

@19.At 00:34 2nd May 2012, northbank123 wrote:

"You really only have to read a few lines of this article to see the media's disappointment that the new England manager won't be giving 'frank' interviews out of a car window, using the gutter press as his first port of call and giving them brash quotes to build fanciful stories around. McNulty's indignation that he's been deprived of this fountain of journalistic opportunity has been getting more and more obvious over the recent few blogs"

Pretty much hit the nail on the head there.

I too am apalled at the lack of a transparent interview process. It makes me mad that:

1. There was not a live candidates debate held immediately after, or even instead of, Corrie.

2. There was no opportunity to hold a University Challenge style contest where Bamber Gascoigne fires increasingly bizarre and irrelevant questions at Roy and Harry, concluding with the classic "who won the Herts Senior Cup in 1973?"

3. The players were not asked who they would rather ignore during tournaments, Roy or Harry.

4. Roy and Harry were not asked to troll around the selection committee members for a 48-hour period to extract promises of support only for Harry to say "Bevington shook me hand, looked me in the eye and said I had his vote"

I'm enraged I am.

I agree with a couple of the earlier comments; how can the FA be so sure they've got the right manager when they only interviewed one person?

An intelligent and articulate (and one who can speak a number of languages) England soccer manager, there is a novelty.