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Roy Hodgson

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Roy Hodgson
Personal information
Full name Roy Hodgson
Team information
Current team
 Fulham (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Crystal Palace
Tonbridge
Gravesend & Northfleet
Maidstone United
Managerial career
1976–1980 Halmstads
1982 Bristol City
1983–1985 Örebro
1985–1990 Malmö FF
1990–1992 Neuchâtel Xamax
1992–1995 Switzerland
1995–1997 Internazionale
1997–1998 Blackburn Rovers
1999 Internazionale
1999–2000 Grasshopper
2000–2001 Copenhagen
2001 Udinese
2002–2004 United Arab Emirates
2004–2005 Viking
2006–2007 Finland
2007– Fulham
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sir Roy Hodgson CBE MBE OBE (born 9 August 1947) is an English former footballer and now football manager, who is currently the manager of Fulham.[1]

Hodgson is probably best known for guiding the Swiss national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996; Switzerland had not qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s. He has also coached many notable club sides, including Viking, Malmö FF, Internazionale, Blackburn Rovers, Grasshopper, Copenhagen and Udinese. He was appointed to his current role at Fulham in December 2007.

Hodgson has served several times as a member of UEFA's technical study group at the European Championships, and he was also a member of the FIFA technical study group at the 2006 World Cup.[2] Hodgson has also worked as a television pundit in several of the countries in which he has coached and speaks five languages.[3]

Club career

Hodgson was born in Croydon and educated at John Ruskin Grammar School. He was a moderately successful player with Crystal Palace but was never able to break into the first team. This was followed by several years in non-league football with Tonbridge, Gravesend and Northfleet and Maidstone United (where he was assistant manager).

Managerial career

Early career

Hodgson started his managerial career in 1976 at the Swedish top division side Halmstads where he spent five years, winning the league championship in 1976 and 1979. His success with Halmstad in 1976 is considered as one of the biggest surprises of all time in Swedish football.[4] The year before, Halmstad had struggled against relegation and before the 1976 campaign began, they were almost universally tipped for relegation. Hodgson himself says "my greatest achievement would have to be the water-into-wine job at Halmstads."[4] Although early in his career, he was dubbed the nicest man in the world.[5]

In 1980, he moved to Bristol City in his native England, where he was assistant manager and later manager. Due to the club's financial problems he was largely unsuccessful. In 1983, Hodgson moved back to Sweden to take over Örebro. In 1985, he took over at Malmö FF, which he led to five consecutive league championships, two Swedish championships (at the time the Swedish championship was decided through play-offs) and two Swedish Cups. Due to his successful time at Malmö, Hodgson is still highly appreciated by the club's fans who have unofficially named a section of the new Swedbank Stadion "Roy's Hörna" (Roy's Corner). His greatest continental achievement at Malmö was knocking the then-Italian champions Inter Milan out of the Champions League, winning 1–0 at home and drawing 1–1 at the San Siro.

Malmö offered Hodgson a lifetime contract, but he declined, saying later that "moving to another place seemed exciting. The decision was also financial. Swedish taxes were so high that even if you were being paid reasonable money, after losing 65% in tax there wasn't a lot left."[4] Hodgson moved to Swiss side Neuchâtel Xamax in 1990. He led Xamax to European victories over Celtic and Real Madrid.

His early coaching career was closely linked to that of his friend Bob Houghton; they worked together at Maidstone, Stranraer and Bristol City, and they both worked in Swedish football at the same time. The pair are credited with transforming Swedish football, bringing in zonal marking for the first time.[6]

Switzerland

Hodgson took over as manager of the Swiss national team from Uli Stielike on 26 January 1992.[7] Stielike had been the first Swiss coach to have a winning record,[7] winning 13 of the 25 games he was in charge. As Hodgson was succeeding Stielike at the national level, Stielike took over the job Hodgson had just vacated at club level with Swiss Super League side Neuchâtel Xamax.

Hodgson took the Schweizer Nati to the 1994 World Cup, losing only one game during qualification, from a group that included Italy and Portugal. The Swiss took four points off Italy, managed by the successful former coach Arrigo Sacchi, who were to make it to the World Cup final and lose only on penalties. In the game in Italy, the Swiss were at one stage leading 2–0 before being pegged back to 2–2. This was Switzerland's first World Cup since 1966. At the 1994 World Cup, the Swiss finished runners-up in their group, qualifying for the Round of 16 where they lost to Spain.

The Swiss easily qualified for Euro 1996. Hodgson left immediately after they had qualified for Euro 1996, on 15 November 1995 to join Serie A side Internazionale. He had in fact been doing both jobs from October of that year.[citation needed] Without Hodgson, the Swiss had a difficult time at Euro '96 with defeats coming at the hands of the Netherlands and Scotland, with the Swiss finishing bottom of their group.

At his peak as manager of Switzerland, they were the third best international side in the world, according to the FIFA World Rankings.[4]

Internazionale

Before the European Championships, Hodgson joined Italian Serie A giants Internazionale, where he worked from 1995 to 1997. He presided over a rebuilding phase. Inter had finished 13th and 6th in the seasons prior to his arrival. After a terrible start to the season, Hodgson was brought in and guided the club to a 7th place finish in the 1995–96 season, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The 1996–97 season saw Inter finish 3rd and reach the 1997 UEFA Cup Final, losing on penalties over two legs. Hodgson says of his time at Inter, "We lacked stars, apart from Paul Ince. It wasn't the Inter we see today of household names. They weren't the best technically but physically they were like machines. The Premier League is like that now, but back then Italy was far ahead."[4] The side Hodgson built would go on to win the UEFA Cup in 1998 and finish runner-up in Serie A under his successor, Luigi Simoni.

Blackburn Rovers

In the 1997 close season, Hodgson was tempted by Jack Walker to replace Ray Harford at Blackburn Rovers.Rovers had finished 13th under Harford the previous season - only 2 seasons after winning the title—and had been in danger of relegation; Walker wanted Rovers to challenge consistently for European football. In the 1997–98 season—his first season in charge - Blackburn finished 6th, qualifying for the UEFA cup and appeared to be in the ascendancy. However, Hodgson's second season with Blackburn would prove to be disastrous, both for the club and for his personal reputation within English football. Hodgson spent £20m in the summer of 1998 to strengthen the Rovers side[8]. A succession of poor buys - notably the £7.5 million Kevin Davies—coupled with injuries and dressing room unrest led to a disastrous start to the season. He was sacked in December 1998 with Rovers at the bottom of the league table.[9] His final game was a home defeat to Southampton.[9][10]

Return to Inter, Grasshopper

In 1999, he had a brief second stint as caretaker at Inter before returning to Switzerland to coach Grasshopper for a season. In 2000, Hodgson was one of three candidates to take over as England manager. However, his failure with Blackburn and subsequent damage to his reputation in England counted heavily against him[11] and the job went to Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Copenhagen, Udinese

Hodgson moved to Denmark and became manager of Copenhagen. Hodgson was an instant success, taking a team that had finished 7th and 8th in the two previous seasons, and winning the Superliga championship in the 2000–01 season. In 2001, he left Copenhagen to move to Serie A side Udinese. Despite a successful start, he was fired after just six months after allegedly stating that he regretted taking up the post.[12]

United Arab Emirates

Hodgson took over as manager of the United Arab Emirates in April 2002, managing the senior and Olympic sides. He was sacked in January 2004 after a disappointing fifth placed finish at the 2003 Gulf Cup.[13] Speaking of his time as manager of the United Arab Emirates, Hodgson said: "That was a period where I didn't know where my career was going. But all these experiences enrich you and it was good to know I could get my message to players who many say are uncoachable. It's hard work; they're basically lazy. But I had them drilled and pressuring opponents almost like an English team. Most coaches who go there are just fannying around, but it's not my nature."[4]

Viking

In May 2004, he moved to Norwegian club Viking. The club had been stuck in the relegation zone before Hodgson took over, but finished ninth under Hodgson in its first season in its new stadium, Viking Stadion, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Following a spell at the top of the table, Viking finished fifth in the 2005 season. 2005 was also a good year for Hodgson and Viking in the UEFA Cup, with victories against Monaco and Austria Wien as the highlights. On 15 August 2005, he agreed to take over as coach of the Finnish national team for the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Finland

Hodgson narrowly failed to reach Euro 2008 with Finland (Finland attained 24 points and coming fourth in their group). Hodgson's Finland were praised for well organized defending but criticized for inefficient attacking. Finland played five 0–0 draws in 14 qualification games. However, Finland still had a chance to qualify in their last match. Hodgson's contract expired at the end of November, and although the Finnish FA expressed their willingness to extend it, Hodgson decided to move on.[14] Prior to taking up an ambassadorial role at Inter, Hodgson was linked with the vacant Republic of Ireland managers job.[15] He was also considered an outside candidate to replace Steve McClaren as England manager,[16] having been linked to the job after the departure of Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan[17] and given his international management record and nationality.

Fulham

On 28 December 2007, in a surprise appointment,[18] Hodgson accepted the manager's post at struggling Premier League side Fulham, with his contract beginning on 30 December 2007.[19] He initially endured a run of very poor results with the club, including being knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties after two draws against League One side Bristol Rovers. Looking to be certainties for relegation to the Championship, Fulham picked up just nine points from Hodgson's first thirteen league games. However, a run of twelve points from the last five games of the season, including a 3–2 win over Manchester City when the club was 2–0 down with twenty minutes remaining, secured the Cottagers' survival on the final day of the season.[20]

In the 2008–09 season, Hodgson led Fulham to unprecedented success. He guided his side to a seventh placed finish in the Premier League, the club's highest ever finish, and ensured qualification for the new UEFA Europa League.[21] There were calls for Hodgson to be given the Premier League Manager of the Year award[22] and he received much praise for the signings of Mark Schwarzer, Andy Johnson and Brede Hangeland and for the upturn in Bobby Zamora's performances. Zamora, once much-maligned, has been mentioned as a possible member of the English national team for the 2010 World Cup.[23] Hodgson's spell at Fulham has greatly revived his reputation in England after his time in charge of Blackburn over a decade earlier, with renewed speculation linking him to the England job should Fabio Capello leave.[24]

In the 2009–10 season, Hodgson has enjoyed an impressive run in the Europa League. The club's campaign, which started in July 2009, went on with impressive performances in the group stage, defeating Basel in the hostile St. Jakob-Park in the final group game to qualify for the knockout stage at the expense of the Swiss club. In the following rounds, Fulham went on to eliminate holders Shakhtar, Italian runners-up Juventus and German champions Wolfsburg. On 29 April 2010, Hodgson guided Fulham to their first major European final in their 130 year history, coming from behind to gain a 2–1 aggregate victory over Hamburg in the Europa League. The victory led Sir Alex Ferguson to publicly call for Hodgson to be announced as manager of the year.

Personal life

Hodgson is married to Sheila, with whom he has one son, Christopher. Hodgson is multilingual, able to speak fluent Norwegian, Swedish and Italian as well as some German, Danish, French and Finnish in addition to his native English.

Career statistics

Manager

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Halmstad Sweden July 1976 June 1980
Bristol City England 3 January 1982 30 April 1982 20 3 5 12 15.00
Örebro Sweden July 1983 June 1985
Malmö FF Sweden July 1985 June 1990
Neuchâtel Xamax Switzerland July 1990 June 1992 72 29 27 16 40.28
Switzerland Switzerland 26 January 1992 15 November 1995 41 21 10 10 51.22
Inter Milan Italy 5 October 1995 25 May 1997 86 38 25 23 44.19
Blackburn Rovers England 1 June 1997 21 November 1998 62 22 18 22 35.48
Inter Milan Italy 5 May 1999 27 June 1999 3 2 1 0 66.67
Grasshopper Switzerland July 1999 June 2000 36 14 12 10 38.89
Copenhagen Denmark July 2000 June 2001 35 18 12 5 51.43
Udinese Italy 21 June 2001 10 December 2001 17 7 5 5 41.18
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 9 April 2002 14 January 2004 17 4 6 7 23.53
Viking Norway 11 July 2004 20 December 2005 38 16 10 12 042.11
Finland Finland 16 January 2006 30 November 2007 22 6 11 5 027.27
Fulham England 30 December 2007 Present 125 50 32 43 040.00
As of 2 May 2010

Honours

Halmstads
Malmö FF
Copenhagen

References

  1. ^ "Fulham appoint Hodgson as manager". BBC Sport. 28 December 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
  2. ^ "It's a whole new ball game at Fulham under sagacious King Roy". The Daily Mail. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  3. ^ "Art of being a good manager doesn't just disappear". The Independent. 24 March 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "THE MAN THAT IS ROY HODGSON". Fulham Web. 15 November 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  5. ^ "Roy Hodgson on Europe". BBC Sport. 20 November 2001. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  6. ^ "Lagerback faces familiar foes". The Guardian. 18 June 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  7. ^ a b Garin, Erik (9 October 2008). "Switzerland - International Matches since 1905". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
  8. ^ Hodgson quits as Rovers hit bottom BBC Sport, 21 November 1998
  9. ^ a b Taylor, Daniel (21 November 1998). "Hodgson out as Rovers hit bottom". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
  10. ^ Ross, Ian (4 December 1998). "Kidd takes the Rovers road to the top". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
  11. ^ Hodgson possesses proper attributes The Independent, 30 October 2000
  12. ^ "Udinese sack Hodgson". BBC Sport. 10 December 2001. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  13. ^ "UAE sacks Hodgson". 14 January 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  14. ^ "Suomen Palloliitto - Artikkeliarkisto" (in Finnish). 30 November 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  15. ^ Staunton successor Sky Sports
  16. ^ "No future for England - Sportsmail reveals the shocking shortage of talent available for the next World Cup campaign the Daily Mail". Daily Mail. 24 November 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  17. ^ "Hodgson's England claim". BBC Sport. 14 April 2002. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  18. ^ "Al Fayed trusts Roy Hodgson to save Fulham". The Daily Telegraph. 29 December 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  19. ^ "Fulham invest in experience of Roy Hodgson to keep them safe". The Times. 29 December 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  20. ^ "Hodgson feels for relegated duo". BBC Sport. 12 May 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  21. ^ "Hodgson keeps focus on top flight". BBC Sport. 25 May 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  22. ^ "Fulham's Roy Hodgson is the real Premier League manager of the year". The Daily Telegraph. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  23. ^ "Zamora in frame for World Cup call-up". The Daily Mirror. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  24. ^ Hodgson's the choice Sky Sports, 3 January 2010
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