After months of gossip, rumour, debate and no little bit of soul-searching at the FA, Roy Hodgson is finally about to make his competitive debut for England after stepping into the shoes kicked off by Fabio Capello back in early February.
So how well do you think he’ll do?
The 64-year-old emerged from his talks with the FA at Wembley armed with a four-year contract and his work very much cut out as he is plunged headlong into the role. England commence their European Championships campaign against France on Monday June 11th in Donetsk after warm-up friendlies against Norway and Belgium.
The over-riding reaction in certain quarters to Hodgson’s appointment seemed to one of surprise that Harry Redknapp wasn’t appointed rather than heralding the arrival of the new man. So thanks to the media circus, Hodgson starts the job a little on the back foot, with a perceived need to justify his appointment rather than being able to roll his sleeves up and get on with the job in hand.
While Redknapp seems to have been the popular choice, don’t let it be forgotten that Hodgson had previously been in the running for what is perhaps the most difficult and tainted jobs in world football.
The fact remains that Redknapp wasn’t given the job and Hodgson was, so let’s just move on shall we?
Following Fabio Capello’s departure in February, the focus of the debate switched to the burning question: “Who will be the next England manager?” Yet, one of the questions your correspondent had was: “Why do we find ourselves in this situation again?”
Another bumbling effort by the FA prompted Capello’s departure, for comments made to an Italian television reporter.
Capello’s comments were perfectly reasonable given the fact that the FA Board acted without consulting him. He rightly felt that he was being undermined by their decision to strip Terry of the captaincy in another ham-fisted PR job.
While the FA seem heel-bent on pulling in one direction while their manager pulls in another, there will always be the potential for conflict and perhaps a few fireworks.
Is the England manager’s job still a poisoned chalice?
