Football News » Editorial
Editorial
Soccerphile Editorial - April 2012
England To Appoint Roy Hodgson To Succeed Capello
In something of a shock move, the English FA seem on the verge of appointing West Bromwich Albion coach Roy Hodgson as the next England manager. The 64-year-old former Blackburn Rovers, Inter, Udinese, Fulham and briefly, Liverpool coach will succeed Fabio Capello, who resigned in the wake of the FA stripping the captaincy from John Terry after his involvement in alledged racial abuse of QPR's Anton Ferdinand during a match in October last year.
The overwhelming favorite to succeed Capello with the bookies and most pundits was always Spurs' boss Harry Redknapp, but the more cerebral, tactically-aware approach of Roy Hodgson seems to have won over the FA chairman David Bernstein, FA director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking and their colleagues.
Other factors that seem to have weighed in Hodgson's favour over Redknapp are his greater international experience and his perceived hands-on coaching approach, which will be needed to oversee the development of all levels of the England national team at St George's Park, which is nearing completion near Burton-on-Trent in the English Midlands.
Roy Hodgson has enjoyed spells as the coach of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Finland. His greatest international success was guiding the Swiss national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup in the USA and qualification for Euro 1996 in England. He led Finland to their highest ever FIFA World Ranking of 33 while in charge between 2006-2007.
Both Harry Redknapp and Roy Hodgson lack the silverware collected by previous England managers, Fabio Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson in their club careers.
Redknapp's solitary major honour was the FA Cup in 2008 while manager of Portsmouth, while Hodgson has won the Danish Championship with FC Copenhagen, a number of Swedish titles and reached two European finals: the 1997 UEFA Cup with Inter and the 2010 Europa League final with Fulham, losing on both occasions.
Hodgson's coaching record is decidedly mixed with most of his success coming with smaller clubs like Fulham, FC Copenhagen and WBA, where he has managed to get the most out of the limited player resources at his disposal, whereas his record at a bigger club such as Liverpool ultimately ended in failure. It remains to be seen whether Hodgson will be able to inspire the "superstars" who make up the present England squad, some of whom, such as Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand openly endorsed Redknapp on Twitter.
Hodgson is known for his attention to detail, tight defences and a preference for a 4-4-1-1 formation. Whether England supporters will welcome the more pragmatic approach of Hodgson over the perceived gung-ho, cavalier style of Harry Redknapp only time and results will tell. A failure at Euro 2012 may well be forgiven, as for once, expectations for the English national team are low after the disastrous performances of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Hodgson is likely to be appointed for a period to take in the upcoming Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, the qualifying rounds for the 2014 World Cup and the tournament itself and all being well the 2016 Euros in France .
Failure to qualify for the 2016 World Cup could see Hodgson suffer the same fate as predecessor Steve McClaren and the press clamouring for a saviour in the shape of Harry Redknapp.
| Football Editorials 2007 | Football Editorials 2008 | Football Editorials 2009 | Football Editorials 2010 | Football Editorials 2011 | | |
|
|
