Breaking news re England Manager

[Mikhail Chigorin]

For the foreseeable future, England's international prospects are pretty grim; the current first choice players are getting too old, they're not good enough technically, young players who might have been given a chance have been largely overlooked and, tactically, many/most sides are on a different planet to us, as far as we're concerned.

Perhaps Hodgson is the dose of (short term ??) reality that's needed. He's not a messianic figure, he's not someone who is a tub thumper and who will raise all the Nation's (and the media's) hopes, only to have them dashed and, because he's probably going to be seen as a low profile, relatively mundane/boring appointment, no-one is really going to expect much of him.

BUT, if he can get the side organised and to play as a proper team, tighten up the defence and make us really difficult to beat (as his past club records might suggest - the Liverpool experience notwithstanding), if he can weed out the flash boys and the fancy-dans and get everyone working their socks off, then he just might stop us from being humiliated whenever we enter a tournament and, because he will be underestimated by all and sundry, he might stop us from being the laughing stock of world football.

It's a big ask and he's never going to get us to semi-finals, or even finals, but he might just bring back a little bit of respect for the national team. If he succeeds in this, he could prove to be a shrewd appointment by the FA......

[Dameerto]

As a Swede, I'm gutted. I fancied our chances against an England in chaos (i.e. with Pearce or Redknapp at the helm), but I think Roy is the best available option for you right now He also knows Swedish football inside out.

I think it's a big part of why he was approached at this moment in time. That plus he pisses all over wideboy 'arry as a manager. It made me laugh when some BBC 'sports commentator' was going on about the FA going against EVERYONE'S wishes by ignoring the barrowboy, then mentioning Roy being sacked by Liverpool 'recently' for poor form whilst totally ignoring Spurs' EVEN MORE RECENT shit form.

[Green & Blue]

Roy Hodgson "It's a shame Imogen Thomas isn't an English footballer.I hear shes wanked amongst the best players in the world.

[Swales4ever]

Hodgson was merely working with what benitez left him, and that was very little...I have slated benitez in the past so I would defend Hodgson on that one. England are average, but have been below those standards for a while now...Hodgson will cut his cloth accordingly...thats what international managers do...they dont have time to turn shit into gold. the press think redknapp can turn shit into gold. he cant, not without any creative players. no one can. Hodgson will make England harder to beat and might just take some steps further than of late. That is all we should be expecting, realistically. Fuck the press, let them pick holes...in time no one will care what they write.

Mate, to say England are averege is a bit rich, imo, if You'd pardon me.
particularly when in comparison to the current status of the remainder of continental opponents, apart from Spainiards.
only avarege dept is arguably the front row, where it's Shrek and very little more and it has to guess what kind of Shrek we shall see by that time.
England has finally found a world class keeper, has very decent defenders when set up properly (and here Hodgson takes great advantage fm his Italian experience) as well as good solutions to shuffle in the middle of the park along with some great young talents on the flanks, now raising to fit the international stage, imo.

England problem is and always will be the hugely demanding season they come from. as fans we do enjoy, but that on the other hand, prevent England to take the honours they deserve at international level.

I can only comment on what Ive seen of the national side over many years, Mancio...we lack creative players, one a generation comes through it seems..we lack players with big match temperaments and enough players with technique good enough to fall back on...with Hodgson we may rise above average, we may not...but I'm only commenting on what are basic facts..at the highest level, England havent been there often enough for a footballing nation of its size.

fair enough and most probably spot on.
still I consider tiredness at season end more than lack of creativity is the very most reason why England haven't took what deserved for being the greatest footballing nation of any size.
I always thought that Gerrard and Lampard were creative enough, far from being such as Totti, Xavi, Iniesta, Baggio etc.
and I still continue to think that AJ and the youngsters widemen from Arsenal, can be shuffled with the solid holders to provide serious problems to any opposition nowadays.

tbh, now the clock is ticking too fast to actually care of England International, tho... :-)
come on CITY, right now.

[Beefymcfc]

Roy understands tactics & Harry doesn't.

Harry's tactics would be to try & bullshit Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard, Terry & Ferdinand to think & play like they are 20 years old. Then when it didn't work, he'd fuck off. Roy will try to get Lampard Gerrard, Terry & Ferdinand playing a tactical game, & when it doesn't work, he'll be fired but the new bloke can finally fuck Lampard Gerrard, Terry & Ferdinand off & we can start to rebuild.

how can anyone possibly fail miserably in such a short space of time ? come off it the guy never stood a chance after the disaster that was the fat waiter and without the quick money from Boston , even king kenny would have gone by now

What further has to be mentioned is the influence that Hodgson had over that KK team. That may sound daft but it was mentioned to me that around the time of Hodgson's appointment KK wanted the job but H&G were worried about his popularity, which would only grow if put in charge. KK still had influence within the dressing room, speaking to the senior members on a regular basis, often just prior to games and regularly he'd address the dressing room.

Hodgson didn't stand a chance against a man that is a cult hero and didn't accept coming second to no-one, especially Roy.

Roy over 'Arry? Everyday of the week and twice at weekends. Some may say he is an old head that can't being the youth on, well that's not down to him, that's down to the people below him on a daily basis. One thing that has been said about Hodgson is that he isn't the stand-off manager, he's a coach first and foremost, spotting talent and bringing the best out of that talent. He's organised, tactically aware and moreover, he's got something on 'Arry that most haven't, the knowledge of how a national team works.

[Bianchi on Ice]

Spot on Beefy, he's done it with other mid ranking teams (yep, England are mid ranking, forget those stupid FIFA lists)

[Ted Hughes]

Internationl managers don't have time to do much day to day coaching etc so it's an entirely different job. Keegan's cheerleading approach failed completely & Harry would have been the same.

Agreed, although I think Harry would be inspired by leading the England team and would get passion and commitment out of the players. Tactially yes, he's a bit of a 1 trick pony, but im not sure Englands 'best' players have the brain capacity for detailed tactics.

As much as it pains me to say, I think Redkanpp would get more out of the England team than Turkey Neck.

I think the best way for England to succeed in this tournament is to do what Greece did; play as a team, & Roy could organise that in theory. I don't think that the usual suspects are good enough anymore to do anything special but will have to be picked anyway as we've generally just dicked about for the past few years with no system, team, or style of play. Harry would just go for what he knows, which would possibly work for a few games before being destroyed by Spain or Germany, but all the tabloids would love it that we all ran forward in a headlong charge, then we'd be stuck with the wanker after the tourno, pretending he was building a team but in reality just going through the motions doing the same shit until eventually being sacked (as he will at Spurs).

[zuricity]

For the foreseeable future, England's international prospects are pretty grim; the current first choice players are getting too old, they're not good enough technically, young players who might have been given a chance have been largely overlooked and, tactically, many/most sides are on a different planet to us, as far as we're concerned.

Perhaps Hodgson is the dose of (short term ??) reality that's needed. He's not a messianic figure, he's not someone who is a tub thumper and who will raise all the Nation's (and the media's) hopes, only to have them dashed and, because he's probably going to be seen as a low profile, relatively mundane/boring appointment, no-one is really going to expect much of him.

BUT, if he can get the side organised and to play as a proper team, tighten up the defence and make us really difficult to beat (as his past club records might suggest - the Liverpool experience notwithstanding), if he can weed out the flash boys and the fancy-dans and get everyone working their socks off, then he just might stop us from being humiliated whenever we enter a tournament and, because he will be underestimated by all and sundry, he might stop us from being the laughing stock of world football.

It's a big ask and he's never going to get us to semi-finals, or even finals, but he might just bring back a little bit of respect for the national team. If he succeeds in this, he could prove to be a shrewd appointment by the FA......

if he's not the messiah who is ?

[Socrates]

Summed up best by Henry Winter of The Telegraph today - Hodgson "a Broadsheet manager in a tabloid world"

liking that quote very much

[Dameerto]

Summed up best by Henry Winter of The Telegraph today - Hodgson "a Broadsheet manager in a tabloid world"

liking that quote very much

Quality quote.

[Grob]

Internationl managers don't have time to do much day to day coaching etc so it's an entirely different job. Keegan's cheerleading approach failed completely & Harry would have been the same.

Agreed, although I think Harry would be inspired by leading the England team and would get passion and commitment out of the players. Tactially yes, he's a bit of a 1 trick pony, but im not sure Englands 'best' players have the brain capacity for detailed tactics.

As much as it pains me to say, I think Redkanpp would get more out of the England team than Turkey Neck.

I think the best way for England to succeed in this tournament is to do what Greece did; play as a team, & Roy could organise that in theory. I don't think that the usual suspects are good enough anymore to do anything special but will have to be picked anyway as we've generally just dicked about for the past few years with no system, team, or style of play. Harry would just go for what he knows, which would possibly work for a few games before being destroyed by Spain or Germany, but all the tabloids would love it that we all ran forward in a headlong charge, then we'd be stuck with the wanker after the tourno, pretending he was building a team but in reality just going through the motions doing the same shit until eventually being sacked (as he will at Spurs).

I think it will take Hodgson longer than the Euros to sort out a pattern of play and a team to play it. Medium term for me.

I thnk Harry could get one last hurrah out of the veterns for this tournament.

Depends what the aim is I guess

[Beanieboy]

http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/ , i don't know how much is true but worth a dig and read.

[Ted Hughes]

Is his name actually Woy ?

The bloke on Sky yesterday was calling him Woy & now Bernstein is calling him Woy.

I can only conclude, his name is Woy.

[Fullartj]

I'm glad that Roy got the job ahead of that b8llshitting, wheeler dealer, scum bag "Arry!

In saying that I still hope that England dont do well

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Hodgson as Finland manager was fucking borefest. And he couldn't really handle critism from Finnish media. I wonder how he will cope with English media.

[Grandad Rosler]

We should have gone for Mike Bassett

[ant london]

Is his name actually Woy ?

The bloke on Sky yesterday was calling him Woy & now Bernstein is calling him Woy.

I can only conclude, his name is Woy.

I loved this email in to f365.com with an England team suggestion


We Laughed At This Much More Than We Should've Done
My suggestion for the Woy England XI

Wobinson
Wichards - Tewwy - Wio - Warnock
Gewward - Wodwell - Bawwy
Welbeck - Wooney - Stuwwidge

Could see that team getting to the quarters at least!
Guy S

[Im_Spartacus]

The thing is, the fa have only fucking gone and done it again.

We are a moth or so away from a major tournament. Why the fuck would we give someone a 4 year contract on the eve of a tournament that he could easily prove to be shote in, then we are stuck with someone for 4 years.

Why on earth they couldnt have made an interim appointment of hodgson, to be reviewed after the tournament is beyond me

[Bianchi on Ice]

The thing is, the fa have only fucking gone and done it again.

We are a moth or so away from a major tournament. Why the fuck would we give someone a 4 year contract on the eve of a tournament that he could easily prove to be shote in, then we are stuck with someone for 4 years.

Why on earth they couldnt have made an interim appointment of hodgson, to be reviewed after the tournament is beyond me

agreed, but it seems like they are just being consistent, like increasing Capellos contract BEFORE the world cup, and being stuck with him afterwards, when everyone else was either fired, walked or stayed on for another 2 years having DONE WELL

[Goaters 103]

Quick Woy fact of the day - Hodgson has won as many Prem Lge games at Anfield in 2012 as Kenny Dalglish