http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/760399/HODGSON-ENGLISH-BOSS-CAN-HANDLE-TOP-JOBS.htmlHODGSON: ENGLISH BOSS CAN HANDLE TOP JOBS Fulham boss not bitter
By Rob Shepherd, 20/03/2010
ROY HODGSON no longer affords himself the pleasure of the occasional cigar.
Shame really. After Fulham's stunning victory over Juventus he deserves the finest Havana has to offer.
Because by his own admission, Hodgson is enjoying the best season of a lengthy and celebrated managerial career.
After 34 years at the helm around the world, his achievements at Craven Cottage put him alongside Fulham legends like Johnny Haynes, Bobby Robson and the innovative Alec Stock.
Perhaps they'll cast a bronze of Hodgson, 62, to go alongside Haynes at the Cottage if this team actually wins something, either the FA Cup or Europa League.
And if not? Well, it will still rank alongside the outstanding campaigns of his stellar career.
"I've won titles at clubs in Sweden and Denmark, taken Inter Milan to a UEFA Cup final, managed the Switzerland and Finland national teams but, yes, this season has to sit up there," he acknowledged.
"One, it is back in my country. Two, it is the Premier League. Three, so many predicted what we have done this season was beyond us.
"But I still look back at my first-ever year as manager with particular fondness.
"It was what you might call a water-into- wine job."
Halmstad were a no-hope side in Sweden and had just averted relegation. But a 29-year-old Hodgson took over and led them to the Championship.
Having failed to make the grade as a player with Crystal Palace, Hodgson had trawled around non-league football and took his coaching badges early.
The only place he could find work, however, was in Sweden, first with Halmstad and then with Malmo, where three decades ago he was credited with helping the rise of Swedish football. But it was only when Hodgson led Switzerland to Euro 96 qualification and was then appointed manager by Italian giants Inter Milan that he came on to the radar in England.
Bitterness, though, is not in Hodgson's nature.
"Did I deserve a chance sooner in this country?" he asked. "Look, I think people get opportunities when they deserve them.
"We have got to get away from the word 'deserving' in top football management.
"You don't necessarily get what you deserve.
"Often you play well and lose. Or play badly and win.
"That's the game. When it comes to management if a chance comes your way you have to take it and make the best of it.
"You have to understand all the pitfalls, one of which is thinking you may deserve something.
"Yes, for me, it has been a long old slog.
"But it is overcoming knock-backs and confronting situations over the years that puts us managers in a better position to do the job."
Sacked
One such knock-back came when Hodgson eventually did get a chance in England, at Blackburn in 1997.
In his first season, Rovers finished sixth but only three months into the next he was sacked as relegation loomed.
Hodgson recalled: "We started the campaign without our two main strikers, Chris Sutton and Kevin Gallacher. Colin Hendry was out, too. We couldn't replace them.
"That's not making excuses or moaning - it's just how it was.
"I'm afraid sometimes that's what it boils down to in management.
"Of course that can't be the case all the time.
"Obviously there are profiles and characteristics that are absolutely necessary to be a good manager over a long period of time.
"There are so many things that go into the melting pot, not least how fortunate you are early in your career.
"In trying to jump those hurdles, you might fall badly and never get up again. But if you have something behind you, you can get over those setbacks.
"I did that after Blackburn. I moved on to manage at Inter for a second time, then for a while at Grasshoppers in Switzerland, Udinese and with Finland.
"As a manager, it is important to make sure we don't regard ourselves as the centre of the universe."
Genial
Ever genial and polite, Hodgson refrained from citing Inter and former Chelsea supremo Jose Mourinho as a case in point, but he clearly thinks the hype which surrounds the self-proclaimed Special One is overblown.
"What I saw on Tuesday night was the better team, Inter, who had the better players who did better, and won," he said. "But people don't want that. They want to mystify. It reminds me a bit of that Peter Sellers character in the film Being There, Chance the Gardener.
"Here was a simple gardener who said something like 'After the sun shines there is always rain'.
"Or 'What appeared inflation became deflation', and everyone thinks he is profound.
"He rises from being a gardener to an advisor to the president.
"I do feel we have that a bit in this country when it comes to foreign coaches.
"I know it the other way around and, yes, you can benefit from that language barrier a bit and people not knowing all your background because you then have an allure of mystery.
"But I just hope people see older English coaches like myself and Harry Redknapp or, say, a younger one in Steve Bruce, and realise we are capable of doing the big jobs if they come along - whether that would be with the England team or Manchester United."
A couple of years ago Hodgson could have been forgiven for thinking the chance of managing in the Premier League had gone.
Certainly nights like the stunning 4-1 victory over Juventus, sealed by a brilliant late goal from Clint Dempsey, seemed a distant dream.
Challenge
Hodgson, revealed: "I was on the brink of accepting a role with Inter Milan.
"Roberto Mancini was the manager of the club at the time but the president Massimo Moratti wanted me to be his advisor.
"My time with Finland was coming to an end and it was very tempting. It was basically a job for life but out of the blue I got a call from Fulham.
"I wouldn't say it was a gamble but it was a challenge compared to the job I had lined up in Milan because Fulham had started that season badly. They were deep in the relegation battle.
"I went back to Moratti and asked if he could excuse me from the promise I had given.
"He was absolutely fine. He understood the lure of a managerial job in the Premier League not only back in my own country but back in a part of London near where I grew up.
"It was a long, hard battle to stay up but we managed it and things have progressed from there."
One of Hodgson's few regrets in life is that his mother died long before his achievement in football was recognised in his own country.
"When I was at Inter I came home and took her to an Italian restaurant and she couldn't fully understand why so many people knew me and wanted to talk to me," recalled Hodgson.
"She didn't really understand the jobs I had done abroad. I'm sure she would be very proud now.
"Although, to be honest, even if I had ended up as a bus driver she would have thought I was the best thing since sliced bread."
