Fanzone: Forget Roy? Or remember him exactly how he was?

An article by Paul Boyham.

You can follow Paul on Twitter at @paulboyham and also see more of his articles here on his blog.

Preferential treatment for Roy Hodgson from the British media recently afforded him to somehow be appointed manager of Liverpool, record 18 time Champions of England.  Suffice to say, Liverpool fans saw through Hodgson and the media hype surrounding him.  After 20 Premier League games in charge and Liverpool in 12^th place in the Premier League, the clubs new owners had also had enough and Hodgson was sacked.  True to his form whilst in the job, Hodgson remained adamant after his sacking that his failings were down to other people’s mistakes, be it the previous manager, the players he inherited, or the famous Liverpool support.

It is true that Hodgson was working under difficult circumstances at Liverpool.  The people who hired him were doing a terrible job in running the club; there was infighting at the highest level, fan unrest and unhappy star players.  However, all of these problems and more were also faced by his predecessor, Rafael Benitez.  The Spaniard, who himself split opinions amongst fans, fought long and hard for what was right for the club, something which ultimately cost him his job.  Instead of fighting the problems for the good of the club, or ignoring them to concentrate on the job at hand, Hodgson simply chose to use them as excuses.

The recent troubles behind the scenes at Liverpool have some similarities to those faced by Hodgson at his only other ‘big’ managerial job, at Internazionale in 1995.  Admittedly, Liverpool’s troubles have been much more serious, with the club even in danger of administration at one point, but the Italian giants had also been struggling and in need of rebuilding.  In the two seasons before Hodgson’s appointment, Internazionale had finished 13^th and 6^th in Serie A.  Hodgson had money to invest and, arguably, stabilised the team in his debut season, finishing 7^th.   At the end of the season Hodgson sold Roberto Carlos, who he had been encouraging to play at left midfield rather than left back, to Real Madrid.  To this day, Internazionale fans are upset about this and, understandably, blame Hodgson for losing one of the best full backs in world football in recent times.  Fighting against continuous speculation of the sack, Hodgson pushed his team up the league in his second season, finishing in 3^rd place.  Whilst this was still below the high expectations for the club, fans were appeased by the appearance in the Uefa Cup Final against Schalke.  However, after the favourites lost the final (on penalties after it finishing 1-1 after two legs), Hodgson was pelted with objects from his own fans and caused to resign, leaving his job with a 44% win rate.

Whilst at Internazionale, Hodgson had developed a positive relationship with the club’s owner, Massimo Morrati.  In 1999, he was appointed Caretaker Manager at Internazionale and was linked with the job following Jose Mourinho’s departure, in the summer of 2010.  Whether the Inter fans would have been as happy with the appointment of Hodgson as their extravagant owner is doubtful.  True, Hodgson has gained respect for his success at Malmo and Copenhagen and for his overachieving at Fulham, but not enough for fans of the European Champions to be advocating his rumoured appointment.

Hodgson’s major success in England was with Fulham, first keeping them in the top flight and later taking them to the Europa League Final.  To the delight of the British media, this saw Hodgson land the 2010 LMA award.  The actual credentials of this award are questionable though.  It is traditionally given to overachievers, such as Hodgson at Fulham and the record winner of the award is David Moyes, who has received it 3 times for his overachieving with Everton.  Arguably, the award should continue to be given to overachieving managers, who can see it as wider recognition and a reward for their good work.  However, in England and with Hodgson in particular, there is always a campaign for further reward for overachievement; a job at a big club.  The naivety of the decision makers at Anfield last summer allowed this award to come.

It was soon apparent that Hodgson, who has proved his capabilities of managing small clubs, was struggling with the higher expectations at Liverpool.  That Hodgson failed to recognise his mistakes, let alone adapt his techniques, confirmed that he was out of his depth.  In managing West Brom, for whom surviving in the Premier League is rightfully considered success, Hodgson has found his level.  His organisation skills will probably keep them in the top flight and may be enough to progress to mid table over a couple of seasons.

At the weekend, Hodgson will host his old employers, Liverpool.  Following his comments upon leaving Liverpool, that nobody could do a better job and his well publicised target of getting Liverpool to 7^th/8^th place in the Premier League, it could be argued that Hodgson should expect his West Brom team to win the weekends match.  However, Hodgson is a professional in lowering expectations, whilst his previous comments on Liverpool are likely to be bypassed in any questioning of him.

Recently talking about his time at Liverpool, Hodgson claimed that he “always knew Liverpool would finish in the top 6, 7 or 8”.  He also complained that his work was not appreciated and put his dismissal down to fan pressure for Dalglish and his own misfortune of losing two games at the wrong time.  These comments reiterate Hodgson’s refusal to take any blame himself and highlight that he was adamant that expectations at Liverpool needed to be as low as 8^th in the Premier League, even though his predecessor was sacked for a 7^th place finish.

As tempting as it is to focus on Hodgson, Liverpool’s mind now has to be on the next match, as is typical of the Liverpool Way.  A win against Hodgson’s West Brom, though, would certainly be a good way to remind our previous manager of Liverpool’s quality and expectations and just how wrong he had been.  After the game, Hodgson’s time at Liverpool will be a news topic again.  The preferential treatment for him will mean the focus will be on the hindrances to the job Hodgson was doing; the takeover, court battles, player unrest, fans wanting a different manager.  In fact, it would be easy to depict Hodgson’s reign at Liverpool as unlucky and that’s where a choice has to be made.  Do Liverpool fans forget Hodgson, take in the media claims that he was unfortunate, didn’t get enough time to ‘stamp his mark’ and was working under difficult circumstances?  Or, do we remember him and his reign exactly how it was; a mess from start to end, highlighting a manager out of his depth and refusing to change his ways?  I know which one I’ll be picking…

Paul Boyham