Roy Hodgson v Harry Redknapp
It looks very much like Roy Hodgson will be the next England manager, and not Harry Redknapp. Seemingly everyone in football wanted Redknapp to get the job and not Hodgson.
I can't for the life of me see why.
Let's compare their abilities and records in management:
Roy Hodgson
Started managerial career with Halmstad in Sweden in 1976. In his first year, taking over a team expected to be fighting against relegation, he won the league. He won the league again in 1979.
In 1980 he moved to Bristol City as assistant manager and the manager, but a lack of money meant he was not successful. He moved back to Sweden in 1983 with Orebro. Then in 1985, he moved to Malmo and won five consecutive league championships and two Swedish cups. Malmo also knocked Inter Milan out of the Champions League. Even now, he is still so popular with Malmo fans that a section of their stadium has been nicknamed "Roy's Corner". He is still regarded as one of the great tactical innovators of Swedish football.
Malmo offered Hodgson a lifetime contract, but he declined this because he wanted something new and exciting (and because of the high rates of income tax in Sweden). In 1990, he moved to Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland. His two years there included a UEFA Cup thrashing of Celtic (5-2 on aggregate) and a first leg win against Real Madrid (although Real won the second leg).
In 1992, Hodgson took over the Swiss national side. Switzerland had a difficult qualifying group for the 1994 World Cup, being placed with Italy and Portugal. However, they finished second in the group and qualified. In qualification, Switzerland beat Italy in Switzerland and drew in Italy - this was the Italy team of Baggio, Baresi, Maldini etc that was a penalty shootout away from winning the tournament. At the tournament, Switzerland drew with hosts the USA, thrashed Romania (who went on to eliminate Argentina) 4-1 and lost to Colombia. They finished second in their group, but were beaten 3-0 by Spain in the second round.
Switzerland easily qualified for Euro 1996 (they had never before qualified for the tournament), losing only one match (to Turkey, after having already secured qualification). During this time, Switzerland were ranked the third best team in the world by FIFA. It is worth noting that since the rankings were introduced in 1993, England has never been ranked as high as 3.
Hodgson's success with Switzerland got him a job offer from Inter Milan, and he left the Swiss national team before Euro 96. (Without Hodgson, Switzerland crashed and burned at Euro 96. They drew with England, but lost to the Netherlands and even Scotland.) At the time Inter was a team in transition. They had escaped relegation from Serie A by a single point only two seasons previously and their only really notable player was Paul Ince. In his first season in charge, Hodgson took Inter to a 7th place finish and the UEFA Cup final (where they lost to Schalke). Inter's oil tycoon owner, Massimo Moratti has always been the impatient type, and despite Inter being third in the league at the time, Hodgson was sacked in 1997.
The following summer, Hodgson was offered, and accepted, the job of manager at Blackburn Rovers. Rovers had narrowly escaped relegation from the Premier League in the previous season. Under Hodgson, they finished sixth. Hodgson was twice Premier League Manager of the Month. However, the following season was disastrous for Blackburn. A succession of injuries didn't help and Hodgson was sacked with the club bottom of the table.
In 1999, Hodgson returned to Inter as caretaker manager briefly, before spending a season in charge of Grasshopper Zurich. Then he moved to FC Copenhagen and turned a mid-table team into Danish champions in his first year. This success led to an offer from Italy again, and Hodgson became manager of Udinese. Hodgson was the victim of internal politics at the club and was fired after only four months. He is on record as saying he was happy to have been sacked. Then followed spells as manager of the United Arab Emirates and Viking Stavanger in Norway before his third international team - Finland. Finland have never qualified for a major tournament, but under Hodgson, they were just three points from qualification for Euro 2008. Hodgson was offered an extension, but decided against it, and returned to Inter in an ambassadorial role. At the time, he was linked with both the Republic of Ireland and England jobs.
In December 2007, Hodgson took over at Fulham, then struggling near the bottom of the Premier League. Their poor form continued until a late resurgence pulled them clear of relegation near the end of the season. The following season, Fulham's fortunes were transformed and the club finished 7th - their highest ever finish. They qualified for the Europa League, and the following season made it all the way to the final where they lost 2-1 to an Atletico Madrid side featuring Sergio Aguero, David de Gea and Diego Forlan. Hodgson was voted Manager of the Year by his fellow managers in England by a record margin.
Hodgson left Fulham when he was offered the Liverpool job (in preference to Kenny Dalglish). Liverpool's turbulent ownership situation did not help Hodgson (he had insufficient funds for major transfers) and the fans (who had mostly wanted club legend Dalglish to get the job) were against him from the start. Liverpool were inconsistent and he lasted just 31 games before (somewhat inevitably) Dalglish replaced him.
Hodgson was not unemployed for long. A month later, he was appointed West Bromwich Albion manager. Under Roberto di Matteo (you remember him - he's the guy who's just got Chelsea to the Champions League final), West Brom had lost 13 of their previous 18 matches. Under Hodgson, they finished strongly enough to finish the season eleventh in the table. This was West Brom's highest league finish in something like thirty years.
Hodgson speaks six languages fluently.
Harry Redknapp
Redknapp started his managerial career with Bournemouth in the old third division in 1983. In his first season in charge, he saved them relegation from the Football League and caused one of the great FA Cup upsets when Bournemouth knocked Manchester United out in the third round. After a couple of mid-table finishes, the team won the division in 1987. However, the second division proved too good for Bournemouth, and three years later, they were relegated. Redknapp resigned a year later and moved to West Ham as assistant manager to Billy Bonds.
Redknapp was promoted to manager of West Ham in 1994. His time at West Ham was successful and included an eighth place finish in 1998 and a fifth place finish in 1999 - the club's highest ever finish plus an Intertoto Cup win. Redknapp was lucky to inherit considerable talent coming through from the youth team (Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole etc) which offset his expensive failures in the transfer market. However, poor league form in 2001 combined with some indiscreet comments about the club's owners led to his sacking one game before the end of the season.
His next job was as Director of Football at Portsmouth, although he quickly returned to management after the club's manager Graham Rix was sacked. Portsmouth won the division and were promoted to the Premier League in 2003. He kept Portsmouth in the Premier League in 2004 with a 13th place finish, but resigned the following November after a falling out with the club's owner.
Redknapp then joined Portsmouth's rivals Southampton, much to the anger of Portsmouth fans. Southampton's spell of 27 consecutive seasons in the top flight of English division ended in Redknapp's first season in charge, as he guided them to just six wins all season and a bottom place finish. Redknapp kept his job and even survived poor form the following season before quitting to return to Portsmouth.
His second spell with Portsmouth is really what his standing in football is based on. He took a team that was in the bottom third of the table and saved them from relegation. The following season, Portsmouth finished ninth - their best finish since the 1950s and then in 2008 victory in the FA Cup. He moved to Tottenham Hotspur early the following season, with the London club sitting bottom of the Premier League. Redknapp turned Spurs around. They finished eighth and reached the League Cup final (which they lost to Manchester United).
In his first full season with Spurs, Redknapp guided them to fourth in the Premier League and Champions League qualification. He was named Premier League Manager of the Year. That successful season was followed up last year by a fifth place finish and a place in the Champions League quarter-final (where Spurs were thrashed 5-0 by Real Madrid).
Redknapp has been linked several times to corruption charges, but has always been acquitted. In 2007, he was arrested on suspicion of fraud concerning illegal payments to agents when conducting transfers. However, the High Court ruled that the raid on his home was illegal and quashed the charges. In January this year, he was found not guilty of tax evasion on a payment made from the Portsmouth owner to a secret Monaco bank account. During the case, Redknapp admitted he was practically illiterate: "I write like a two-year-old and I can't spell ... I can't work a computer, I don't know what an email is, I can't, I have never sent a fax and I've never even sent a text message. I have a big problem, I can't write so I don't keep anything. I am the most disorganised person, I am ashamed to say, in the world ... You talk to anybody at the football club. I don't write. I couldn't even fill a team sheet in"
He is famously dismissive of "tactics". This is perhaps best illustrated by the instructions he is said to have given a Spurs substitute about to go on who asked him a question on tactics "Just tell Pavlyuchenko to fucking run about a bit!"
Now which do you think would be more successful as England manager? The clever, experienced international manager who guided Switzerland to a rating higher than England has ever been, who has been a success in Sweden, England, Switzerland, Finland and Denmark (and to a lesser extent Italy) and who is regarded as a tactician - or an illiterate wideboy cockney?
I can't for the life of me see why.
Let's compare their abilities and records in management:
Roy Hodgson
Started managerial career with Halmstad in Sweden in 1976. In his first year, taking over a team expected to be fighting against relegation, he won the league. He won the league again in 1979.
In 1980 he moved to Bristol City as assistant manager and the manager, but a lack of money meant he was not successful. He moved back to Sweden in 1983 with Orebro. Then in 1985, he moved to Malmo and won five consecutive league championships and two Swedish cups. Malmo also knocked Inter Milan out of the Champions League. Even now, he is still so popular with Malmo fans that a section of their stadium has been nicknamed "Roy's Corner". He is still regarded as one of the great tactical innovators of Swedish football.
Malmo offered Hodgson a lifetime contract, but he declined this because he wanted something new and exciting (and because of the high rates of income tax in Sweden). In 1990, he moved to Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland. His two years there included a UEFA Cup thrashing of Celtic (5-2 on aggregate) and a first leg win against Real Madrid (although Real won the second leg).
In 1992, Hodgson took over the Swiss national side. Switzerland had a difficult qualifying group for the 1994 World Cup, being placed with Italy and Portugal. However, they finished second in the group and qualified. In qualification, Switzerland beat Italy in Switzerland and drew in Italy - this was the Italy team of Baggio, Baresi, Maldini etc that was a penalty shootout away from winning the tournament. At the tournament, Switzerland drew with hosts the USA, thrashed Romania (who went on to eliminate Argentina) 4-1 and lost to Colombia. They finished second in their group, but were beaten 3-0 by Spain in the second round.
Switzerland easily qualified for Euro 1996 (they had never before qualified for the tournament), losing only one match (to Turkey, after having already secured qualification). During this time, Switzerland were ranked the third best team in the world by FIFA. It is worth noting that since the rankings were introduced in 1993, England has never been ranked as high as 3.
Hodgson's success with Switzerland got him a job offer from Inter Milan, and he left the Swiss national team before Euro 96. (Without Hodgson, Switzerland crashed and burned at Euro 96. They drew with England, but lost to the Netherlands and even Scotland.) At the time Inter was a team in transition. They had escaped relegation from Serie A by a single point only two seasons previously and their only really notable player was Paul Ince. In his first season in charge, Hodgson took Inter to a 7th place finish and the UEFA Cup final (where they lost to Schalke). Inter's oil tycoon owner, Massimo Moratti has always been the impatient type, and despite Inter being third in the league at the time, Hodgson was sacked in 1997.
The following summer, Hodgson was offered, and accepted, the job of manager at Blackburn Rovers. Rovers had narrowly escaped relegation from the Premier League in the previous season. Under Hodgson, they finished sixth. Hodgson was twice Premier League Manager of the Month. However, the following season was disastrous for Blackburn. A succession of injuries didn't help and Hodgson was sacked with the club bottom of the table.
In 1999, Hodgson returned to Inter as caretaker manager briefly, before spending a season in charge of Grasshopper Zurich. Then he moved to FC Copenhagen and turned a mid-table team into Danish champions in his first year. This success led to an offer from Italy again, and Hodgson became manager of Udinese. Hodgson was the victim of internal politics at the club and was fired after only four months. He is on record as saying he was happy to have been sacked. Then followed spells as manager of the United Arab Emirates and Viking Stavanger in Norway before his third international team - Finland. Finland have never qualified for a major tournament, but under Hodgson, they were just three points from qualification for Euro 2008. Hodgson was offered an extension, but decided against it, and returned to Inter in an ambassadorial role. At the time, he was linked with both the Republic of Ireland and England jobs.
In December 2007, Hodgson took over at Fulham, then struggling near the bottom of the Premier League. Their poor form continued until a late resurgence pulled them clear of relegation near the end of the season. The following season, Fulham's fortunes were transformed and the club finished 7th - their highest ever finish. They qualified for the Europa League, and the following season made it all the way to the final where they lost 2-1 to an Atletico Madrid side featuring Sergio Aguero, David de Gea and Diego Forlan. Hodgson was voted Manager of the Year by his fellow managers in England by a record margin.
Hodgson left Fulham when he was offered the Liverpool job (in preference to Kenny Dalglish). Liverpool's turbulent ownership situation did not help Hodgson (he had insufficient funds for major transfers) and the fans (who had mostly wanted club legend Dalglish to get the job) were against him from the start. Liverpool were inconsistent and he lasted just 31 games before (somewhat inevitably) Dalglish replaced him.
Hodgson was not unemployed for long. A month later, he was appointed West Bromwich Albion manager. Under Roberto di Matteo (you remember him - he's the guy who's just got Chelsea to the Champions League final), West Brom had lost 13 of their previous 18 matches. Under Hodgson, they finished strongly enough to finish the season eleventh in the table. This was West Brom's highest league finish in something like thirty years.
Hodgson speaks six languages fluently.
Harry Redknapp
Redknapp started his managerial career with Bournemouth in the old third division in 1983. In his first season in charge, he saved them relegation from the Football League and caused one of the great FA Cup upsets when Bournemouth knocked Manchester United out in the third round. After a couple of mid-table finishes, the team won the division in 1987. However, the second division proved too good for Bournemouth, and three years later, they were relegated. Redknapp resigned a year later and moved to West Ham as assistant manager to Billy Bonds.
Redknapp was promoted to manager of West Ham in 1994. His time at West Ham was successful and included an eighth place finish in 1998 and a fifth place finish in 1999 - the club's highest ever finish plus an Intertoto Cup win. Redknapp was lucky to inherit considerable talent coming through from the youth team (Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole etc) which offset his expensive failures in the transfer market. However, poor league form in 2001 combined with some indiscreet comments about the club's owners led to his sacking one game before the end of the season.
His next job was as Director of Football at Portsmouth, although he quickly returned to management after the club's manager Graham Rix was sacked. Portsmouth won the division and were promoted to the Premier League in 2003. He kept Portsmouth in the Premier League in 2004 with a 13th place finish, but resigned the following November after a falling out with the club's owner.
Redknapp then joined Portsmouth's rivals Southampton, much to the anger of Portsmouth fans. Southampton's spell of 27 consecutive seasons in the top flight of English division ended in Redknapp's first season in charge, as he guided them to just six wins all season and a bottom place finish. Redknapp kept his job and even survived poor form the following season before quitting to return to Portsmouth.
His second spell with Portsmouth is really what his standing in football is based on. He took a team that was in the bottom third of the table and saved them from relegation. The following season, Portsmouth finished ninth - their best finish since the 1950s and then in 2008 victory in the FA Cup. He moved to Tottenham Hotspur early the following season, with the London club sitting bottom of the Premier League. Redknapp turned Spurs around. They finished eighth and reached the League Cup final (which they lost to Manchester United).
In his first full season with Spurs, Redknapp guided them to fourth in the Premier League and Champions League qualification. He was named Premier League Manager of the Year. That successful season was followed up last year by a fifth place finish and a place in the Champions League quarter-final (where Spurs were thrashed 5-0 by Real Madrid).
Redknapp has been linked several times to corruption charges, but has always been acquitted. In 2007, he was arrested on suspicion of fraud concerning illegal payments to agents when conducting transfers. However, the High Court ruled that the raid on his home was illegal and quashed the charges. In January this year, he was found not guilty of tax evasion on a payment made from the Portsmouth owner to a secret Monaco bank account. During the case, Redknapp admitted he was practically illiterate: "I write like a two-year-old and I can't spell ... I can't work a computer, I don't know what an email is, I can't, I have never sent a fax and I've never even sent a text message. I have a big problem, I can't write so I don't keep anything. I am the most disorganised person, I am ashamed to say, in the world ... You talk to anybody at the football club. I don't write. I couldn't even fill a team sheet in"
He is famously dismissive of "tactics". This is perhaps best illustrated by the instructions he is said to have given a Spurs substitute about to go on who asked him a question on tactics "Just tell Pavlyuchenko to fucking run about a bit!"
Now which do you think would be more successful as England manager? The clever, experienced international manager who guided Switzerland to a rating higher than England has ever been, who has been a success in Sweden, England, Switzerland, Finland and Denmark (and to a lesser extent Italy) and who is regarded as a tactician - or an illiterate wideboy cockney?