I support this (Croydon) appointment. I particularly remember Hodgson's time as manager of Switzerland. He took them to third place in the rankings. However, it has always been a bit of a mystery to me how he became a top flight manager. It wasn't as if he had been a first team player or that he had even had huge success early on at a big British club. So I have Googled.
Roy Hodgson
In 1972, he was in his mid-20s and a PE teacher at Alleyns School, Dulwich. He had failed to get a first team place at Crystal Palace in the mid 1960s and had then played for non-league teams Tonbridge, Gravesend and Maidstone. By 29, he had played for three more - Ashford, Berea Park and Carshalton Athletic. From the latter he astonishingly went directly in 1976 to managing a first division team in Sweden, Halmstads BK, where he perfomed miracles and, unusually, stayed for five years. The success is not the mystery as much as the break. How does anyone go from being a Carshalton player to a first division manager?
Maidstone United - 1971
It appears that a part of the answer is Bob Houghton. Houghton, most recently in charge of India's side, had a brief playing career at Fulham and Brighton between 1966 and 1970. He was then one of the youngest coaches ever to manage in English senior football, being appointed player-manager of Hastings United in the Southern League at only 23. In the early 1970s he also managed Maidstone United and worked as an assistant to Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town. So clearly Hodgson and Houghton had encountered each other momentarily at Maidstone United a few years before Hodgson had moved to Halmstads BK.
Halmstads BK, Sweden
Bob Houghton
Houghton had made an arguably even more astonishing move by going directly from manager of Maidstone to Malmo in Sweden in 1974. He was only 27 and being almost exactly the same age as Hodgson predated Hodgson's move to Sweden by two years. So there, I think, is the contact. It wasn't indirect patronage from Robson who was to stay at Ipswich for many years. That Houghton though had worked early on for Robson is an interesting angle on the offer to Hodgson today. The media keep describing the Hodgson offer as surprising but the only surprise is that he has had to wait until 64. In the days when continuity mattered - that sort of jobs only for family members, both for better or worse - he would have been a shoo-in far earlier.
Sir Bobby Robson
There are a number of questions. One, the history. What does it say about Swedish football in the 1970s, and indeed the opportunities for people in the 1970s, that two British people with very little experience could have become top football managers there overnight? After all, unlike in 1966, the Swedish National Team had qualified for the World Cup in 1970, 1974 and 1978. This is not an achievement that was equalled by England. Two, will Houghton be Assistant Manager, Head Coach or whatever? While Hodgson has managed very effectively without him for decades, it would arguably be very appropriate in the circumstances.
Zhejiang Greentown FC
Three, how robust will any contract be? We need the new manager to stick around and not have to pay huge penalty clauses should he decide to leave. If there is any doubt, it has to be that Hodgson isn't one who seems to think about the long term. He has now managed Halmstads, Bristol City, Oddevold, Örebro, Malmö FF, Neuchâtel Xamax, Switzerland, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Inter for a second time, Grasshoppers, FC Copenhagen, Udinese, United Arab Emirates, Viking, Finland, Fulham, Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion. As for Houghton, he is clearly of the same mould having managed Hastings United, Maidstone United, Malmö FF, Ethnikos Piraeus, Bristol City, Toronto Blizzard, Al-Ittihad, Orgryte IS, Malmö FF, Al-Ittihad for a second time, FC Zürich, Colorado Rapids, China, Shanghai Pudong, Sichuan Quanxing, Zhejiang Greentown, Uzbekistan, Changsha Ginde and India!
Roy Hodgson
In 1972, he was in his mid-20s and a PE teacher at Alleyns School, Dulwich. He had failed to get a first team place at Crystal Palace in the mid 1960s and had then played for non-league teams Tonbridge, Gravesend and Maidstone. By 29, he had played for three more - Ashford, Berea Park and Carshalton Athletic. From the latter he astonishingly went directly in 1976 to managing a first division team in Sweden, Halmstads BK, where he perfomed miracles and, unusually, stayed for five years. The success is not the mystery as much as the break. How does anyone go from being a Carshalton player to a first division manager?
Maidstone United - 1971
It appears that a part of the answer is Bob Houghton. Houghton, most recently in charge of India's side, had a brief playing career at Fulham and Brighton between 1966 and 1970. He was then one of the youngest coaches ever to manage in English senior football, being appointed player-manager of Hastings United in the Southern League at only 23. In the early 1970s he also managed Maidstone United and worked as an assistant to Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town. So clearly Hodgson and Houghton had encountered each other momentarily at Maidstone United a few years before Hodgson had moved to Halmstads BK.
Halmstads BK, Sweden
Bob Houghton
Houghton had made an arguably even more astonishing move by going directly from manager of Maidstone to Malmo in Sweden in 1974. He was only 27 and being almost exactly the same age as Hodgson predated Hodgson's move to Sweden by two years. So there, I think, is the contact. It wasn't indirect patronage from Robson who was to stay at Ipswich for many years. That Houghton though had worked early on for Robson is an interesting angle on the offer to Hodgson today. The media keep describing the Hodgson offer as surprising but the only surprise is that he has had to wait until 64. In the days when continuity mattered - that sort of jobs only for family members, both for better or worse - he would have been a shoo-in far earlier.
Sir Bobby Robson
There are a number of questions. One, the history. What does it say about Swedish football in the 1970s, and indeed the opportunities for people in the 1970s, that two British people with very little experience could have become top football managers there overnight? After all, unlike in 1966, the Swedish National Team had qualified for the World Cup in 1970, 1974 and 1978. This is not an achievement that was equalled by England. Two, will Houghton be Assistant Manager, Head Coach or whatever? While Hodgson has managed very effectively without him for decades, it would arguably be very appropriate in the circumstances.
Zhejiang Greentown FC
Three, how robust will any contract be? We need the new manager to stick around and not have to pay huge penalty clauses should he decide to leave. If there is any doubt, it has to be that Hodgson isn't one who seems to think about the long term. He has now managed Halmstads, Bristol City, Oddevold, Örebro, Malmö FF, Neuchâtel Xamax, Switzerland, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Inter for a second time, Grasshoppers, FC Copenhagen, Udinese, United Arab Emirates, Viking, Finland, Fulham, Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion. As for Houghton, he is clearly of the same mould having managed Hastings United, Maidstone United, Malmö FF, Ethnikos Piraeus, Bristol City, Toronto Blizzard, Al-Ittihad, Orgryte IS, Malmö FF, Al-Ittihad for a second time, FC Zürich, Colorado Rapids, China, Shanghai Pudong, Sichuan Quanxing, Zhejiang Greentown, Uzbekistan, Changsha Ginde and India!
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