FA Chance for Roy of the England

Picture the scene: The air of a cold Thursday night in Turin is punctuated by roughly 1800 Fulham fans who burst in to bedlam to celebrate midfielder Dickson Etuhu’s deflected strike with a chorus or two of ‘Woy, Woy, Woy’ in gratitude to their then manager Roy Hodgson.

What a truly remarkable job he did with the West London outfit when he reached the 2009/10 Europa League final after overturning a 3-1 deficit against Italian giants Juventus in the second leg of the round of 16 fixture. 

The fact that Hodgson’s own supporters gently teased their leader with a song that has reference to his slight speech impediment could perhaps be justified as a sign of affection. However, one Sun newspaper headline this week will read ‘Bwing on the Euwos’ in the aftermath of the 64 year olds appointment as England head coach this week. Crude and patronising? Most certainly. A sign of things to come? One can only presume so should the Three Lions fare any less than expected.

What do we expect though? The Football Association has delivered a remit to the current incumbent of the West Bromwich Albion managerial post that someone twice as talented, and half his age, would struggle to be enthusiastic about. Anything less than a quarter final in the 2012 European Championships will no doubt still be deemed a failure despite Hodgson having just over a month to mould a squad capable of taking on the continent’s elite.

The swift decision to appoint Hodgson is one that still perplexes. The FA stated that in the aftermath of Fabio Capello’s departure that there was no need to rush a successor in. There was, and they still did nothing. The furore and support shown to Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp was all but unanimous, yet the suits and bigwigs did not stray off the golf course to make even an approach. Why would you when it could cost as much as £10M in compensation to prise him from White Hart Lane?

If England come calling, one generally – unless you are Luis Felipe Scolari - accepts the honour, the privilege; and with it the weight of expectation and that old cliché ‘the poisoned chalice’. 

Hodgson rightly, was never going to turn it down. Hodgson was wrongly though, appointed in the first place. The parochialism shown by the FA that ‘only an Englishman would do’ borders stupidity when taking in to consideration that there are many worldwide candidates with CV’s far more impressive than a man who has not won anything out of the footballing hotbed of Scandinavia.

This is the high point for old ‘Woy’, a man who typifies the association, which ranks as a distant second to the Premier League in terms of power of the beautiful game on these shores, and yet still makes a decision which matters to more than those who care about the next Prime Minister.

Lacking charisma, charm and a sharp suit, Hodgson is somewhat of a wet lettuce, a man who wouldn’t offend your grandmother. It won’t be long one feels, before ‘Wesign Woy’ is plastered over every red top, and the FA are back to square one – a place they are familiar and where they have to make an awkward decision yet again to not swallow their pride and phone the former German international footballer and manager Jurgen Klinsmann.