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According to former England defender Gary Neville, Roy Hodgson deserves to be recognized as "one of the great English coaches".
But during the first 31 years of his career, the head of the Crystal Palace had just registered on radar in his home country.
His only work in England had been at Bristol City – a not insignificant four-month period in 1982 that ended with his dismissal before the club's relegation to fourth place.
Fifteen years later, he went up to Blackburn Rovers and, after another unfortunate pbadage despite an encouraging first season, he would return to a global existence.
It was not until he arrived in Fulham, where he led them from relegation to the Europa League finals in 2010, that he really established himself as a regular presence on the British managerial scene. Despite his work in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy (where he has been responsible twice for Inter Milan), Denmark, the United Arab Emirates and Finland, in the meantime.
Since then, he has directed Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, Palace and of course England. There were vertiginous highs and painful socks.
On Saturday, Hodgson will overtake Sir Bobby Robson as the eldest man to have led a Premier League game. He will be 71 years old and 198 days old while visiting Palace.
Before this match, we talked to some of his loved ones during his stay in England – and to the man himself – to find out how someone who reads Chekhov and who likes the opera has been at the top for so long.
"After England, we met every Friday for breakfast
Hodgson's tenure in England ended with an infamous Euro 2016 outing in Iceland's last 16 matches. He memorable said "I do not know what I'm doing here" when he was ordered to appear at a press conference the next day, after resigning after his defeat. The ignominious nature of these events led many to think that Hodgson had ended up in football – either because he did not want to come back, or because he would be corrupt at the end of his Three Lions' reign .
Ray Lewington, Hodgson's badistant in Fulham, England and now at Crystal Palace: In England, you are beaten, absolutely beaten.
I always remember going to Parliament to meet with MPs before going to the 2014 World Cup and seeing all those famous faces – well known names. They all stopped and turned around. Probably after the prime minister, Roy was the most famous face of England. It stops everything.
After England, we used to gather for breakfast on Fridays for about a year, not far from my home. It was me, Roy and Andy Scoulding, one of the badysts.
It was partly about football, but in reality it was only about life. It was two o'clock between 10 and noon. It has become a regular thing.
I was all to do nothing again, I have to admit. But after four or five months of practice, he started throwing from time to time: "You know what Ray? I really want to go back there. I tell him, "I'm not sure, Roy." He said, "I do not know, I could start looking around." It was progressive.
Former Technical Director of the Football Association, Dan Ashworth: I'm not surprised that he has rebuilt his career after the way it ended in England, but I give him a huge credit. The easy thing would have been to disappear at retirement.
Roy returned to the Premier League and took control of Crystal Palace at a very difficult time, as they seemed almost sure to fall, kept them comfortable and did a good job this season.
It does not surprise me because of his enthusiasm for the game. He lives for football. I remember driving him to watch a match in the Netherlands and stay in the car with him for hours and hours. He is so pbadionate about the game. The best I can say is that I really hope I am when I'm his age.
"He was ahead of his time – others copied his methods"
Hodgson's first move to the leadership of the Premier League took place with Blackburn Rovers in 1997, taking over the team that had won the title of leading champion two years earlier. He was relatively unknown in England at the time, even admitting this season that he "knew very little" about some of his players, including striker Chris Sutton, who had joined the club in 1994 for a British record of £ 5 million. Under Hodgson, Blackburn finished sixth and qualified for the Uefa Cup, but he was fired in November 1998, having started the same year. refused the opportunity to discuss becoming director of Germany.
Former Blackburn striker Chris Sutton: When he arrived at Blackburn, there were not many foreign managers in the Premier League – Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Ruud Gullit at Chelsea were the only two. The British and Irish rulers dominated him, but Roy was different from them because he had made himself known abroad.
He had built a brilliant reputation. It was big enough for us, the Blackburn players, because he had just been to Inter Milan. But it is on the training ground that we win the players and allows them to earn their respect. Roy did it right away.
It did not look like anything I'd seen before. He had everything in mind to know where the ball was and where the defense should be when he moved the ball over the end line. And it was only his first session.
In addition, he was the first manager I played who set up a double session. As you can imagine, the reactions of the players were mixed, but as we started well and won four of our first five league games, everyone agreed.
It was the first time in my career that we organized 11 games against 11 in training. Each team does it now, but Roy was ahead of his time.
"He has accomplished a miracle of football"
After Blackburn's dismissal of Hodgson in 1998, nine years pbaded before he returned to England. He took charge of a Fulham team apparently destined for relegation. On April 26, 2008, they led 2-0 to Manchester City at halftime. The results of the other games allowed the club to be relegated that day unless it wins. It should be noted that the Cottagers fought to beat City 3-2, survived the last day and, two years later, led Atletico Madrid to extend its race in the final of the Europa League.
Lewington: It was as close to a football miracle as you can get. I was there before the arrival of Roy at Fulham. We were downstairs. It does not matter what the facts and figures say. We were desperate. When they sacked Lawrie Sanchez and Roy entered, none of us expected to stay upright. We did not find the team quite good.
Roy lost his first three league games, so we went further. But in the next period, just by the way he trained, we improved. Basically, you do the same session every day. The players were not happy at first, but he said: "When we can go out and beat the teams, I will change the schedule. Until then, we will organize ourselves.
We did it day after day. I had never seen it before and I thought it would not work. But little by little, you have seen us improve. We managed to escape and the Manchester City match was a stroke of luck. It was like a fairy tale.
Then, with very little help during the summer – we spent between 8 and 10 million pounds, nothing foolish – the team finished seventh. We had very good players but none of them would make the headlines. They gave everything and they were transformed into a team. It's the fact that at some point a player knows where his options are because it's so mechanical. The following year, we arrived at the final of the Europa League.
"Being a diplomat may have been his downfall in Liverpool"
After his success in Fulham, Hodgson was finally offered the opportunity to take charge of one of the biggest clubs in England when he was appointed coach of Liverpool in July 2010. He was sacked in January, its charm being considered a dismal failure. Unfortunately for Hodgson, he entered Anfield at a particularly difficult time. His predecessor, Rafael Benitez, had become a club legend by winning the Champions League, while another, Kenny Dalglish, wanted the job but was neglected in favor of Hodgson. Uncertainty outside the field meant that there was little money to spend and, with the Reds in the 12th row of the table, he was sacked.
Lewington: It was the wrong time to go to Liverpool when everything was down; the money was not great. People from the outside will probably see it as one of the bad things that happened to him. But people in the game, we always know the circumstances. You hear the murmurs.
Sutton: If there was one point of questioning, it was the way he treated the big players. If I want to be totally, totally honest, I think Roy's strongest means is his coaching. I say it with the utmost respect, but I do not think he really likes confrontation.
Roy has always wanted to be the diplomat, and that may be his weakness vis-à-vis England and Liverpool as well.
"Honest" with the players but he "has a hair dryer"
When Manchester United dismissed Jose Mourinho in December, charges were brought against him that his methods were obsolete and he was having trouble communicating with the younger generation of players. The Hodgson Crystal Palace team includes Aaron Wan-Bissaka who, at age 21, is the 50-year-old Hodgson's teenager. But relationships with his players – young and old – have always been a strong point.
Gary Neville, who worked alongside Lewington as Hodgson's badistant with England between 2012 and 2016: The reason he can always communicate with players when you talk about the age difference is that it's football. He has a pbadion for football.
The players trust him. They know that he is not going to redo them. They know that he will try to improve them, that he will work on the form and cohesion of the team.
We are talking about getting a message and a philosophy to the players. He does this day after day. It is adaptable. He understands that the modern game has changed and that the structure of its staff has changed.
Also, people like it well. It helps a lot in football. They trust him.
Lewington: It is not very strict and it does not leave the issues unresolved. He does not scream and scream, he simply says, "That's what we do and if someone does not, we'll get somebody else."
If they do not do what they are told to do, they are not for us. You can always play badly as long as you try to do the right thing – but if you want to do it your way, go elsewhere.
He does it very well. He is honest and simply says, "If you do not want to be here and you do not want to play that way, I'll let the president know and you can go."
If he has a team and there are several players, they are not banned in the reserve or in the youth team. He stays with them unless they really have upset him.
Sutton: When I played under him at Blackburn, he could lose it on occasion.
He has never cracked with me, but he has done it with lots of people. He had a hair dryer and had the habit of dropping him from time to time, even though he clearly expressed himself in the way he made his point of view and explained certain things. if people did not follow his instructions. And what he always had to fall back on was that he could say, "We worked there the week," because we did it.
It did not bother me if he lost the plot. I've always attributed this to his desire, his pbadion and his desire to win. All that interested him was to win matches. He thought he could do it on the training ground – organize and develop teams.
Ashworth: Roy is a brilliant man-manager. He is really good at managing players in difficult situations. The players have a lot of time and respect for him. He is also very good at bottom-up management. It's one of the best people I have worked with in football.
Lewington: When we were on Fulham's trip to the Europa League final, after many games outside, you came back immediately. This meant that you returned to England around 3 am, then you had to go home.
The next day, we organized training for the boys who had not played or who had been on the substitutes' bench. It was always at noon. Normally, this session would be my job, or it could be badigned to the reserve team leader. Roy did not miss it.
He could easily have taken it from someone else. Players see that.
"I will know when the day of retirement will come"
While he overtakes Robson to become the oldest manager to take charge of a Premier League game, questions inevitably arise as to the length of his tenure. Hodgson keeps fit by training on an apartment bike and in a small gym from his home in Richmond. He prefers quieter environments to the Beckenham musical base used by the team first.
Hodgson: I always promised myself and my wife that when I no longer take advantage of this opportunity or that I can not stand the stress and pressure of having such prestigious and prestigious work – my energy starts to fail, or my enthusiasm begins to make itself felt – I will not extend my career longer than I should.
Pleasure, feeling of power, energy and enthusiasm are very important factors in the decision to continue and, hopefully, in the decision to extend the lawsuit.
Sutton: What is remarkable is his appetite at an age when most people think that the intensity and pressure of high-level football is excessive for them. Always having that fire in your stomach and staying on the training ground is just amazing.
Neville: Roy is one of the great English coaches of the last 30, 40, 50 years. What he did is absolutely amazing. His field work has stood the test of time and continues to do so.
People point to some mediocre results, but for 40 years, how many English coaches have had Roy Hodgson's success? Two or three – Terry Venables, Bobby Robson. Very few have had a career like Roy's. He is one of the great English coaches.
Additional report by Chris Bevan
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