Roy Hodgson
How are you feeling with the season coming to an end, and so, your career as a Premier League manager?
Well, I think it’s always a strange feeling when the season comes to an end. I mean, whatever the circumstances, but there’s no doubt this one feels worse in some respects, partly because the team is relegated and that’s not a nice feeling to have to live with. But also knowing that probably this retirement will definitely be the serious retirement. I won’t get tempted back again, after this stint here, at Watford. So I’ve got to come to terms with that as well. But I think it’s only right that I should come to terms with it. It’s been a fantastic innings that I’ve had, really – an incredibly long career. And it’s been a very pleasurable career as well. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. So it is the right moment. But having said that, you know, I’m out on the grass there today, doing a little bit of coaching with a small group of players. And unfortunately, I still do realise that I actually quite like that side of the job, which I’ll have to wean myself off it.
So you can’t be tempted to not retire?
No, I wouldn’t think so. It’d be dangerous to say never, isn’t it? Because I am still relatively fit and, apart from my current problem [shingles] relatively healthy as well. So I don’t think I’m retiring, because I literally just couldn’t do it. It’s not that sort of situation. But at the same time, next time, I will give myself a stern talking to tell myself: even if you think you’re capable, it’s not the right thing to do. And my CV won’t be floating around various clubs. That’s for certain.
What’s been the key to your longevity in the game?
Well, there’s obviously a massive element of good fortune, you know, the jobs have constantly turned up for me. And often, you know, they’ve turned out without me doing a lot of searching or having an agent searching for me. I think one of the keys was the start that I got by spending such a long time in Scandinavia. You know, that was a different world, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. I think, those 12 years out of 15, or 14 that I spent in my initial 14 years were very important. A, as a grounding. B, as a life education as well as coaching education. And also, of course, things weren’t as particularly cut-throat in those days, they weren’t even as cut-throat in England, in those days as they are now. But certainly, it was a much calmer environment and a much more secure environment. So that’s definitely played a part. And since then, I suppose I’ve just been fortunate in the sense of the jobs have come my way, I’ve been relatively successful. And, you know, I’ve been able to move when the time has come to move to another job. And I’ve always wanted to do that, because I’ve always felt that I had the enthusiasm and energy required to take the job on.
What do you think Rob Edwards can bring, that managers previously at Watford haven’t been able to potentially do?
I couldn’t answer that question. I mean, I think that will be a question you’d have to put to the people at the top of the club because they obviously have appointed him and maybe they’re thinking that with this appointment, things are going to change drastically from what we’ve seen with the previous managers – and there have been a lot of us. And there’s been quite a few who have come here with quite good reputations and quite good CVs. What Rob is obviously going to bring is youth and his enthusiasm for taking on a job at a higher division, because at the moment his work has been in the lower divisions, which he’s done very well. And of course, I think he’ll be taking over a club where the players you know, should be showing that they are far too good for the Championship. And he’ll be taking over a team where he might be looking at a lot more victories than defeats. Which of course, hasn’t often been the case when the team has been in the Premiership.
Do you think it’s helped that the decision has been made now, to add a bit of extra motivation for the players at the end of the season?
Not necessarily, because we don’t even know which players are going to be here next season. So I think that would only be a relevant question if we knew that all the players were currently here and will actually be wearing the club’s colours next year. I would think for those who haven’t played as often, or young ones who are maybe coming back from loan, they must be looking at it like a completely blank sheet if you like – you know where there’s no black marks against their name, and now have the opportunity to impress the new coach, so I can understand that. But it was really up to the club, the club has known all along, just as I’ve known all along my stint here will end on the 22nd of May. So they’ve had lots and lots of time in that period, to decide on the new coach. And on this occasion, they’ve obviously made the decision earlier rather than later.
You’ve worked with Jamie Vardy before. What was he like to coach?
Excellent. I mean, Jamie Vardy is a guy that he really is what you see. It’s enthusiasm. It’s work rate. It’s desire. Talent, of course. I mean, you don’t play for England without talent. But I found him really, really good to work with. Unfortunately, of course, a lot of the time we played, his major strength, which is, you know, running in behind people and stretching defences, we often played against packed defences where there was no space to run behind. But he did very well, I thought, for England. He scored a vital goal for us against Wales, which helped us to move to the next stage. And I found him a joy to work with. I’m always pleased to see him, because he’s got that smile on his face. And it’s a credit to him really that – well, perhaps a little bit like I was saying earlier – his start, I suppose, meant that he came into the actual cauldron that little bit later. And he’s coming with that incredible enthusiasm and dynamism that he obviously brought with him right from the start. And it’s meant he’s had a lengthy career. I see he’s been injured a bit more this year. I don’t know the details of that. He could quite happily have stayed injured for this game, as far as I’m concerned. And I fear he’s decided to get himself fit for it.
With the stuff that is going on in his private life, was Vardy somebody that you felt could block out everything externally when he’s on the field?
I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know how anybody can. How you can honestly say that you can be convinced that a player can block out anything going on in his life externally, easily. But there’s no doubt about it. He’s a football man through and through. Football is so very, very important to him that if anybody is capable perhaps of making certain things that are happening outside in their lives don’t play a big part on the important aspect of football., he will be one who could do it. But I honestly couldn’t say, and I don’t follow those sort of cases. I’m afraid that’s another world to the world in which I have chosen to live.
What’s the latest on the injury front?
If you count Shaq Forde, who was on the bench, he is a young boy, it’s nine. And if [Joao] Pedro doesn’t recover, it’s ten. Which is ridiculous, really, to be fair. What’s ridiculous about it is that it was only three weeks ago, you guys who were at all the press conferences, I remember saying actually, we were congratulating our medical staff and saying what a fantastic job. And here we are, two or three weeks before the end of the season, and it’s giving me a list of 27,28 players all of whom are fit and ready and wanting to play. And all of a sudden now we’re wondering how we’re going to put a competitive team on the field. But on that subject, all credit I thought to the players who did go on the field against Everton and I thought they were more than competitive. I thought they did an outstanding job, so that gives me big heart, if you like, going into tomorrow’s game. Because I’ve seen those boys go out there and do a very good job for the club against Everton and I’d be fully prepared to back them to go out and do it again. Hassane Kamara comes back of course. That’s one advantage for us. He’s back from suspension.
In the most recent game against Everton, how important was it to get a decent performance to help with the reaction of the fans?
Yeah, the fans were very good. I thought they’ve been pretty good throughout. I must say it’s not easy to keep coming in supporting a losing team. And especially those three games we had where we were really hoping we could perhaps get points against teams around this and pull away [from the bottom]. You know, we lost each one of those games narrowly, having teased our public into thinking we were going to do this, and then the last minute we don’t. So they’ve been good throughout in that respect. And I thought the really pleasing thing the other night was the team unity, the team spirit and the fact that everybody quite literally was doing their level best to do what we’ve sort of been asking them to do ever since Ray Lewington and I came to the club. You know, the way they played the other night, that’s what we’ve been preaching from the very first day. And we’ve seen it as well with the other players. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying suddenly, we see it for the first time. But in a game really where the team is entitled to say, ‘Our backs are against the wall today. And you know, you’re asking a lot of us because we haven’t played a lot of football. And now all of us are playing together. And a lot of your so-called bigger name players are not there to help us out.’ I thought they did their jobs really, really well. And it was as good a team performance as I think Watford have given in my spell.
What have you enjoyed the most since taking over?
I enjoy the work with the players. I enjoy the coaching, of course, I enjoy being on the field. I enjoy, I suppose, the things I’ve always enjoyed right the way through my career. Nothing really has changed from the beginning, I’m sure someone watching me coach today would see differences to 1976. But I think they’d also see a lot of similarity in the way I work and the things I do because I haven’t sort of thrown anything out along the way. And all that’s happened is, of course, I’ve aged. But I don’t even know that has, you know, diminished to any great extent the way I try to coach, and the enthusiasm and the passion at least I try to bring to the coaching sessions.
Are you surprised with the number of goals Leicester have been conceding from set pieces? And is that an area you’re hoping potentially to take advantage of?
Set pieces are simple. You know, they are stats that people love to see. But if you want to score goals from set pieces, the first thing you’re going to have is someone who’s an exceptional deliverer of the ball. Now if you haven’t got that person in your team… You know, why do Southampton score a lot of goals from set pieces? They’ve got James Ward-Prowse there, you take Ward-Prowse out, they score a few less. The other thing you need a course is people who are very, very good at attacking the ball to score or defend. And maybe you don’t have those type of players. Maybe your team is set up to play a different type of football. So you can’t have it all ways. You could set up to be: ‘We are going to say at the end of the season. We are fantastic at set plays, we hardly ever let them in. And we score perhaps more than our fair share.’ But then the football you play, from box to box during the 90 minutes, might not get you enough goals. And you might be conceding goals another way. So set pieces are a relatively small part. A very, very important part. It used to be, we used to think a third of a team’s goals were scored that way. I’m not certain it’s as high as that now unless you start counting penalties. And if you start counting penalties, any comparison with the past goes out the window because now we have a new handball rule. So now I would say that more than half of the penalties that I see given for handball, I don’t agree with and they certainly would have been given 15, 20 years ago. So if you want to compare back, forget it. I would think the number of goals actually been scored from corner kicks has stayed relatively stable, and they are an important weapon and if you’ve got that delivery of the ball, if you’ve got your Tony Adams, your John Terrys of the world, or Jackie Charlton who get their head on it, you score a few.
Do you intend to speak to Rob Edwards?
No, quite frankly I wouldn’t recognise him. I’ve never seen Rob Edwards. He doesn’t need to speak to me. His talk is going to be with Gino Pozzo and Cristiano Giaretta. They are the people he’s going to be speaking to. If he wants to speak to me, I’d be more than happy to speak to him. But I’m not going to sort of, if you like, impose a conversation on him. And he might not want to hear in the first place. But you can quite happily tell him that if he wants to speak to me and hear anything that I’m thinking, I’ll be more than happy to share with him. But it would have to be an initiative that comes from him. And I say, unfortunately, I know who he is, I know what he’s done, but I haven’t seen him and wouldn’t be able to recognise him.
