Roy Hodgson joins Liverpool

Roy Hodgson has taken over as manager of Liverpool, the former Fulham boss emerged as favourite for the position soon after Rafael Benitez left the hot seat by mutual consent at the beginning of June.

It is reported that Liverpool felt that they needed to act quickly to secure the services of Hodgson following the failure of the England team in the World Cup, believing that the FA would consider him as a replacement for Fabio Capello for the national team.

Hodgson’s pedigree is nothing if not impressive, including two spells with Italian giants Inter Milan, either side of a spell with Blackburn Rovers at club level as well as working with clubs across Europe.

He has of course experienced coaching at national level Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Finland, but it is his most recent time with Fulham that is freshest in the mind, leading the club to the Europa League final last season following a best ever seventh place finish in the Premier League in his first season in charge.

Not one for the mind games of some top EPL managers, Hodgson’s choice of words on announcing his appontment will certainly rile some clubs and their supporters ahead of the new season;

“This is the biggest job in club football and I’m honoured to be taking on Britain’s most successful football club.”

While wishing Hodgson the best of luck, Fulham will be very disappointed at losing the man who has turned Fulham into a competitive hard working unit, playing attractive football and of course achieving the impossible by bringing out the best in Bobby Zamora, who this season was on the brink of representing England in South Africa.

Can he do the same with the Liverpool underachievers this season?

With Harry Redknapp recently named Premiership Manager of the Year there is a clear recognition of his work in creating an attacking, attractive footballing team and of the pivotal role he has played in guiding Tottenham into the Champions League for the first time. The significance of Harry Redknapp in this achievement is considerable and highlighted by the fact that he is only the second manager to take this accolade without winning the Premier League, the first being George Burley for masterminding Ipswich’s rise to 5th place in their first season.

Immediately after his inheritance of Juande Ramos’ team there was a marked improvement in their performance and with no new influx of players until the January transfer window this can only really be attributed to Harry Redknapp. As with many successful managers, his ability to get the best out of the players at his disposal is his underlying quality.

Looking at the performances of Ledley King, Gareth Bale, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and Heurelho Gomes there is a confidence and consistency that has previously been lacking in their game. On top of this, the intelligent rotation of players has been central to Tottenham’s success. With what is arguably the strongest strike force in the league in terms of depth, Redknapp has used Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko in particular to great effect. All three have had regular spells in the first team and the competition between them has undeniably helped the team’s cause.

Moving across the capital to Craven Cottage and Fulham’s spectacular path to the Europa League Final has been the story of the season for many neutrals. Roy Hodgson has had a long and successful managerial career, most of which has been spent abroad, and it is good to see him getting the recognition he deserves back in England. The team he has created at Fulham has been well organised, spirited and incredibly focussed and determined. As with Redknapp, Roy Hodgson has everybody playing for him and for the team and there is nothing but praise for him from the players.

Danny Murphy has described captaining Fulham to the brink of European glory as his greatest achievement in football. Considering he was an instrumental figure in Liverpool’s treble cup winning team of 2001 that is a great indication of the way Hodgson has instilled unity and passion into this Fulham side. Even though Fulham were defeated by a late Diego Forlan goal in the final, this season’s Europa League has been a wonderful achievement for such a small club and the 4-1 defeat of Juventus at Craven Cottage will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the great European performances from an English team.

Finally there is the rather different situation at Fratton Park where a terrible season for fans of Portsmouth has ended in a completely unexpected trip to Wembley and FA Cup runners-up medals. With all the financial turmoil, the lack of wages and the deduction of 9 points it is a surprise that Portsmouth didn’t completely capitulate. It is once again to the great credit of their manager, Avram Grant, that this has not happened. He has, in a way, had the easiest of the three jobs in terms of expectations.

After the points deduction it was virtually impossible for Portsmouth to stay up and along with the very public financial problems the players and staff at the club would have found it hard to stay completely focussed on football. Yet at the same time he has done incredibly well to keep the players motivated and seems to have instilled a sense of togetherness in the team.

This is a credit to Avram Grant and you could see how much it meant to his players after the FA Cup semi-final and there was a definite desire in many of them to celebrate with their manager. Grant must also be applauded for the way he has handled himself in the media this season. He has never complained and has been nothing but sympathetic towards the backroom staff who have been most affected by the delay in wages and redundancies.

This is exactly what the players needed to hear and has been reflected by the lack of dissent coming from within the squad. Instead we have seen a group of players determined to prove people wrong and give their fans a silver lining on this blackest of clouds that hangs over Fratton Park.

This single-minded determination is something that is present in all successful teams and always emanates from the manager.

From Brian Clough to Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, the best managers have always had this respect within their squads and this season we have seen the quality emerge in rather more unfamiliar settings.

What this has done is prove once again that for all the star players and astronomical wages the man holding the key to success continues to be the man in the dugout and that a good manager will bring more long term success than any player ever could.

Manchester United face a tough proposition way at Fulham, in a rematch of the FA Cup game a few weeks back. It will certainly take a lot of character for the Red Devils and Sir Alex Ferguson to bounce back from their 4-1 trouncing at home last weekend if they are to be victorious at Craven Cottage.

The other fixture which stands out his week is that of Stoke Vs Middlesbrough. With both teams struggling in the relegation zone this is very much a six-pointer for both clubs, which could well prove vital come May. Stoke will be relying on their strong home form to see them take all three points.

However, the pick of the bunch must surely be Liverpool Vs. Aston Villa on Sunday. This fixture presents us with two clubs striving for a huge end-of-season push. Liverpool will be buzzing on the back of two fantastic results against Man U and Real Madrid in the past 10 days, whereas Martin O’Neill will be looking to turn around the Villans fortunes and snatch the fourth champions’ league spot back from Arsenal with a good result at Anfield.

Here is a full list of the weekend’s clashes:

Saturday 21 March

Blackburn v West Ham, 15:00
Fulham v Man Utd, 15:00
Newcastle v Arsenal, 17:30
Portsmouth v Everton, 12:45
Stoke v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Tottenham v Chelsea, 15:00
West Brom v Bolton, 15:00

Sunday 22 March

Liverpool v Aston Villa, 16:00
Man City v Sunderland, 15:00
Wigan v Hull, 13:30

Great news for Hull City boss Phil Brown, who has also confirmed that on loan player Kamil Zayatte has signed a three year deal with the club, while left back Andy Dawson has also signed a new contract.

Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign England football veteran Emile Heskey from Wigan for a fee of around £3.5million. If the deal goes through Heskey will be reunited with Martin O’Neill who nurtured the striker as a teenager while they were at Leicester City in the late nineties.

O’Neill said of the striker: “It would be very difficult not to support someone who was brilliant for you. He was a young kid at Leicester and was fantastic. We were desperately disappointed when he moved but he said he wanted to go and play with Michael Owen at Liverpool, but he did his part for Leicester.”

Wigan have also lost striker Marlon King who has agreed a loan deal to join Middlesbrough, in a move that seems likely to see Egyptian player Mido going in the opposite direction  on a similar  six month deal. Steve Bruce had intimated earlier in the week that Wilson Palacios would be the only player leaving the Latics during the January transfer window,  but  he has  now lost two more  forwards in as many days.

Mido has enjoyed an up and down career since first coming to the Premier League  but has yet to show any real consistency  to accompany his obvious skills, maybe Steve Bruce can get more out of him than previous managers have been able to.

Didier Drogba is rumoured to have been offered double his current salary to join Manchester City, but for now the moody striker will remain at Chelsea, who along with Liverpool are apparently being lined up for takeover by  two very different groups of billionaires, both carrying huge suitcases stuffed with cash.

And finally the former England football manager best known for his catch phrase ‘Do I not like that?’, Graham Taylor has been welcomed back to former club Watford as a non executive director, where he will link up once again with Elton John.

The 35 year old Australian international has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich as well as attracting interest from Italy in recent weeks. He is currently on international duty with the Australian team in Sydney ahead of Fridays friendly with Ghana.

Fulham have agreed a two year deal with the veteran keeper, where he will join fellow Aussie Adrian Leijer.

Manchester City who were the top club in the Fair Play League that hadn’t qualified for Europe, lost their place to Fulham at the weekend when Richard Dunne was sent off at Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Nothing has been confirmed yet but Fulham are confident that are in a good position to qualify. The decision is made not only by on-field behaviour, but also includes administration efficiency. The club expects to hear from the Premier League bosses early next week.

It will be a double celebration for Roy Hodgson and his players if they are to be included in the UEFA Cup, after avoiding relegation from the Premier League at the eleventh hour.

The decision is bound to court controversy and will bring  the whole European qualification process into question.

Is it fair? Have your say.

Apparently this is the biggest betting day in the entire season and the bookies will be looking for no upsets.

I believe Chelsea will beat Bolton and Manchester United will thrash Wigan, giving Man Utd the Premier League title on goal difference. I might even have a bet on Nicolas Anelka to score against his old club.

Of the teams fighting against relegation, Reading are away to Derby, and though they haven’t been playing well recently, should fancy their chances against Derby who have only being playing for pride for some time now.

Fulham are away to Portsmouth, and though Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth will not want to loseat Fratton Park in front of their loyal fans, I would be surprised if Harry puts out a full strength team ahead of next Saturday’s FA Cup final against Cardiff.

Birmingham are the only team of the three fighting relegation who play their final game at home, but it is definitely the hardest game of them all, against Mark Hughes’ Blackburn Rovers who are looking for a UEFA Cup place.

I predict Birmingham to lose, Fulham to draw and Reading to win.

Do you agree?

Arsenal look most likely to land the precocious Gillingham player Luke Freeman for an initial fee of £500,000 rising to £1 million dependant upon appearances and international call up. The 15 year old has already appeared for the Gillingham first team.

Liverpool bosses have secured the refinancing deal that will keep Hicks and Gillett in control of the club. The pair have released revised plans for the new 70,000 all seater stadium. Manager Rafa Benitez is keen for the duo to complete the £17 million signing of on loan River Plate midfielder Mascherano, as a sign of intent.

Wigan’s Steve Bruce is hopeful of beating Roy Hodgson’s Fulham interest in Watford striker Marlon King, valued at £5 million.

Former Scotland boss Alex McCleish said of Scottish international, McFadden “He is the type of player you know you are going to get everything from, for the entire 90 minutes”. McFadden is clear to face Chelsea at the weekend.

Wigan’s Steve Bruce has signed a much needed left back, with the purchase of former Spurs player and Swedish international Erik Edman. The 29 year old defender has signed from French club Rennes, on a two and a half year contract, for a fee of £500,000.

The Lactics have also secured the permanent  services of on loan Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia. The player will stay at Wigan for an undisclosed fee from Spanish team Villareal.

And Fulham have signed Norwegian defender Brede Hangeland from Copenhagen, for an undisclosed fee. The Texas born centre half was captain of FK Viking under Roy Hodgson’s managerial reign at the club.

Hodgson is best known for his managerial exploits at International level with Switzerland  and more recently just failing to qualify for Euro 2008 with Finland. He has had spells with Blackburn and Inter Milan.

Fulham are currently firmly planted in the premier relegation zone with just Sunderland on equal points and Derby below them.