Yup, sacked on the 8th of January by Liverpool after a torrid five and a half months on merseyside, Roy 'the boy' Hodgson today was named as 'Head Coach' at West Bromich Albion......'Head coach' ????
Do Manager posts not exist anymore?? Never mind.....
Is he the right man?? A man who's stock was at a all-time high last may when he guided a 'average' Fulham side to the Europa League final, yes they were beaten when they got there but the feat itself was something of note for Hodgson and indeed Fulham. With this fresh in the mind, Liverpool were looking to replace the 'crazy rant' Rafa Benitez and Hodgson was the man in the frame for the then owners Hicks and Gillett.
The red's faithful were not overly-convinced with the appointment and for my money neither were the players, which only became more evident over time.
Having filled his wallet with the bumper pay-off, obviously not solely his own doing, Hodgson seems to have landed rather comfortably as he has walked into another Premier League job just a little over a month down the line!!
The shocking sacking of Roberto Di Matteo for me was completely unjust and for a man who was dignified to the end and conducted himself immaculately throughout his tenure, must still have been a slap in the old boat race.
The timing of the sacking also raising eyebrows reminiscent of Chris Hughton's departure from the Geordie Neverland that is St James' Park. The supporters were up in arms in the North-east when that materialised and I'm sure this was also the case at the Hawthorns.
So the question that is going to be asked is....."will he keep them up?"
With the Baggies sitting in 17th place at present, and games with Arsenal, Chelsea and Hodgson's former club Liverpool fast approaching, all of them at the Hawthorns granted but these are teams and games they will concede themselves to losing. So the other fixtures will have to bear more fruit than the man from Del Monte's back garden if they are to survive.
Yes, the teams around them also have the big boys to play so it really will come down to the games against each other.West Brom do have the ability to beat the surrounding teams, but they also have the ability to implode as well. So their existence for this season is well and truly in the balance.
My opinion is that Roy will get the blood pumping and the players will look up to him for advice and inspiration and he will in turn stoke the fires against the teams they need to be taking points off of......
Do Manager posts not exist anymore?? Never mind.....
Is he the right man?? A man who's stock was at a all-time high last may when he guided a 'average' Fulham side to the Europa League final, yes they were beaten when they got there but the feat itself was something of note for Hodgson and indeed Fulham. With this fresh in the mind, Liverpool were looking to replace the 'crazy rant' Rafa Benitez and Hodgson was the man in the frame for the then owners Hicks and Gillett.The red's faithful were not overly-convinced with the appointment and for my money neither were the players, which only became more evident over time.
Having filled his wallet with the bumper pay-off, obviously not solely his own doing, Hodgson seems to have landed rather comfortably as he has walked into another Premier League job just a little over a month down the line!!
The shocking sacking of Roberto Di Matteo for me was completely unjust and for a man who was dignified to the end and conducted himself immaculately throughout his tenure, must still have been a slap in the old boat race.
The timing of the sacking also raising eyebrows reminiscent of Chris Hughton's departure from the Geordie Neverland that is St James' Park. The supporters were up in arms in the North-east when that materialised and I'm sure this was also the case at the Hawthorns.
So the question that is going to be asked is....."will he keep them up?"
With the Baggies sitting in 17th place at present, and games with Arsenal, Chelsea and Hodgson's former club Liverpool fast approaching, all of them at the Hawthorns granted but these are teams and games they will concede themselves to losing. So the other fixtures will have to bear more fruit than the man from Del Monte's back garden if they are to survive.
Yes, the teams around them also have the big boys to play so it really will come down to the games against each other.West Brom do have the ability to beat the surrounding teams, but they also have the ability to implode as well. So their existence for this season is well and truly in the balance.
My opinion is that Roy will get the blood pumping and the players will look up to him for advice and inspiration and he will in turn stoke the fires against the teams they need to be taking points off of......
No comments:
Post a Comment