Both ends of Fleet Street seem to be openly acknowledging Roy Hodgson’s achievements at Fulham.
I’ve tried to find an online version of Danny Fullbrook’s lengthy effort lauding super Roy’s excellent job at the Cottage but the Daily Star have yet to update their website. We shouldn’t be surprised – a) Hodgson has done a fine job and b) Fullbrook’s a Fulham fan. There seems to be a going sense amongst the punditocracy that Hodgson’s a genuone contender for the Manager of the Season award.
Jim White’s article in the Telegraph only reinforces that view. He implies that it would be a travesty if Sir Alex Ferguson wins the award ahead of Hodgson.
When he arrived at Craven Cottage last spring, most observers agreed that he had little hope of rescuing a club heading for the mire. But after engineering an improbable escape from relegation, he turned a shower into serious contenders.
The mark of a good manager is how he husbands his resources, and, gifted a budget about the size of the bill for car valeting at Old Trafford, Hodgson has been unimpeachable: his signing of Brede Hangeland and Mark Schwarzer has provided Fulham with the best value double act since Morecambe and Wise. And offloading Jimmy Bullard to Hull 45 minutes before he crocked himself must rank as the sale of the century.
Besides, were Hodgson to win the award, he would be the first Englishman to do so. Which would be about time for the English Premier League.
Good write up in the Torygraph. Nice to see Roy getting some recognition, but we all know he won’t win the award.