Soccer Conditioning Drills

Roy Hodgson has confounded the odds by guiding Fulham to the 2010 Europa League final. Victories against the holders Shaktar Donetsk and the incredible victory over Italian giants Juventus were just part of a memorable campaign for Fulham and their supporters.

 

As a player, Hodgson was on the books at Crystal Palace but never made a first team appearance. It was when he moved into management that Hodgson started to make name for himself. The early part of his career was in Sweden with Halmstads, Orebro and Malmo where he won the Swedish league against the odds with Halmstads in 1976 and 1979.

 

From there, Hodgson moved to Switzerland with Neuchatel Xamax before taking over the Swiss national team who he guided to the 1994 World Cup Finals and the 1996 Euro Finals. Hodgson’s next job was at the mighty Internazionale in Italy where he spent 2 seasons. Inter reached the UEFA Cup Final in 1997 which was Hodgson’s final season as he headed to England with Blackburn Rovers. Things didn’t work out and Hodgson was dismissed after 18 months.

 

For the next few years, Hodgson held a number of managerial positions but never really settled anywhere for long and in 2005, he took over the Finnish national team and took them tantalisingly close to the Euro 2008 finals.

 

At the end of 2007, Fulham offer Hodgson the managers job as at the time, they were struggling in the Premier League and needed a change of direction. Despite some poor initial results, Fulham stayed up and the following season Hodgson had worked his magic as they finished 7th, qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

 

Fulham’s first season in Europe has been nothing short of spectacular. They have not had an easy route playing the holders, Juventus and the German champions on the way. Now, Atheltico Madrid stand in their way of glory in the final in Hamburg.

 

But what next for Roy Hodgson?  There is no doubt that his influence on Fulham will not have gone unnoticed. Although Hodgson has been linked with the England job, Fabio Capello is doing a fine job and isn’t going anywhere. Perhaps it is a bit more realistic to think that Hodgson could well take over the English national team after the Euro 2012 finals.

Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, roy hodgson, uefa euro 2012

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.