Roy of the Rovers

Well, when I'm wrong I'll be the first to hold my hands up. Honest Harry Redknapp didn't get the gig, and instead Roy Hodgson is the new England manager.

Roy Boy actually seems like a decent choice: rumour is that Trevor Brooking - one of the four man panel that made the choice - has a long-standing grudge against Redknapp after he replaced his good mate Billy Bonds as West Ham manager. Harry probably didn't do himself any favours in his recent time up before the beak where he essentially made himself out to be a functioning illiterate by way of a defence.

You have to hope, for his sake, that Hodgson's "nice guy" image is a mask and he has the guts to totally dissemble an underachieving squad wholesale. One journalist has remarked that the players will just laugh at the new manager - if that was true, then he should just sack off the offending overpaid dicks and bring in others who are willing to listen and learn.

Certain quarters of the press, of course, have put the boot in. Daniel Taylor on the Guardian - who I thought knew better - has done this and even stated the FA needs to answer questions on why they ignored 'Arry. Like bollocks they do - the FA are not the local council and can essentially do as they please. In any case, Redknapp's main quality has always been his ability to wheel and deal in the transfer market, buying the right player at the right time. This isn't something that carries over to the international scene.

What the FA are banking on, I think, is Roy Hodgson being able to get involved in every level of the England scene - the kind of work Redknapp doesn't strike me as being interested in, much like Fabio Cappello. Conversely, Hodgson is known for his interest in tactics and training, and I reckon he'd put the time into organising youth teams and the like.

You'd like to think the press will give the new man a fair shout - but it's not very likely. While Bobby Robson managed to survive not only a dismal showing at the 1988 European Championships and not qualifying at all for the same tournament in 1984 before managing England to their best showing since winning the World Cup, it's unlikely anyone will show Hodgson the same patience. Good luck to him, he's going to need it. Bet West Brom fans are gutted, though.