Roy Hodgson was born on 9 August 1947 and is an English football manager and former player, who is currently manager of Premier League club Crystal Palace.
75 Facts About Roy Hodgson
2.
Roy Hodgson has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season.
3.
Roy Hodgson later guided the Switzerland national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996; Switzerland had not qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s.
4.
Roy Hodgson managed the England national team from May 2012 to June 2016.
5.
Roy Hodgson served several times as a member of UEFA's technical study group at the European Championships and was a member of the FIFA technical study group at the 2006 World Cup.
6.
Roy Hodgson speaks five languages and has worked as a television pundit in several of the countries in which he has coached.
7.
Roy Hodgson's mother was a baker in the town, and his father, Bill, a Newcastle United fan, worked as a bus driver south of the River Thames.
8.
Bob Houghton, who would go on to play a prominent part in Roy Hodgson's career, joined the school in the sixth form.
9.
Roy Hodgson was a moderately successful youth player with Crystal Palace, but was never able to break into the first team.
10.
Roy Hodgson then joined Maidstone United, where he played and served as assistant manager to Bob Houghton.
11.
In 1974 Roy Hodgson returned to England for his final playing spell, joining Carshalton Athletic.
12.
Roy Hodgson started his managerial career in 1976 at Allsvenskan side Halmstads BK, having been recommended by then-Malmo FF manager Bob Houghton.
13.
Roy Hodgson spent five years at Halmstad, winning the league championship in 1976 and 1979.
14.
In 1982, Roy Hodgson moved back to Sweden to take over second-tier side IK Oddevold part-way through the 1982 season.
15.
Roy Hodgson's team took part regularly in European competitions: the Intertoto Cup, the European Cup and the UEFA Cup.
16.
Roy Hodgson's early coaching career was closely linked to that of his friend Bob Houghton; they worked together at Maidstone, Stranraer and Bristol City and they both worked in Swedish football at the same time.
17.
Roy Hodgson took over as manager of the Switzerland national team from Uli Stielike on 26 January 1992.
18.
Roy Hodgson took the Schweizer Nati to the 1994 World Cup, losing only one game during qualification, from a group that included Italy, Portugal and Scotland.
19.
Roy Hodgson managed to get his Inter team, containing Javier Zanetti, Youri Djorkaeff and Ince, through to the 1997 UEFA Cup Final, where they played Schalke 04.
20.
Roy Hodgson is considered by us all as an important person in our history.
21.
Roy Hodgson left an endowment to this club that's important in our history.
22.
Roy Hodgson was one of three targets for Blackburn Rovers owner Jack Walker when Ray Harford resigned as their manager in October 1996, along with Terry Venables and Sven-Goran Eriksson.
23.
When England manager Glenn Hoddle faced calls for him to resign following a much-criticised serialised diary in a national newspaper and poor results in the opening games of Euro 2000 qualification, Roy Hodgson was the favourite among the media and the bookmakers to take over.
24.
Ultimately, Hoddle stayed in the job and Roy Hodgson was dismissed two months later on 21 November 1998, with Blackburn bottom of the league table.
25.
Roy Hodgson later explained that Blackburn's owner gave him the chance to resign honourably, but he refused to do so, leaving the club with no option but to dismiss him.
26.
Roy Hodgson's final game was a home defeat by Southampton.
27.
Roy Hodgson later complained that his failure at Blackburn tarnished his reputation in England, whilst his record on the continent should have made him comparable to Sir Alex Ferguson.
28.
In February 1999, Glenn Hoddle was dismissed as England manager and Roy Hodgson was considered an outside chance for the job.
29.
Roy Hodgson was shortlisted to become the next manager, but the role went instead to Otto Baric.
30.
Roy Hodgson then returned to Inter as technical director and had a brief second stint as caretaker before returning to Switzerland to coach Grasshoppers for a season.
31.
In January 2002, Roy Hodgson was linked to the vacant managerial role at Shakhtar Donetsk.
32.
Roy Hodgson took over as manager of the United Arab Emirates in April 2002, managing the senior and Olympic sides.
33.
Roy Hodgson was dismissed in January 2004 after a fifth-placed finish in the round-robin tournament.
34.
In July 2004, Roy Hodgson moved to Norwegian club Viking, replacing manager Bjarne Berntsen, who resigned to become manager of the Norway women's national football team.
35.
The club had finished fifth in the season before Roy Hodgson took over and finished ninth under Roy Hodgson in their first season in their new stadium, Viking Stadion.
36.
Roy Hodgson resigned in December 2005 to become manager of the Finland national football team.
37.
Roy Hodgson was to begin work with Finland in June 2006 but after resigning as manager of Viking in December 2005, he began the role early, in January 2006.
38.
In May 2007, when Lawrie Sanchez resigned as manager of the Northern Ireland national football team to manage Premier League side Fulham, Roy Hodgson was considered for the role, but he committed himself to staying with Finland.
39.
Roy Hodgson would go on to succeed Sanchez as manager of Fulham seven months later.
40.
Roy Hodgson's contract expired at the end of November 2007 and although the Finnish FA expressed their willingness to extend it, he decided to move on.
41.
Roy Hodgson was considered an outside candidate to replace Steve McClaren as England manager, having been linked previously to the job after the departures of Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan and given his international management record and nationality.
42.
On 28 December 2007, in a surprise appointment, Roy Hodgson accepted the post of manager at struggling Premier League team Fulham, with his contract beginning on 30 December 2007.
43.
Roy Hodgson initially endured a run of very poor results with the club, including being knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties after two draws against League One side Bristol Rovers.
44.
Roy Hodgson's spell at Fulham greatly revived his reputation in England after his time in charge of Blackburn over a decade earlier, with renewed speculation linking him to the England job should Fabio Capello have left.
45.
In May 2010, Roy Hodgson was voted the 2010 LMA Manager of the Year by a record margin.
46.
Roy Hodgson received the award after a poll of coaches, including managers from the top four leagues in England.
47.
On 1 July 2010, Roy Hodgson was appointed as manager of Liverpool, signing a three-year contract.
48.
Former Marseille and Juventus manager Didier Deschamps later claimed that he had been offered the job before Roy Hodgson, but turned it down.
49.
Roy Hodgson made further signings in goalkeeper Brad Jones, defenders Danny Wilson and Paul Konchesky, midfielders Christian Poulsen and Raul Meireles, as well as re-signing full-back Fabio Aurelio, who had been released by the club earlier in the summer.
50.
Roy Hodgson stated that he had no intention of resigning and responded aggressively to suggestions that Frank Rijkaard, who had recently been dismissed as manager of Galatasaray, would be appointed in his place.
51.
Roy Hodgson left the club by mutual consent on the morning of 8 January 2011, with Kenny Dalglish announced as his replacement.
52.
Roy Hodgson was appointed head coach of West Bromwich Albion on 11 February 2011, signing a contract until June 2012.
53.
Roy Hodgson replaced Roberto Di Matteo, who had been dismissed after a poor run of form which saw West Brom lose thirteen of their previous eighteen matches and slip to seventeenth in the table, only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
54.
On 29 April 2012, it was reported that Roy Hodgson was approached by the FA for the vacant England manager job.
55.
However, the FA chairman, David Bernstein, stated that, despite there being a shortlist of candidates, Roy Hodgson was the only one approached for the position.
56.
Roy Hodgson would defend his decision to leave out Ferdinand as due to "footballing reasons", citing Ferdinand's lack of appearances for the national team, his last cap having come in June 2011 and concerns over his fitness.
57.
In July 2013, the FA announced that Roy Hodgson would take charge of the England under-21 side for one game, against the Scotland under-21s in a friendly on 13 August.
58.
Roy Hodgson said after the match that reaching the tournament was his proudest moment in football.
59.
Roy Hodgson named Wayne Rooney as the new captain of England in August 2014, following the retirement of Steven Gerrard from international football.
60.
Under Roy Hodgson, England dropped to 20th in the FIFA World Rankings, their worst position since May 1996.
61.
Roy Hodgson was accused of failing to give the side sufficient preparation or an identity to their game.
62.
On 12 September 2017, Roy Hodgson was appointed manager of his boyhood club Crystal Palace, replacing Frank De Boer after signing a two-year contract with the South-London club.
63.
Roy Hodgson was tasked with managing a Palace side that had lost their first four league games of the season without scoring a single goal.
64.
On 18 May 2021, Roy Hodgson announced that he would be leaving at the end of the season, having preserved Palace's place in the league.
65.
On 25 January 2022, Roy Hodgson returned to the Premier League when he was appointed as manager of Watford.
66.
In May 2022, Roy Hodgson said that he would not be at the club after the end of the season and that he would not be seeking another managerial job in the Premier League.
67.
Roy Hodgson is married to Sheila, and together they have a son, Christopher.
68.
Roy Hodgson is known to be a fan of the authors Sebastian Faulks, John Updike, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow.
69.
Roy Hodgson is multilingual: In addition to his native English, he speaks fluent Swedish, German, Italian, and French.
70.
Roy Hodgson was made a Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland in September 2012.
71.
Roy Hodgson received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York on 22 January 2016.
72.
In 2018, Hodgson was made a Freeman of the Borough of Croydon.
73.
Roy Hodgson was made a Commander of the Order of British Empire in 2022, receiving his medal from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, the president of the Football Association.
74.
Roy Hodgson reflected that "I think when you are recognised by your country for services to the sport that you've loved and served, I think you've got to regard that as the ultimate accolade".
75.
Roy Hodgson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to football.