Roy Hodgson: My part in his rise to England manager

Out of Africa: Roy Hodgson, front row centre, in 1973

ROY HODGSON’S Wikipedia entry claims: “Hodgson started his managerial career in 1976 at the Swedish top division side Halmstad.”

No doubt everyone will be picking that up and using it tomorrow as the world debates the pros and cons of the 64-year-old West Brom boss being made England manager ahead of the people's choice, Harry Redknapp.

And they’d be wrong.

I can exclusively reveal Woy (as he is known, for obvious reasons to anyone who has heard him talk) actually started his coaching career in Pretoria, South Africa. I should know. I was one of his earliest products in 1974.

Hodgson (note, appointed England manager at 4pm on May 1)  arrived a year earlier at my local club in what was then the whites-only National Football League. Berea Park were a very average team in a league dominated at the time by foreign players unwelcome in FIFA-sanctioned countries.

Though Roy was billed as a Crystal Palace star, he had actually been released by the club and came to Berea as a fairly ordinary player from non-League Ashton Town after stints at Gravesend and Maidstone United, then the best non-League side in England.

Still, with Bobby Houghton and Colin Toal, he was one of three cut-price English footballers who arrived in Pretoria despite the Apartheid Sports Boycott in 1973. Apart from playing football for Berea professionally, Roy also tried his hand as a physical education teacher at the local Hillview High School.

He’d coach our Under 14s occasionally at Berea Park and in 1974 I spent three months training with him twice a week at Brooklyn Primary as part of a Northern Transvaal Under 13 representative team which included Roy Wegerle – who went on to play for the United States, Blackburn, Coventry and QPR – and Noel Cousins – who went on to become South Africa’s most expensive player when he moved from Arcadia Shepherds to Moroka Swallows in 1984.

Hodgson was a superb youth coach. He taught us to bend our passes with both feet “like Norman Hunter” and emphasised movement off the ball. He wasn’t too good at dealing with angry parents – soccer mums, as every coach knows, are the nemesis of all youth coaches – but he certainly enhanced our skills on those long afternoons in Brooklyn.

My parting words with Roy? “Sorry son, I don’t think you’re going to make it as a footballer. Nice long throw though.” Tough, but true. We’ve talked about it a few times over the years since.

Hodgson and Houghton went on to coach Berea to relegation that year. The club never really recovered. Then, as a duo, they went to Sweden. Houghton took Malmo to the European Cup final in 1979, the first – and last - Swedish side ever to compete in the continental showdown. They lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in Munich.

Hodgson, while helping Houghton, coached nearby Halmstad to unprecedented heights. Years later, when I interviewed Sven Goran Eriksson after he got the England job, he admitted Houghton and Hodgson had played a major role in his coaching career. Sven recalled going to watch both Englishmen coaching in Sweden in the late 70s and borrowing from their training regimes.

After leaving Sweden in 1980, Hodgson started coaching in England with Bristol City, then came the many ferries to Scandinavia, with Oddevold and Orebro before a return to Malmo where he won two league titles and two cups.

After that came Switzerland, where a job with club side Neuchâtel Xamax – and a European victory over Real Madrid - was followed by a successful stint with the Swiss national side.

Inter Milan offered a glimpse of the big time but Hodgson’s two years there were far from comfortable despite reaching a UEFA Cup final, as was his stint at Blackburn Rovers as they slumped from title-winners in 1995 to also-rans under Hodgson by the time he left the club in 1998.

He returned to Inter without great success in 1999, then was off back to Switzerland’s Grasshoppers Zurich in 2000, followed by a title-winning season with FC Copenhagen in Denmark.

Italy called again in 2001, a brief “never should have taken the job” stint with Udinese was followed by international management with the United Arab Emirates. Then, in 2004, it was off to Scandianivian obscurity with Viking and Finland before the second coming.

Mohammed Al Fayed, scouring the world for a Fulham boss, plumped for Hodgson and three strong seasons there saw him move to Liverpool. Average results and an impatient Kenny Dalglish ended that reign and last year he moved to West Brom.

Having kept them up, England came calling over the weekend. The Baggies agreed to let him talk to the FA and Harry Redkapp – the popular choice – said yesterday: “Good luck to the lad. I’m not one to hold grudges. He’s a fabulous fellow, Roy. I hope he does well.”

But the truth is of course, Hodgson is a safe pair of hands. Redknapp, with his tax problems and wheeler-dealer image on top of Tottenham’s recent slump – Sunday saw their first win since early April – became too much for the conservative old farts in the FA.

Out of contract in June, Hodgson, though never successful at the bigger clubs, will do the job quietly and competently. But dear old ‘Arry would have got the nation roaring before Euro 2012 and caretaker Stuart Pearce migh have been a better choice.

Hodgson is the easy option. And, given Tottenham’s reported demands for compensation, a cheaper option.

Personally, I hope Roy succeeds with England where bigger, better names have failed. And not just because I was there when his coaching career began 38 years ago.

But I’m not holding my breath.

Happy XMas To All From Manchester City's Roberto Mancini. Unless You're Mario Balotelli. Ho, Ho, Oh!

Ah, Christmas. A time for good cheer, peace to all men (and women, I guess), and the birth of the tiny baby Commercialism. And then along comes Scrooge, in the form of Manchester City’s Roberto Mancini.

Here’s his festive gift for City’s expensive Italian striker Mario Balotelli after a distinctly average display in Monday’s shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Everton.

"If Mario deserves to play he will play. If he doesn't deserve to play he doesn't play. If Mario doesn't work, he doesn't play.

"It's not important Mario has a good technique and is a good player. If we want to improve we need everybody giving 200 per cent.

"Mario is a special player but you have to put strength and heart into your performances."

Poor old super Mario. He left Inter Milan under a bit of a cloud. His Ghanaian parents claim he was snatched away from them, given a new surname and now their beloved 20-year-old never contacts them. The San Siro fans gave him a right pelting. Italian fans resent their first black international. The £24m move to Eastlands was supposed to be his salvation.

Now, with Carlos Tevez apparently forgiving and forgetting his much-hyped transfer request, Balotelli finds himself armed on with a cushion as he heads for Newcastle’s St James’s Park on Boxing Day. A place on the bench is the best he can hope for.

But hold on. When Tevez was sulking and arguing with Mancini, it was Balotelli who took the strain. He’s got five goals in nine games so far. While Brazilian misfit Jo and former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor look anything but devoted to the cause, Balotelli has taken a red card and a lot of flak trying to keep Sheikh Mansour’s overpaid mercenaries up among the contenders.

Mancini, a scarf-wearing paragon of fashion who probably suggested the snood neck-warmer to his players when winter set in, adds: "Mario must improve his situation and smile. I do not know why he does not look happy. Manchester is not like Milan but he has to accept it."

Hold on, hold on. Does Milan have a Piccadilly Christmas Fair? A Spinningsfields Ice Rink? A fireworks display on New Year’s night? Hah!

What’s Mancini saying? He first came across Balotelli at Inter. Did he bring him to a barren British northern metropolis without deep thought? Snow joke you know. Mancini insists: "I do have a good relationship with Mario but he must play well, must work hard every day, like the other players."

So Patrick Vieira’s working hard is he? And Gareth Barry, James Milner, Wayne Bridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips? They’re all happy? Craig Bellamy decamped to Cardiff because he was ecstatic? Yaya Toure drove off at half-time during the defeat against Arsenal because he was loving every moment?

The expensively assembled glut of galacticos don’t click like clockwork, let’s face it. How about Tevez? Any sign of a word with the fans after his transfer request saga, Roberto?

Mancini mumbles: "I don't know. Maybe he should apologise. It is now important Carlos plays well and scores goals. But the fans still love him."

Ho, ho, ho Mr Mancini. The second half of Manchester City’s season will be a fascinating rollercoaster ride. And somehow, I can’t see the dapper little Italian surviving until the summer.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter)? See www.nealcollins.co.uk. And a Merry Christmas to you all. Good night.

FIFA Club World Cup final: African history in the making.... thanks to a madman!

The self-confessed madness of one man has put TP Mazembe on the verge of making African football history tomorrow when they take on European Champions Inter Milan in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.

Moise Katumbi is that 46-year-old madman, and he’ll be the proudest man at Abu Dhabi’s superb Zayed Sports City Stadium. The governor of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Katanga province says himself: "People can call me mad but if they do, they are going to have to call plenty of people mad. Those who love cars spend millions on them, those who love women spend millions on them and holidays, while others are dazzled by gold, diamonds and the like.

"Football is my hobby so I try to budget all the money I make so I can put it into Mazembe - you have to love the game because you can't do this if you don't.

"Beating Brazil’s Internacional 2-0 in Tuesday's semi-final made me forget all the effort I've ever invested into the team. I've even got my little boy, who is 17 months old, singing Mazembe songs.”

The chairman isn’t the only madman in the ranks. In May this year, two of their key players, Trésor Mputu and Guy Lusadisu, were banned for months after a tournament in Rwanda saw the referee felled by a karate kick. Undaunted, they’ve gone further than any other African club this season.

Ironically, Inter Milan’s 3-0 win over Korea’s Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma on Thursday night means Mazembe – the first club outside of Europe or South America to reach the final - will have to eclipse one of Africa’s greatest footballing sons, former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o, in tomorrow’s showdown.

Katumbi, whose squad boasts 12 players from the city of Lubumbashi in the mineral-rich Haut-Katanga province, says: "My vision when I joined this club was to make Mazembe one of Africa's strongest teams and that's why I've worked so hard to make it happen. I grew up in a big business family in the province, so learned the challenge of making something work early on."

A mining magnate who has diversified in to fishing, transport and television, Katumbi took over the club in 1995, when the Lubumbashi club could only cling on to dimly remembered Congo championships in 1967 and 1968. Since then, five League titles and the last two African Champions League finals have gone their way.

Even when they were 5-0 up after the first leg of this year’s ACL final agains Tunisia’s Esperance, Katumbi insisted on taking his team to Europe to prepare for the second leg. And he insisted they would do better in Abu Dhabi this year than they did in last year’s Club World Cup, when they were beaten by South Korea’s Pohang Steelers and Auckland City from New Zealand. He was right.

But that kind of money-is-no-object support doesn’t come cheap. This year, the Roman Abramovich of African football announced he would spent $10m on keeping his beloved team together – and on top of that he has paid for flights and hotels for the trumpet-blowing band of 150 fans who have followed their Crows to Abu Dhabi.

And under his control, Mazembe have flourished, winning five league titles in the last decade as well as the last two editions of the African Champions League.

While we know all about Italian giants Internazionale and their multinational galaxy of European conquering stars, the Crows look to now-unbanned captain Tresor Mputu Mabi, lethal strikers Mulota Kabangu and Dioko Kaluyituka plus inspirational goalkeeper Muteba Kidiaba in their historic quest. And they’ve got this far despite their title-winning boss, Argentine Diego Garzitto, leaving abruptly in September. Former Senegal national coach Lamine Ndiaye has taken over and the side continues to produce a cunning blend of skill and dogged determination.

Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, who took over the Inter hotseat from Jose Mourinho at the start of the season, is a worried man. He said: “It is the first time an African team is reaching a Club World Cup final, and so for Mazembe, it is very important and I think it will be a very tough opponent, if you weigh the level of their determination.”

And as Inter’s Argentine captain Javier Zanetti points out: “The standard of football is levelling out around the world and if a Brazilian club can crash out to an African side, why not a European one?"

Terry's stark attack on German ref heaps further pressure on the man who must hold England together at the World Cup

THERE are those who say John Terry is cracking up under the strain. That the man ear-marked to lead England into the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is falling apart as the on and off field pressures rise inexorably at the climax of a long, tough season with Chelsea.
This morning we are told his scathing assessment of German referee Wolfgang Stark as Chelsea plunged out of the Champions League on Tuesday against his old foe Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan will land him in hot water. Scalding in fact. It may even boil over into a full-scale UEFA ban.
After Inter's niggly but necessary 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge completed a 3-1 aggregate defeat, Terry said: "It was a bad performance from us but a really bad performance from the referee.I'm not going to use the word conspiracy. But I'm so frustrated by what happened. The penalty on Didier Drogba was blatant and how the ref and his linesman missed it frustrates me.'
Terry defended his half-time and full-time rants at ref Stark, saying: 'When a decision didn't go our way Iwent to speak to the ref as captain - and he just turned his back on me.
'We spend two years talking about the Respect campaign and he refuses to talk to me. I pulled and pushed other players away and he turned his back.
'I wasn't shouting. I went to try to talk to him and when he wouldn't talk that is when I got frustrated. That is just pure disrespect.
'It is not good enough at this stage of the competition. We didn't get one decision. For two years running we've been let down by bad refereeing. We need to talk to UEFA.'
Last season, Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa received length European bans when they hit out at Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo as Chelsea crashed out against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.
And of course, UEFA are unlikely to forget the death threats levelled at Sweden's Anders Frisk by angry Chelsea fans after their exit in 2005 - Frisk never really recovered from the Jose Mourinho-led attack and retired from the game.
Today, with Arsenal on top of the Premier League following their 2-0 win over West Ham yesterday, Terry and Chelsea must bounce back against Blackburn while Manchester United face a cracker against Liverpool.
Terry, whose father was in hot water of his own according to the newspapers on Friday, has already lost the England captaincy over his affair with Wayne Bridge's partner Vanessa Perroncel this season. The whole nation talked about the non-handshake with Bridge (pictured above) when Chelsea lost 4-2 to Manchester City. Every female columnist in Fleet Street attacked his wife Toni for taking him back.
Terry is under constant scrutiny - and accidentally injured a Chelsea steward as he raced away from Stamford Bridge is his Range Rover last Tuesday in another incident splashed all over the front pages.
But he won't back off. He won't ease the pressure on himself, showing off his captain's armband, insisting he is in control and having his say. He adds: '
'It must be looked at. We are disappointed but I can't look any further than the referee's performance. If I get myself in trouble, then so be it.'
Today against Blackburn we shall see if Terry can still perform under these conditions. As Chelsea push for the final two trophies available to them - the Premier League and FA Cup - the real John Terry will be on show.
Under the kind of pressures which would destroy most of us in everyday jobs, he has to deal with the £140,000-a-week scrutiny of bosses like Carlo Ancelotti and Roman Abramovich. It can't be easy. Watch the big man today. Decide for yourself whether he can play a pivotal role in South Africa this summer without cracking.
Personally, I think it might all get too much for the man. But Fabio Capello will be the judge of that.

Terrible times for Terry: Never tell England's driving force to "break a leg"

IT'S not been a great year for John Terry, the Chelsea captain who saw his side crash out of the Champions League against his old boss Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan last night.

Not only did he have a distinctly average game last night, leaving the pitch with a verbal volley at referee Wolfgang Stark, he also erm... ran over a Stamford Bridge security guard on the way home. I've just seen the video, lots of screaming and "oh my God's."

According to his spokesman Phil Hall on Sky Sports News: "John was surrounded by photographers and a bit of a media scrum. Some of the stewards were trying to keep people away and John drove off."

According to Hall, Terry had no idea he'd hit anyone until he got home in his Range Rover with wife Toni (she's had a bad year too, but we'll get to that later). Hall insisted: "John only found out when a pal of his called and told him. I can assure you, John Terry had absolutely no idea he had hit anyone."

So this morning, as those videos emerged of a screaming 35-year-old Chelsea employee left in the Terrys' wake, Surrey police questioned big John and breathalysed him. He was found to be under the legal limit.

You'd have thought things were bad enough for the former England captain. The 29-year-old, whose mother was charged for shop-lifting with his mother-in-law (both called Sue) and whose father was filmed peddling drugs by the News of the World last year, was in trouble earlier this year when he tried to hush-up an affair with Vanessa Perroncel.

She was the mother of his old team-mate Wayne Bridge's son. She and Toni, mother of father-of-the-year John's twins, used to be quite close. They were near-neighbours in plush Oxshott in Surrey.

Sadly for John, a judge overturned his attempted "super injunction", Bridge was furious, Terry was forced to miss a game to placate his wife in Dubai and England boss Fabio Capello stripped him of the captaincy.

The latest incident hardly helps calm the big fella as Chelsea push for the Premier League and FA Cup double - their Champions League bid was ruined by last night's 1-0 defeat against Inter - and the World Cup campaign in June.

England's driving force may have to be a little bit more careful in future. Question is: can he keep on performing at the top level under all this pressure?

Forget the Wayne Rooney, Barcelona, the World Cup, the FA Cup replays... Jose is all that matters tonight. And he's taking on the world.

TWO of the best sides in Europe meet at the San Siro tonight. But Jose Mourinho has made sure only one man matters. And he won't be on the field of play.

Ah, the Special One. Not content with his third ban of the season in Serie A (this one a three week suspension for showing a hand-cuffed salute after a referee's decision last weekend), Mourinho has seen fit to accuse Chelsea's Italian boss Carlo Ancelotti of being a member of Italy's footballing mafia.

The Italians are up in arms about Mourinho's behaviour as he apparently angles for a move to Real Madrid next season. And there he was at Internazionale's training ground at Pinatina yesterday making sure we knew who the focal point of tonight's clash really is.

Responding to Ancelotti's claim that the whole of Italy will be backing Chelsea tonight because of him, Jose said: "If Ancelotti says that it's because he knows or because somebody told him. Or because he belongs to the clan."

There was more of course. There always is with Mourinho, the man thrown out in his days as a player because his dad - a Portuguese international goalkeeper - put him in the first team. The players revolted. Then he was promoted again, from Bobby Robson's interpreter to top European manager. Further revolt.

The Champions League with Porto followed, then two Premier League titles with Chelsea. Still revolting though. And now, widespread revulsion in Italy: "I'm offering them a challenge. I'm waiting for a referee to come here and say I insulted them.

"To my face. I'm interested to see if they would be brave enough."

Never forgetting that he is the man who made Chelsea great of course, even though Roman Abramovich eventually turfed him out: "You ask me what system Chelsea will play. The same systems Chelsea have played since I joined the club in 2004. Nothing has changed.

"Then I look at my old players - men like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. John and Frank perform week after week, year after year.

"They look as if they are never tired of playing well. Did I make a little contribution towards that? They say yes and I think they are right.

"I thank them because they never forget my contribution. They are good players because, yes, they are good anyway and because they have worked very hard.

"When I speak with people at Chelsea they always say that the culture of working very hard every day has not changed.

"The players have kept their strong mentality. The years may be passing but they are like Port wine - the older the better."

"The most beautiful thing in football for a coach is the passion and respect of his players - and the passion and respect of his supporters.

"That happens with me all the time - in Porto, Chelsea and Inter. That makes me proud."

"But I know what will happen in the San Siro in this match. I know Didier will break his legs for his team. And it's the education I gave to the players."

So yes, forget European Cup holders Barcelona, held by Stuttgart last night. Forget Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, scorer of two more headed goals against West Ham as he heads for the Golden Boot. Forget England's training camp in Rustenburg. In fact, forget the whole looming World Cup. And you can certainly ignore the FA Fifth Round replays - Aston Villa v Cyrstal Palace, Stoke v Man City, Spurs v Bolton, West Brom v Reading - which aren't even on the television tonight.

There is only one subject of fascination in the footballing globe. Tonight on ITV. Jose. The Special One. Taking on the world.