Roy Hodgson

[The Mighty Chaffinch]

A sad ending to a wonderful managerial career but I will be forever thankful for Roy’s one full season at Rovers. 97-98 was one of my favourites for numerous reasons: 7-2 against Wednesday, 5-3 against Leicester, 5-0 and 4-0 against Villa, 3-1 at Arsenal…the start to the season that had us briefly in the running for the title, Sutton and Gallacher banging in the goals with Sutty sharing the golden boot with Dublin and Owen…Ripley remembering how to score, Duffer starting to cement a place in the side, Henchoz solid at the back, Gary Croft’s winner against Chelsea (a collection of words that no supercomputer could ever put into a sentence!!!). It was a shame that things went downhill quickly for Roy after that and I honestly believe we’d have survived if he’d been given the full second season (despite some questionable purchases). My favourite Roy moment was him trying to quote Forrest Gump in a post match interview only to struggle before admitting he’d only seen the film in French!!! Roy was (and still is) an honourable man and I wish him all the best in his retirement. My fond memories of that season are mainly down to his hard work. 

[Upside Down]

That first season of his is still one of my favourites.

I'll never forget that Sheffield Wednesday game. And the 4-0 smashing of villa.

It's a shame it all turned to shite, a lot of issues that were pre existing and a lot of ego's he struggled to manage. Then made some poor signings and some good ones that struggled to make it in the English game.

I reckon if he'd have come back after Hughes left we'd have gone on to win more silverware.

Unfortunately he was the right manager at the wrong time.

I'll always have time for Roy. A top top manager and a top top man.

[roverandout]

His biggest mistake was signing an over the hill Martin dahlin. Overweight and disinterested 

[The Mighty Chaffinch]

3 minutes ago, roverandout said:

His biggest mistake was signing an over the hill Martin dahlin. Overweight and disinterested 

And Kevin Davies sticking on the overweight theme!!!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

He bought more shite than any other Rovers manager in my lifetime , and that includes Kiddo ! Christian Bloody Dailly - £5.2 Million, about 10 times what he was really worth. Henchoz was his only really good signing.

[DE.]

Roy had totally lost the plot by the time he was sacked. Behaving strangely as well, to the point where players were openly mocking him. Can't come back from that realistically. Sacking him was the right call, but we made the wrong one in who we chose to appoint next. 

The first half of 97/98 was excellent and feels like what could have been, but the second half of that season was really poor and we never recovered. Between Jan 11th and May 10th 1997 we lost 10 of our 17 matches. Extremely poor purchases in the summer and the likes of Hendry leaving doomed any chance of returning to form the following season. 

With our budget we should never have been close to a relegation battle, let alone actually being relegated. One season's worth of poor decisions cost us dearly, in a time period where teams weren't afforded that luxury. Compare to today when multiple teams can make horrendous decisions year after year and survive (Everton especially) just because there are three teams who either can't bridge the gap between the Champ/Prem or are imploding at an even greater level. 

With that said, we came back strong in the end and I wouldn't trade the Souey/Hughes years for anything. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I heard there was a falling out behind the scenes after the Utd game at Old Trafford when he changed the line up to go to a 4-5-1 when we’d been blowing teams away with the 4-4-2 and we got dicked without laying a glove on them.

I remember watching his team in Italy when he had  Zanetti, Ince, Djorkaeff and Winter in midfield and they were still a dull team to watch.

Edited February 19 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[roverandout]

I heard after walker sacked him he ran out of walker's office in tears. Don't know if that's true.  

[DE.]

Jack had offered him the chance to resign a little while before, and Roy confirmed that even in resignation Jack was willing to pay his full contract up. I believe Hodgson later admitted that at the time he was too arrogant to realise he couldn't turn it around. He said he held no ill will towards Rovers and very much respected how we handled the situation. 

[Exiled_Rover]

32 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He bought more shite than any other Rovers manager in my lifetime , and that includes Kiddo ! Christian Bloody Dailly - £5.2 Million, about 10 times what he was really worth. Henchoz was his only really good signing.

He was crap with England too.

Zero time for Hodgson as a manager I'm afraid.

Hope this health scare is just that and he comes out the other side fine.

[Oldgregg86]

Brought in Henchoz who was my favourite player as a kid (for abit ). Was gutted when he went Liverpool 

[Mattyblue]

Sliding doors and all that but I have always wondered what would have happened if Sven hadn’t weaselled out of his agreement with Jack

[chaddyrovers]

Good luck Roy. Good manager overall. 

[DeeCee]

37 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Sliding doors and all that but I have always wondered what would have happened if Sven hadn’t weaselled out of his agreement with Jack

It was a reasoned response/reason imo.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Brought in Henchoz who was my favourite player as a kid (for abit ). Was gutted when he went Liverpool 

That was his best signing, a class act.

[AllRoverAsia]

3 hours ago, The Mighty Chaffinch said:

A sad ending to a wonderful managerial career but I will be forever thankful for Roy’s one full season at Rovers. 97-98 was one of my favourites for numerous reasons: 7-2 against Wednesday, 5-3 against Leicester, 5-0 and 4-0 against Villa, 3-1 at Arsenal…the start to the season that had us briefly in the running for the title, Sutton and Gallacher banging in the goals with Sutty sharing the golden boot with Dublin and Owen…Ripley remembering how to score, Duffer starting to cement a place in the side, Henchoz solid at the back, Gary Croft’s winner against Chelsea (a collection of words that no supercomputer could ever put into a sentence!!!). It was a shame that things went downhill quickly for Roy after that and I honestly believe we’d have survived if he’d been given the full second season (despite some questionable purchases). My favourite Roy moment was him trying to quote Forrest Gump in a post match interview only to struggle before admitting he’d only seen the film in French!!! Roy was (and still is) an honourable man and I wish him all the best in his retirement. My fond memories of that season are mainly down to his hard work. 

Managed 22 different teams, including 4 national sides, in a career spanning 48 years.

Had his failures at the top most level, notably at Liverpool and England.

TBH his garbage signings for us soured me quite a bit.

[NeilInBristol]

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

His biggest mistake was signing an over the hill Martin dahlin. Overweight and disinterested 

I was at ewood when dahlin scored a peach against Liverpool. Was one of my favourite goals as a kid haha, loved that team. 

[DE.]

13 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Managed 22 different teams, including 4 national sides, in a career spanning 48 years.

Had his failures at the top most level, notably at Liverpool and England.

TBH his garbage signings for us soured me quite a bit.

Very much an underdog manager. He knows how to get a team punching above its weight. His methods simply don't work when there are significant expectations and dressing room egos involved. At the time he came to us we were very much in that category. If he'd come to us after Hughes left he'd probably have done well here, as we were a completely different proposition by then. 

 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

16 hours ago, roverandout said:

I heard after walker sacked him he ran out of walker's office in tears. Don't know if that's true.  

Tim Sherwood grinning like a Chesire Cat when interviewed after woys sacking..chunt.

Decent fella,always talked up our Support and the Clubs History.

[DE.]

https://90sfootballparty.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/home-too-soon-hodgson-at-blackburn/

Really good write up here of Roy's time with us. 

[frosty]

26 minutes ago, DE. said:

https://90sfootballparty.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/home-too-soon-hodgson-at-blackburn/

Really good write up here of Roy's time with us. 

Great read. And the links to articles from the time are an excellent feature too. Those Sherwood quotes while Hodgson was still in charge, crikey.....

Always find it interesting to look back on managers we were linked with at different points. Joe Royle, Bruce Rioch and Bobby Robson once Sven had decided not to come. Harry Redknapp and Colin Hendry (!) after Roy left.

[Mattyblue]

Hmmm not sure that was the actual reason Big Col went back to Scotland…

Edited February 20 by Mattyblue