On this day in 2012: Roy Hodgson named England manager on four-year deal

May 1, 2024 2 min read
Roy Hodgson was appointed England manager in 2012 (PA Archive/PA)
Roy Hodgson was appointed England manager in 2012 (PA Archive/PA)

Roy Hodgson was appointed as England manager on a four-year deal on this day in 2012.

The then 64-year-old replaced Fabio Capello, who was originally going to step down after Euro 2012 but had resigned in February, taking his 19th managerial role in a career that began with Halmstads in 1976.

Hodgson was in charge of West Brom at the time and decided to keep his role for the final two games of the Premier League season, before switching his focus to England for their final preparations ahead of Euro 2012.

Soccer – UEFA Euro 2012 – Quarter Final – England v Italy – Olympic Stadium
England were knocked out of Euro 2012 in the quarter-finals (Anthony Devlin/PA)

Hodgson said: “Let’s hope we can get everybody behind us and make certain that we work as a team and help the team get the results everyone in England expects and wants.”

The former Liverpool, Inter Milan and Fulham boss managed to take England to the quarter-finals of the competition, where they were knocked out by Italy in a 4-2 penalty shoot-out defeat.

Hodgson’s second major competition was the 2014 World Cup but England were eliminated at the group stage, picking up just one point from their three games with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

England v Iceland – UEFA Euro 2016 – Round of 16 – Stade de Nice
Hodgson’s last tournament was at Euro 2016 (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Hodgson’s time in the England hotseat came to a disappointing end two years later, after England were knocked out of Euro 2016 following a shock 2-1 defeat to Iceland in the last 16, despite going 1-0 up.

Now aged 76, Hodgson recently stood down from his second spell as Crystal Palace manager following ill health.

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