As Roy Hodgson was appointed as the man to lead England into the Euro 2012 competition yesterday, football enthusiasts across England began preparing their critique of the new man, comparing him and his managerial quality to their preferred choice, questioning his capability to manage big players and scrutinizing his past achievements.
It would be fair to say that the overriding opinion is one of underwhelmed disappointment. For months the hype has been around just one man; the media's favourite casual-car-window interviewee, FA Cup winning cockney with a big, friendly, likeable personality. Harry Redknapp would have been appointed immediately if it was down to a democratic vote of the people, who had by the most part been indoctrinated by the media's infatuation with the Spurs manager.
Now we have Roy Hodgson in charge, a man portrayed far less colourfully by the press, with the dismal and forgettable spell as Liverpool boss still fresh in everyone's minds. Forgotten are the impressive achievements with previous nations as an international manager, forgotten is the 22 years of invaluable European managerial experience, and forgotten is the marvellous job done whilst at Fulham with very limited resources.
Instead, we see someone who cut a very lonely, unpopular and almost insignificant figure for six months at Liverpool, whose fans were against him from the very beginning of his reign.
Of course, results were dire and not what is expected of a club of Liverpool's size, but take into consideration the instability that was occurring at the time, and the abysmal state of Liverpool's League form now under Kenny Dalglish, despite having spent millions on supposedly world class players, and you have Roy Hodgson still with a huge amount of credibility as a football manager.
Unfortunately, the six month spell at Liverpool has tainted an otherwise thriving career, having been awarded the LMA Manager of the Year Award in 2010 by a record margin in a season in which he reached the Europa League Final with Fulham and previously leading them to their highest ever League finish of seventh.
Clearly, this is a man who knows what he is doing. The FA has appointed someone capable of managing at an international level well - his time at Switzerland proved that emphatically - and someone who has proven himself worthy of the England job in his 22 years as a manager. Fulham fans revered him and even jokingly called for their manager to be appointed as Prime Minister he was so reliable.
The England job is his chance to establish himself once again as a managerial force to be reckoned with, and rather than criticize his appointment before he has even begun the job he will be paid to do, judge him on the performances and results of the England team. This is a man who is proud to be the manager of England and is passionate about the Nation, so the serial complainers should be proud to have someone of such calibre so ready and willing to take up the poison chalice and attempt to bring glory or pride (or both) back into English football again.
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