Roy Hodgson should be judged on Fulham wonders not Liverpool blunders

For months, Harry Redknapp has collectively been the bookie's, fan’s and player’s favourite to become the new England boss but on Sunday night, it emerged that West Bromich Albion had given the FA permission to talk to their manager Roy Hodgson.

He is having talks about the vacancy and the former Fulham boss is set to be unveiled as our new manager today.

England fans may well have their doubts about Hodgson and be worried about this potential appointment after the last “big” job he took, at Liverpool, didn’t exactly go to plan.

But to judge him on his time at Anfield would be extremely unfair – after all, he didn’t do too much worse than Kenny Dalglish has done in the league and this was without spending absolutely nowhere near the amount the Scot has.

Instead, let’s judge Roy on what he achieved at Fulham – taking them from the wrong end of the Premier League table and saving them certain relegation to the Europa League Final.

Or what he has achieved so far at West Brom – when he replaced Roberto Di Matteo, the club were on an extremely poor run of form but Hodgson was able to turn this around and after a remarkable run of form, finish 11^th, the club’s highest finish in the league for three decades.

The club currently sit comfortably in 10th and have not been mentioned in the same sentence as the word “relegation” all season.

Hodgson is no stranger to the international scene after managing Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Finland.

Most notably, Hodgson took Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup, taking four points off Italy in qualification and leading them all the way to the last 16. Under Hodgson, the Swiss sailed through qualification for Euro 96 and at their peak were rated THIRD in the FIFA World Rankings.

Hodgson also came within a whisker of managing Finland to qualification for Euro 2008 - a major tournament which would have been the country's first.

The FA have recognised Hodgson's international management record in the past; firstly, after Glenn Hoddle was controversially sacked in 1999, then again in 2000 when they offered him a contract after Kevin Keegan quit but he had already agreed to go to Denmark to manage F.C. Copenhagen.

There he would win the league in his one and only season in charge and was then linked a third time in 2007 where he was an outside candidate to succeed wally with the brolly, Steve McClaren before Capello was preferred.

I hope this time the FA get their man as I believe Roy Hodgson to be the right man – West Brom fans can be forgiven for not sharing this hope as under the Croydon born 64-year old, they have finally found stability. Let's hope England do the same and more.

Video network Winkball asked fans outside the Etihad Stadium yesterday what they thought of Hodgson's appointment. Views were mixed as you can see here...

Jake Lane

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Jake Lane is a columnist who is not afraid to share his opinions. He has been writing “Jake’s Take” for our site’s new and improved sports pages since February 2012.

His dream was always to be a professional footballer but had to settle at being a Head Coach at Arsenal Soccer Schools where he helped others realise their dream instead.

After giving pre, post and live half time analysis on an England group game at Euro 2004 for BBC’S Radio1 Extra, Jake has never been too shy to express his views. He will also be volunteering at the London Olympics for the Press Operations Team.