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Archive for June, 2010

• New Anfield contract contains no release clause
• Brede Hangeland may be Hodgson’s first recruit

The Football Association will have to wait until 2012 if it wishes to appoint Roy Hodgson as England manager after the 62-year-old accepted a two-year contract with no release clause from Liverpool today.

Hodgson had been touted as the leading candidate to replace Fabio Capello should Sir Dave Richards, the chairman of Club England, decide to take the expensive option of sacking the Italian following England’s dire World Cup campaign. Although Capello retains the support of influential figures on the FA’s main board, such as Phil Gartside, the Bolton Wanderers chairman who has publicly backed the incumbent, Richards has asked for two weeks to consider whether the 64-year-old should lead England’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

The Fulham manager has made no secret of his desire to lead England but, despite the uncertainty surrounding Capello’s future, has agreed a deal with Liverpool that provides no escape route should the FA make an approach before Capello’s contract expires after the European Championships.

Liverpool’s managing director, Christian Purslow, who has led the search for Rafael Benítez’s successor at Anfield, has finalised personal terms with Hodgson and agreed to meet the £2.5m compensation fee payable to Fulham under the terms of his 12-month rolling contract at Craven Cottage.

The only obstacle preventing confirmation of Hodgson’s appointment at Anfield are issues relating to his departure from Fulham, believed to be bonuses their manager feels he is entitled to after last season’s 12th place finish in the Premier League and run to the Europa League final. Representatives from both sides were working on a resolution tonight and, providing one is found, Liverpool should have Hodgson installed for the start of pre-season training tomorrow. He could then be unveiled as Liverpool manager tomorrow afternoon.

Hodgson faces a major task of reviving Liverpool’s fortunes after the disappointments of last season and amid the £350m debt placed on the club by its co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The new manager has been promised an initial £15m this summer to revitalise a squad that finished seventh in the Premier League last season, a kitty that includes the profit made on players sold during the January transfer window and may be reduced by the compensation owed to Fulham. Brede Hangeland, whom he brought to Craven Cottage for £2.5m from FC Copenhagen, is one possible target although Fulham’s asking price may prove prohibitive.

The former Switzerland, Internazionale and Blackburn Rovers manager, who has held 15 coaching positions during a 34-year career, faces the task of convincing Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano, among others, to resist offers to leave Anfield this summer. The Fulham midfielder and former Liverpool player Danny Murphy has given a glowing reference on Hodgson to his close friends at Anfield, Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, but the futures of the captain, a transfer target for Real Madrid, Torres, wanted by Chelsea, Barcelona and Manchester City, plus Mascherano remain in doubt. Yossi Benayoun is likely to be the first player to leave Liverpool once the new manager is in place with a £5m move to Chelsea agreed.

Kenny Dalglish’s position as Liverpool ambassador and at the club’s youth academy has been in question since the search for Benítez’s successor began but he is not now expected to quit Anfield. Dalglish was asked to compile a shortlist of candidates and put his own name forward once he felt that no available managers were better qualified for the task of unifying Liverpool at this difficult time. Hodgson, however, has been the Anfield board’s preferred choice since Benítez accepted a £6m severance payment to leave the club.

One player who is destined for Liverpool is Milan Jovanovic, the Serbia international striker who agreed a free transfer from Standard Liège in January but indicated, during the World Cup, that the deal was not watertight. “I am going to Liverpool. I have signed there for three years. I repeat: no pre-agreement – a real contract,” the 29-year-old said today.”And the departure of Benítez changes nothing. I have maintained contact with the executive board of Liverpool and everything is good. I am working to arrange my visa for England. Next week I go there to collect my work permit. On the 14th or 15th July I will join the squad for a training camp in Switzerland.”

LiverpoolRoy HodgsonAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Formalities of move from Fulham soon to be completed
• End of month was deadline for successor to Rafael Benítez

Roy Hodgson is expected to be appointed new Liverpool manager within the next 24 hours once the formalities of his move from Premier League rivals Fulham have been completed.

Liverpool set themselves a deadline of the end of the month to find a successor to Rafael Benítez, left 27 days ago after a disappointing season saw the club finish seventh in the table.

It is believed it will cost Liverpool a reported £2m to release the Englishman from his contract at Craven Cottage.

Former player and manager Kenny Dalglish, who was part of the selection process with managing director Christian Purslow and is currently an ambassador for the club’s academy, had expressed an interest in returning to a role he enjoyed great success in the late 1980s and early 1990s but has been overlooked for the post.

Hodgson’s name has also been linked with England after their disappointing World Cup campaign under Fabio Capello but Liverpool were already in advanced negotiations with the current League Managers’ Association manager of the year.

Roy HodgsonLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk

• Anfield club happy to pay Fulham £2m compensation
• Hodgson also touted among candidates for England job

Liverpool are on the verge of naming Roy Hodgson as their new manager.

The 62-year-old has been the frontrunner to replace Rafael Benítez as Liverpool manager since the Spaniard accepted a £6m severance pay-off to leave the club earlier this month. The Fulham manager also has admirers within the Football Association and has been touted among the leading candidates to succeed Fabio Capello following England’s dismal failure at the World Cup.

Hodgson has long coveted the England manager’s job but, despite the possibility of the vacancy arising within a fortnight, he looks set to be confirmed as Liverpool’s new manager possibly as early as today.

Negotiations between Anfield officials and the former Internazionale coach have advanced significantly since Hodgson’s return from commentary duties in South Africa, to the extent that only the specifics of his Liverpool contract have now to be resolved. Liverpool are happy to meet the £2.5m compensation fee payable to Fulham under the terms of Hodgson’s 12-month rolling contract at Craven Cottage.

Liverpool are confident the uncertainty over the club’s ownership and the future of their leading players has not diminished Hodgson’s desire to remain in club football at Anfield. Liverpool, who have not qualified for next season’s Champions League due to a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League last term, had ideally wanted Benítez’s successor in place before their players return for pre-season training. The first batch of Liverpool players report back tomorrow, a second group are scheduled to return on Monday and their World Cup contingent will start pre-season training at staggered times throughout July depending on their nation’s progress in South Africa. The club’s assistant manager, Sammy Lee, will be at the helm in the event of their managerial search being prolonged.

As well as Hodgson, the former Real Madrid and Villarreal coach, Manuel Pellegrini, and Marseille coach Didier Deschamps have all been linked with the Liverpool vacancy. Club legend Kenny Dalglish, who has been involved in the managerial search alongside Liverpool’s managing director, Christian Purslow, made it known that he wanted the job in the absence of better qualified candidates. However, the Liverpool board wanted a manager who has been working in the game.

Deschamps, whose presence on the Liverpool short-list was revealed last week by the Marseille president, Jean-Claude Dassier, today signed a one-year extension to his contract with the French champions. “After the season that we have experienced there is still work to do,” said Deschamps, who is now under contract at Stade Vélodrome until 2012. “A great club asked me. I am very flattered but if I ask for respect from my players the least I can do is to be comparable in my commitment to the club. I owe it to the OM.”

It is unknown whether Liverpool have offered Hodgson a short-term contract given the public declaration from Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the club’s deeply unpopular co-owners, to sell the club once their asking price is met.

LiverpoolRoy HodgsonAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk