Hodgson named Liverpool manager
Thursday, July 1, 2010
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Roy Hodgson said he was "honoured to be taking on the biggest job in club football" after the 62-year-old was confirmed as Rafael Benítez's replacement as Liverpool FC manager.
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Roy Hodgson has been named Liverpool FC's new manager, signing a three-year contract seven weeks after leading Fulham FC to the UEFA Europa League final.
Hodgson, 62, fills the gap left by Rafael Benítez's departure last month and will aim to improve on the Anfield club's seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season. The Liverpool job is Hodgson's 16th assignment of a managerial career spanning 35 years and he is looking forward to the challenge.
"This is the biggest job in club football and I'm honoured to be taking on the role of manager of Britain's most successful football club," he told Liverpool's website. "I look forward to meeting the players and the supporters and getting down to work at Melwood [training centre]."
The former Halmstads BK, Malmö FF, FC Internazionale Milano and Blackburn Rovers FC manager has long been respected on the European stage, but his stock in England rose significantly during his two and a half years in charge of Fulham.
Having averted the threat of relegation in his first campaign, the ex-Switzerland and Finland coach steered the west London side to a best ever top-flight finish of seventh in 2008/09 and into Europe. That was the prelude to their UEFA Europa League exploits last term, when they beat UEFA Cup holders FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and VfL Wolfsburg before losing the final 2-1 after extra time against Club Atlético de Madrid in Hamburg.
Hodgson earned personal acclaim, being voted manager of the year by his English peers, and will return to the UEFA Europa League with the Reds in the coming season. Liverpool are England's most successful club alongside Manchester United FC with 18 league titles. A predominant force in the 1970s and 1980s, when they amassed four of their five European Champion Clubs' Cups, they have not won the league since 1990.
