Highly paid Hodgson linked to Bafana job

THE South African Football Association should be prepared to pay something in the region of R50-million a year if it is to hire former England coach Roy Hodgson as the new Bafana Bafana mentor.

If the rumour mill is to be believed‚ Hodgson has become the latest name to be linked to the job vacated by the sacked Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba last month.

But it is not clear if Hodgson‚ whose name has curiously appeared out of nowhere as one of the candidates for the Bafana job‚ would be interested in taking a salary cut.

Mashaba earned R500 000 a month while the well travelled Hodgson was the best-paid manager at the 2016 Euro Championship in France, earning a huge £3.5-million (R58.5-million) a year.

His salary put him ahead of the £3.15million (R52.6-million) a year earned by second-placed Antonio Conte of Italy and the £2.7-million (R45.1-million) earned by Turkey’s third-placed Fatih Terim.

Mashaba was sacked late last year – his contract was to run until the end of the 2018 Russia World Cup in July next year – following a disciplinary hearing that found him guilty of gross misconduct‚ insubordination and bringing Safa into disrepute. Last week‚ Carlos Queiroz said he would be interested in returning to the Bafana Bafana hot seat if his current employers‚ the Iran FA‚ would accept his resignation.

Locally‚ Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane‚ who earlier this month was crowned the 2016 Caf coach of the year‚ insisted he was out of contention for the vacant position.

But his boss, Patrice Motsepe, made things interesting a day after the comments when he said he would consider it his patriotic duty to allow the in-demand mentor to ascend to national-team level if he wanted the job.