SACRIFICING HIS FUN IN THE SUN
Hodson happy to put holiday plans on hold in aim to reach Europe
RANGERS full-back Lee Hodson claims he will settle for just ten days’ holiday if it ends in a crack at the Europa League. New Ibrox boss Pedro Caixinha has warned his players their summer break could be cut short if they beat Celtic to reach the Scottish Cup Final on May 27.
With Rangers set to face a firstround European qualifier on June 29, Caixinha is ready to recall his players for pre-season training before Scotland’s World Cup qualifier with England on June 10.
Likely to feature in Northern Ireland’s squad to face Azerbaijan on the same day, Hodson faces a repeat of last summer when he grabbed just a week’s rest after the European Championship.
However, the defender shrugged at the prospect of putting his holiday plans on hold until the semi-final with Celtic on April 23 is done and dusted.
‘It is what it is,’ said 25-year-old Hodson. ‘We’ve got a very big prize at the end of it, which would be qualifying for the group stage of Europe.
‘If you ask any of the players in the squad if they want to make the group stage of the Europa League, then the whole squad is going to put their hands up.
‘So if the sacrifice is having a short holiday to recharge our batteries, then the lads will just use that time we have off and come back ready for the chance to get into the Europa group stage. I haven’t booked anything yet and I don’t think many of the lads have. Obviously we’ve got the semi-final and, hopefully, the cup final, so I don’t think many of the lads have holidays on their minds at this moment.
‘For me, there are internationals in the summer, as well. Northern Ireland have a game on June 10 away to Azerbaijan. If I’m in that squad I’m sure there will be a few training camps at the end of May, so I probably won’t get much holiday at all.
‘But I’m happy enough to go and play for my country and then come back to try to make Europe.
‘I think none of the lads are really concentrating on holidays at this moment as we still have a lot of the season to finish off and, most importantly, get into the cup final.’
No stranger to snatching rest after making Michael O’Neill’s squad for last year’s Euros in France, Hodson expects this summer to follow a similar pattern.
‘I finished with Kilmarnock and went off straight away with Northern Ireland and that was me until June 28,’ he said.
‘Then I got a week off. I made the most of that week and looked after my body. It is what it is and I would take a week’s holiday any day of the year to go to a major tournament.
‘To be part of such an amazing tournament and say you’ve been there and experienced it, I would have taken no holiday if I was told at the start of last season I would be making the Euro squad to go away with Northern Ireland.
‘As players, we know how important it is to be back in Europe next season.’
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan argues that top international players have to be prepared to play all-year round. To be 24-hour athletes without complaining — and Hodson agrees that’s the new reality.
‘Top players come back from the Euros, get ten days off and then get back into it,’ he said.
‘They have internationals throughout the next summer, World Cup the year after that. We want to be playing at the top stage in Europe. If it takes a short period of time off, as a group of players that’s fine.’
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