Russia may be step too far for Hodgson
ROY HODGSON will be commenting on England’s 2018 World Cup qualifying group in st Petersburg on saturday without knowing whether he will be in charge for that campaign.
Hodgson’s contract runs until the end of Euro 2016 and he indicated after England’s qualifying victory in slovenia that he would like to carry on to Russia — when he will be 70 years old — if still wanted by the FA and England fans.
He said: ‘It will be sorted out long before Euro 2016. You are asking me in May 2015. If you were to ask me the same question in May 2016, I will have a very clear answer for you.’
However, everything points to Hodgson having to wait until after England’s showing in that European Championship before finding out his managerial future. It is understood there is a unanimous view on the FA board that for Hodgson to receive another two-year term will wholly depend on how England fare in France, especially with an easy qualifying group that has brought six successive victories.
After England’s woeful performance in Brazil, the FA directors are determined to judge the manager on how his team perform in major tournaments rather than repeat the mistakes of awarding new contracts in advance.
ENGLAND Rugby 2015 have had considerable success in combating the World Cup secondary ticket market without the support of Government legislation brought in for the London Olympics. About 30,000 fans have returned unwanted World Cup tickets for face value via the official online facility rather than selling them on for a profit to the secondary market touts. When fans were asked in a survey why they were doing so, the biggest reason given was that they wanted the seats to go to genuine rugby supporters.
UNDER ARMOUR, the boom sports kit company challenging market leader nike in the United states, now wield enough influence for client Andy Murray (right) to remove the swoosh from his GB davis Cup tracksuit. While the rest of the team turned up at the final press conference at Queen’s in official nike tennis kit, the Murray brothers Andy and Jamie wore their Under Armour gear.
ENGLAND cricket’s great revival — halted by the thrashing at Lord’s — has led to a lot more fans wanting to buy adidas replica jumpers. But ECB do not stock them, blaming the production cost. It cannot help that adidas — since paying £750million to supply kit to Manchester United — have downgraded their cricket deals in importance. Ironically, one of the reasons given was poor replica sales.