HODGSON HAS 18 GAMES TO SAVEHORNETS
ROY HODGSON has been given 18 games to save Watford from relegation – with the chance to earn a longer-term deal.
The former England boss has signed a sixmonth contract, with ex-Hornets manager Ray Lewington as his assistant, after answering the owner Gino Pozzo’s SOS.
And if he keeps Watford up, after a calamitous run of just one point from the last eight games cost predecessor Claudio Ranieri his job, Hodgson will discuss an extension taking him beyond his 75th birthday at the end of the season.
Pozzo, appointing his seventh full-time manager in just 28 months, moved quickly on Monday night to seal one of football’s unlikeliest comebacks.
The last time the Pozzo dynasty hired Hodgson, he lasted 17 games at Udinese in Italy. This time, his brief is one game longer.
Hodgson met the players yesterday afternoon and will take charge of his first training session today.
They have been warned to expect he is a stickler for detail.
Hodgson clocked on as the Hornets’ third boss this season to a classy endorsement from Ranieri as Tinkerman drove away from the club’s London Colney training ground.
Leaning out of his Range Rover, Ranieri said: “I can only say good luck to everybody – to Watford, the fans, the board.
“That’s football but I believe that with these three new players, Watford can be safe. And also arrives a fantastic manager. I wish him all the best.”
Ranieri had effectively predicted his own downfall earlier this month when asked about Rafa Benitez’s sacking at Everton.
He said: “Maybe you are not used to it in England but in Italy they change managers like they buy an ice cream.”
Hodgson is a safe pair of hands who will now tackle Watford’s plight head-on.