Hodgson named new boss of relegation-threatened Watford
Watford have announced the appointment of Roy Hodgson as their new manager.
The former England boss, 74, will be joined at Vicarage Road by No 2 Ray Lewington, who managed the Hornets from 2002 to 2005.
Claudio Ranieri was sacked by the Premier League strugglers on Monday after only 16 weeks in charge following a nine-game winless run.
Hodgson is the Hornets’ 15th permanent manager in the last 10 years and their third this season following the dismissal of Xisco Munoz in October.
He inherits a relegationthreatened team sitting 19th in the table, two points from safety ahead of trip to bottom side Burnley on February 5.
Hodgson returns to management having left Crystal Palace at the end of last season.
Ranieri was shown the door in the wake of Friday night’s 3-0 home defeat by fellow relegation candidates Norwich, which left the 70-year
old Italian with a record of 11 defeats from 14 games.
Hodgson previously worked for the Pozzo family, owners of Watford, during a short stint as Udinese boss in 2001.
The Hornets are the sixth Premier League club he has managed after Blackburn, Fulham, West Brom, Liverpool and Palace.
Hodgson also managed England at European Championships in 2012 and 2016 and at the 2014 World Cup.
He stepped away from his role as Crystal Palace boss in May after four seasons in charge of his boyhood club following 11th, 12th and backto-back 14th-place finishes in the top flight.
Upon announcing his departure from Selhurst Park, the former Liverpool manager was eager to play down talk of retirement.
“It is a dangerous thing to start making bold statements about retirement and this is the end of me,” Hodgson said at the time.
“I really don’t know, I am certainly not leaving Crystal Palace with the idea of putting myself back on the market and trying to get another job, I really am stepping down from the club and stepping away from football for a while but who knows what the future will be.”