Source: Daily_Mail
Fulham boss Hodgson appalled by Chelsea storm ref threats and insists: don't shun Norwegian official
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson has condemned the death threats made against Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo following his controversial handling of Chelsea's Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona.
Hodgson, who managed Viking FK in Norway in 2004-5, also took issue with Jamie Redknapp, the TV pundit and former England player, who had questioned the decision to put a referee from the Norwegian League in charge of the high-profile Champions League semi-final.
'I find it quite appalling that referees should be under death threats,' said the Fulham boss.
Hodgson, who has also worked in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and Finland during his 33-year managerial career, then defended the rights of smaller countries to be involved on European football's biggest stages.
'Do you want to go down the Jamie Redknapp route - only England, Italy and Spain count, everywhere else is no good?
'There's 60 countries in Europe. Do we say to the other 57: 'Sorry pal, you're not Premier League'.
'Norway is good enough. The average crowd in Norway is 15,000 and that's in a country of four million. We can only average 25,000 in a country of 60 million people.
'What are we going to do in future? Are we going to make certain because the Premier League has Sky Sports behind them and loads and loads of money if you are not in England then forget all about it?
