Source: Daily_Mail
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson the history man as he prepares to lead Londoners into Europa League final
It is open day at Fulham and in some small corner of a Surrey field, the players speak about Roy Hodgson. For Danny Murphy, the manager is 'calm'.[LNB]For Simon Davies, he is 'never flustered'. And for Zoltan Gera, he is impeccably consistent. 'It could be Accrington Stanley or Juventus, he prepares us just the same,' he says. 'Always the same.'.[LNB]A reporter senses a small hesitation, even deviation from the party line. Do you ever get bored, doing the same thing day after day? 'Yes, to be honest. Sometimes,' says the Hungary striker.[LNB] Hail to the chief: Roy Hodgson milks the fans' applause after Fulham's clash with Stoke[LNB]Then he adds: 'But it's working and I'm a professional. So I do it.'[LNB]Players rarely criticise managers, especially on the eve of a European final. But if they have reservations, they find ways of conveying their doubts. The Fulham players simply turn to the facts.[LNB]After emerging from the group stages of the Europa League, the coach has plotteda path past the holders Shakhtar, Juventus, Wolfsburg and, in the semi-finals, Hamburg.[LNB]On Wednesday evening, back in Hamburg, they will face Atletico Madrid and they will be carrying more confidence than a side of Fulham's status ought to possess.[LNB]Where Hodgson is concerned, the doubts have departed.[LNB]This week, his peers will surely fete him as manager of the year. At 62, it is a remarkable effort, and you sense that he is enjoying the attention rather more than he admits. He has always commanded respect but these days people seem to be listening a little more closely.[LNB]Thirty-four years in football management have equipped him with the courage to be self-effacing.[LNB]'We go to football to see players. We don't go to see coaches,' he says. 'Coaches should never take credit for individual performances. It's the players who take credit for that. We try to make the environment so conducive to their way of playing that they thrive in it.'[LNB]There are many managers who would not subscribe to that view and not all of them are called Jose. But Hodgson has given it much thought and his demeanour on the bench suggests that he practises his preaching.[LNB] Huge week: Roy Hodgson and Jonathan Greening at training ahead of Fulham's Europa League final clash with Atletico Madrid[LNB]His CV is startling. He has coached club and national sides in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Norway and Finland, as well as England.[LNB]The accent, initially suburban Croydon, has acquired all manner of interesting inflections on his travels.[LNB]But as he sits in his training top, the sweat of the morning session staining his face, you can understand why young men might be impressed by his self-assurance.[LNB]Wednesday's opponents have flirted with the peaks of Europe for many a year, so might the air be a little rarefied for Fulham?[LNB]Hodgson is word-perfect in his rationale: 'To get here we've had to beat good teams over 180 minutes. You can't play badly for two legs and go through. One-off, anything can happen.[LNB]We're talking about a single final, but our confidence is high, the players believe in what they do.'[LNB]Hodgson took Inter Milan to a UEFA Cup final back in 1997. How deeply does he regret the 13-year gap? Again, the answer is considered: 'If you want to reach European finals, you've got to work for one of, say, 20 clubs.[LNB]'Quite often you find managers who get to five or six finals in their career. But that's because when they leave one massive club, they join another massive club. Most of my career, with the one glorious exception of Inter, mine have not been those clubs.[LNB]'If you really want to be the guy who says 'My aim is to be in a European final every year', you've got to choose your clubs very carefully. Jose Mourinho's done very well, but if he wants to reach a few more finals, he' has to be very careful where he goes.'[LNB] Fan-tastic: Fulham supporters love their manager Roy Hodgson[LNB]Hodgson's words invite questions about his own future, about the speculation which links him with Liverpool and other, richer clubs than the one by the Thames.[LNB]The answer could have been read from a prompt-card: 'If the day comes when a so-called big club want me, then I'd be very happy to do it. But if the question is 'Are you putting yourself on the market to get the biggest club you can get?', then the answer is 'No I'm not'.[LNB]'I've signed a contract here, I'm happy at Fulham and until I hear otherwise, that's where I'll be working.'[LNB]Clearly he enjoys his Fulham experience and the attention it has brought him. He understands how the club work, their place in football's pecking order.[LNB]'The Premier League can't have only Liverpools, Man Uniteds, Chelseas and Arsenals,' he says. 'There's got to be others as well. Next season will be this club's 10th successive season in the Premier League. I think that's a fantastic achievement.[LNB]'We're in a very big group of clubs. We don't pretend to be like the big four. We don't have that wealth, that fan base. We'll never be able to operate in the way they do. What we can do is to operate as well and as sensibly as we can within our means. And there are a lot of clubs like us: good Premier standard but maybe can't be expecting to be in European finals every year.'[LNB]But this year, one of those clubs have made it. A fine coach has found the energy and imagination to conjure from his players performances which seemed beyond them.[LNB]He attempts to explain the limits of his contribution: 'Coaches lead players to the water and the players decide whether they want to drink, or jump over the stream'.[LNB]For the first and only time, he sounds a little like David Brent. To his credit, he seems to realise it. A small blush flits across his face. It is all very Fulhamish. They deserve to make their own history in Hamburg.[LNB] Fulham boss Roy Hodgson admits he would take a big four jobHodgson sweating on key pair Zamora and Duff for Europa League finalFULHAM FC
