Roy Hodgson's raises smile over Fulham fairytale

Roy Hodgson, man of the footballing world and stalwart of Uefa's study group, received a message asking him to attend the Champions League first leg between Inter and Manchester United in Milan. He checked that the trip would not interfere with Fulham's training and prepared to return to a club where he is still so highly regarded that the president, Massimo Moratti, keeps in touch, every time concluding with a reminder that "there will always be a place for you at my club''. To the suggestion that he might one day take Fulham there as a Champions League opponent, Hodgson responded: "Nothing is beyond the bounds of possibility. But that's beyond the bounds of probability.'' He smiled; the advantage of maintaining European contacts was more to do with the InterToto at this stage. For Hodgson, even to be talking of ways into the Uefa Cup was a measure of how Fulham have risen since he arrived 13 months ago. At first the judgment of old friends who pronounced him doomed to relegation appeared sound, a 10-match sequence featuring one win. But Danny Murphy's header at Portsmouth saved Fulham with a quarter of an hour of the season to spare and they are buoyant enough now, having drawn with Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa, to go to West Ham with a spring in their steps. And, of course, enormous respect for the little man endeavouring to confound Hodgson a second time; Gianfranco Zola's are the only team to have won at Craven Cottage in the current campaign. Hodgson, though he cannot quite recall whether Zola played for Parma against his Inter before joining Chelsea, described him as "a little master on the field with the necessary modesty and politeness off it – everything you look for in a top sportsman''. Much of that would apply to David Beckham and, with all roads leading our conversation to Italy, the former England captain's loan at Milan struck Hodgson as "a very good idea from England's point of view''. And Beckham's, given his ambition to go to the World Cup. Hodgson hoped he could be released from his obligation to return to Los Angeles in March. Players did not lose their ability and Hodgson recalled the example of his midfield orchestrator with Switzerland at the 1994 World Cup. This was Georges Bregy, whom he had brought out of retirement at the age of 34. "He was a wonderful technician, an astute reader of the game and a very good passer who'd never had great pace – he'd never relied on that.'' Like Beckham. "And Georges, after being with us throughout the qualifiers, came to the United States and bowed out at the top aged 36 when, having beaten Romania and Colombia, we lost to Spain in the second round. "Now you can't compare the expectation levels of Switzerland and England. But don't forget a World Cup squad is 23 men. For Fabio Capello to have the opportunity of playing Beckham would, I'm sure, be welcome.'' So we moved on to Kaka. "First of all,'' said Hodgson, "is it a good time for him to be plying his trade in the Premier League? I'd say it is – he's gone as far as he can in Serie A. Is the money necessary to take him to Manchester City? "While it's always dangerous to believe figures, it would distort the market. If you double the transfer record, £2 million, transfers become £4 million transfers and this goes against the trend towards more sensible fees and wages.'' Mention of Kaka's religious beliefs reminded Hodgson of one of his most renowned Inter players, the veteran Giuseppe Bergomi, who used to organise Mass at the training ground (sparsely attended) but tackle like the Devil. Hodgson laughed at another recollection. Inter were in Naples for the second leg of an Italian Cup semi-final. "We were in the bus driving to the stadium, being held up despite the efforts of a police escort. The Napoli fans were swerving their Lambrettas in front of the bus to make the driver brake, the police trying to divert them – it was the usual Neapolitan chaos. And then, as we stopped at a crossroads, a family came out of a church, recognised us and went berserk. "There were three generations, men and women, all making obscene gestures. As I sat gazing at them, one of the players, Maurizio Ganz, tapped me on the shoulder. 'Mister,' he said. 'What do you think? Do you think they should go back into the church and start again?''' Among Hodgson's minor miracles was the 1997 steering of Inter into third place in Serie A and the Uefa Cup final (they lost to Schalke on penalties) despite depletions that meant they had to fill the bench with youths who had not trained with the first team. Yet Fulham's progress in 2008 he placed on a level with the "fairytale'' of his career, the first Swedish championship with Halmstad back in 1976. "It was not just staying in the Premier League against the odds but doing it so professionally, playing our way out of trouble. We've kept improving, but, if you're a Fulham, it's the old cliche – you've got to keep moving just to stand still.'' Absolutely. And what could illustrate it better than this? No sooner have Fulham, through skill and hard work, established ascendancy over the likes of Manchester City, than they bid for Kaka. ''Yes, but in a way isn't that the beauty and fascination of the Premier League? A club who have flirted with relegation more times than they'd wish, indeed been relegated and 10 seasons ago spent time in the equivalent of League One, are still big enough to attract an owner willing to put in hundreds of millions.'' But even this had a dark side and it pertained to both the Premier League clubs Hodgson had managed. "Would the late Jack Walker have been able to do what he did for Blackburn [buy them the equipment that brought the title to Ewood Park] today? "Would Mohammed Fayed, if he were asked today, put in the vast sums just to buy a club, clear their debts and buy new players? Yet both of these men virtually saved their clubs. Now only the royal family of Abu Dhabi can afford it.'' Again Hodgson smiled at a memory. "I'm just sorry they didn't have that kind of money when they employed me.'' He was manager of the United Arab Emirates from 2002 to 2004. But surely a vast budget was no help to an international manager? He could not have bought anyone, least of all Kaka. "No. But I could have got a nice salary.''

Source: Telegraph