Roy Hodgson will be awarded new England contract even if he fails at Euro 2016… if Greg Dyke has his way
FA chief wants to gift new deal to Three Lions head coach if Roy's boys are knocked out at quarter-final stage in France
ROY HODGSON’S reward for failure will be a new contract.
That is the alarming prospect put forward by outgoing FA chairman Greg Dyke yesterday.
An heroic quarter-final defeat on penalties will be enough to wave a new contract under the nose of England’s head coach.
That, sadly, is what the job has come to.
Dyke said: “If we have done well and played well then I think it will be renewed. Semi-finals would be great.
“Quarter-final, if we have played really well, hit one of the best sides and lose or go out on penalties. That is the sort of discussion that will go on.”
Give us strength, Greg.
With each passing tournament the targets for England’s head coach are readjusted. The bar has never been lower.
This tournament is weak, with too many mediocre sides bidding for a lucky losers’ place.
But everybody at the FA, including Hodgson, is terrified of setting a target for Euro 2016.
Related Articles
The ambition — always — must be to win the tournament. Hodgson is a decent enough guy but the pressure is on to finally make some tournament progress.
The scars of 2014 are still there, when England were kicked out of the World Cup after just five days.
Two years earlier, when Hodgson succeeded Fabio Capello at short notice, they lost on penalties in their quarter-final against Italy.
Here in France, England remain a work in progress.
But Hodgson is in a strong position because he is the man in possession and because the alternatives are thin on the ground.
Gareth Southgate’s stock has risen after England’s Under-21 side beat France 2-1 in the final of the Toulon tournament.
Beyond that, Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew, Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe and Steve Bruce are the only English managers working in the Premier League.
It is a dwindling talent pool, a regrettable by-product of the Premier League and its obsession with overseas coaches.
Hodgson is desperate to keep the job but it must come with some fairly stiff targets.
Winning tournaments has to be one of them.