Roy Hodgson makes searingly honest admission about his short-lived tenure as Liverpool manager

Roy Hodgson has reflected with admirable honesty on his short-lived tenure as Liverpool manager in the early 2010s.

The former Fulham boss took over from Rafael Benitez in the Anfield dugout in July 2010 but lasted just six months in the job before being sacked shortly after New Year’s Day, with the Reds sitting a lowly 12th at the time of his dismissal midway through the season.

His reign may have been brief, but it still encompassed a seminal moment in the club’s history, namely the takeover by New England Sports Ventures (now Fenway Sports Group) which ousted the toxic stewardship of Tom Hicks and George Gillett 16 years ago this month.

Hodgson has no grudges over Liverpool sacking

Speaking to the Jeff Stelling Show, which is set to be released in November, Hodgson had no qualms with Liverpool’s decision to relieve him of his duties after just six months in charge, with the 79-year-old ‘disappointed’ at how things went during his reign.

He said (via Liverpool Echo): “To be fair, I don’t feel harshly treated as such. I think new owners came in, we weren’t winning games, we weren’t playing very well, and the team was far too low in the table for what was expected of them, even though I don’t think we were the team that people had expected Liverpool to be that season.

“No, I don’t feel hard done by, and I don’t think I was badly treated in any way. I don’t feel any antipathy at all towards the club. I’m just disappointed that I didn’t handle the situation better, because I could have been more.”

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Hodgson came to Liverpool amid an existential crisis

It’s rare for Liverpool to sack a manager so promptly, but the mood at Anfield at the end of 2010 was so downtrodden that there were few complaints when Hodgson was dismissed after a miserable defeat at Blackburn just after New Year’s Day.

His win rate of 41.94% was the worst of any permanent LFC manager/head coach since Don Welsh in the 1950s (34.9%), a reign which included relegation and the heaviest defeat in the club’s history (9-1 to Birmingham in December 1954), via lfchistory.net.

Hodgson’s reign had quickly become untenable, but history has been a little kinder to the well-travelled tactician, who came to Anfield at a time when the club was on the brink of going into administration during the odious stewardship of Hicks and Gillett.

His cause wasn’t helped by Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres eyeing the exit door, players not buying into his tactics, or by poor recuitment in the form of Paul Konchesky, Milan Jovanovic and Christian Poulsen, among others.

The 79-year-old’s magnanimous recollection of his sacking by Liverpool is admirable on his part, and while the club had to act ruthlessly in a time of crisis, Hodgson still deserves to be regarded with dignity for at least trying to navigate the choppiest of waters in his time at Anfield.