Hodgson - playing for cheap laughs

Much has been said about Roy Hodgson over recent days. The first England manager with previous international experience is now in post, with a four year contract. The Harry Redknapp links are in the past, and enough to derail Spurs' season.

As expected, the ins and outs of Roy's life are now pretty much public knowledge. His inside leg measurement, who he roomed with as a young footballer, the fact he played football in apartheid South Africa.

Previous blogs have mentioned the abuse which former England managers have received, some deserved (Hoddle), some cruel (Taylor). But already we're having piss-taking about Hodgson's apparent speech impediment - how far will it go if England bomb in the summer?

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When Hodgson was appointed Liverpool manager, it became almost feral. Headlines of "In Woy We Twust" were published, and comments about managing a team of Gewward, Cawwagher and Towwes. Roy's Anfield career was short lived, set to a soundtrack of Dalglish worship, Statler & Waldorf and poor performances.

Does it warrant abuse bordering on hate crime? We've seen players subjected to racism and nasty comments on Twitter. The great and the good are fair game now.

The Croydon Simpson (Larry Burns)

A friend of the blog describes the abuse as idiotic, and notes that the target is top of his profession about to earn £2m a year. Perhaps part of the mindset is purely that Roy just "isn't Harry Redknapp", as though knowledge of the tax system and being able to email is a sin.

Twitter has risen against the press campaign against Roy, the hashtag #loveroyhodgsonday was trending by lunchtime. Most decent people want to see him do well, a man who took Switzerland to third in the FIFA rankings, and Fulham to a Europa League final. The FA cornered themselves with their criteria for an English manager. We hope he's the best man for the job.

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