Hodgson situation shows need to cut managers slack - it's why Klopp is leaving
“When I see him, I ask him: What are you doing here?! But he looks happy, enjoying it.” Jurgen Klopp on Roy Hodgson, December 8, 2003.
And, presumably, despite the altercations with angry fans and the occasionally spiky media interview, Hodgson is still enjoying being a Premier League manager. But Klopp’s incredulity at Hodgson still wanting to manage at elite level is perfectly understandable.
Klopp remains equally surprised that Sir Alex Ferguson kept at it until he was 71 and had over 26 years in the club game’s most pressurised managerial seat. Liverpool fans had hoped Klopp would create that sort of dynasty at Anfield but that was never a possibility.
Speaking to the departing Liverpool manager back in 2020, he told me that when he became a club manager at the age of 33, he envisaged a maximum of ’25 power years’ in the role. Klopp will walk away from Liverpool a couple of weeks shy of his 57th birthday.
His admission that he is, essentially, mentally tired is a reminder of the stresses that the job entails. And Hodgson’s illness is another reminder of the very same thing. Look, Hodgson turns 77 in six months time and it is not unusual for a man of that age to have health issues.
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But the juxtaposition of Hodgson being taken ill on the day when most of us were predicting he would be sacked from his job should have given us all the perspective that is sometimes needed.
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Hodgson is reported 'considering retirement' after a health scare during a training session on Friday (AFP via Getty Images)Yes, club managers are well remunerated and lionised when they do well. Excessively, in a lot of cases. But if fans and pundits are over-the-top with praise, they are equally over-the-top with criticism.
The tendency for criticism to morph into abuse has become far more prevalent in recent times and that is probably one of the reasons Klopp is astounded by Hodgson still standing in the technical area.
To be publicly slaughtered for the job you are doing is not a situation unique to football management - politicians know how that feels - but it is particularly stark in that role. And again, it is not unique to have people queuing up to take your job but it is particularly prevalent in football management.
Seriously, tales of out-of-work managers doorstepping chairmen and owners to tell them they could do a better job than the current incumbent are commonplace. That has not happened at Crystal Palace but, first, Hodgson was told Steve Cooper would be taking his job and, then, that Oliver Gasner would be stepping into his shoes.
Considering he kept Palace up last season, it has hardly been the most edifying of stuff and Hodgson, quite rightly, let us know. To a large extent, of course, it is the nature of the business. Normally, managers are not sacked without a replacement being lined up.
But Hodgson having to be taken to hospital on what many were suggesting would be his last day in his job should spark a moment of thought for us all. These characters might be handsomely rewarded and working in a sport they love but, now and again, for the relentless mental pressure they are under, they should be cut some slack.
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