‘Gentleman’ Roy Hodgson has core of steel, says Andy Roxburgh

Roy Hodgson may be an “English gentleman” with a reputation as the nicest man in football but that image conceals a coach with a steely core who will not flinch from making tough decisions, according to Uefa technical director Andy Roxburgh.

Hodgson has been part of Uefa’s technical group since 1996, working alongside Roxburgh, and the former Scotland manager believes his vast experience and detailed approach to the game will stand him in good stead for the England job.

Hodgson has already demonstrated his resolve by omitting Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards from England’s Euro 2012 squad and sticking with John Terry despite the court case hanging over the Chelsea defender.

Roxburgh, who led Scotland to Euro 1992, said: “Roy’s very articulate, he knows football through and through and he can also coach, and in terms of management and leadership he definitely has an inner core.

“He’s very much an English gentleman but he has a toughness about him, and if there are tough decisions to be made no one should be in any doubt that he will make them.

“He also has a very close attention to detail and that’s invaluable at international level.”

Hodgson’s most notable successes have come at Fulham – whom he guided to the Europa League final – and at Swedish club sides, as well as taking Switzerland to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and Euro 96. There were few superstars in those sides and Hodgson has develop a reputation for working wonders with less talented players. Roxburgh, however, believes too much is made of that.

He added: “In most teams you will have stars and workers and you have to deal with both. Roy has worked with a lot of superstars – look at Inter Milan when he was dealing with World Cup winners and took them to the Uefa Cup final. This idea that he is better working with players of a lesser ability I don’t think is a factor. I do know that Roy is a very competent professional coach with vast experience, and held in extremely high regard by his coaching colleagues.”

It was Hodgson’s involvement with Uefa that enabled him to have detailed talks with predecessor Fabio Capello after the Champions League final – they even shared a car to Munich airport. Capello, who resigned as England manager in March, has been credited by Hodgson for “being generous with his time” after the final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

Roxburgh said: “Roy was part of the technical group at the Champions League final and another member of that group was Fabio Capello. They had the opportunity at the gathering to exchange notes and we assume to talk about England. I also took the two of them in a car to the airport, and it was all very convivial.”