Roy Hodgson: England U21 role is unfeasible

Roy Hodgson has “really 
enjoyed” his stint overseeing the England under-21s, but has stressed the importance of someone else coming in and devoting their full attention to the Young Lions.

While the search continues for a permanent successor to Stuart Pearce as under-21s boss, Hodgson has been looking after the squad over the last few days for their friendly clash with Scotland.

The end result was a 6-0 win over the Scots on Tuesday night at Bramall Lane, and afterwards the 66-year-old said he had enjoyed the whole experience.

He was, though, at the same time keen to emphasise the one-off nature of the arrangement. Hodgson has combined the under-21s duties with his regular job as manager of the seniors, who faced Scotland at Wembley last night, and, asked if he would like to do something similar again, he said: “I don’t think it’s feasible.

“A lot of the time there is an overlap, and furthermore, I don’t think it’s right – these players need someone who is going to be really concentrating on them and following them.

“I will see some of the players – when I go around looking for seniors, I will see some of these.

“But we need a manager who is going to follow them even if they are playing reserve team football.

“They need someone who is going to carry on the work that Stuart has started, which we have tried to carry on here in this brief spell we have had.”

The Football Association hopes to have a new manager in place in time for the start of the 2015 Under -21 European Championship qualifying campaign.

England’s qualifiers begin with a double-header next month, at home against Moldova and then away in Finland.