Is Hodgson Manager of the Decade?

Finally, in the third part of the tale of three managers, Hughes writes of how Roy Hodgson is not only Manager of the Year, but by taking Fulham from the brink of relegation to a Europa League final, he might be manager of the decade.

Never mind manager of the year, as he will surely be ennobled in the next few weeks, in the space of a season Roy Hodgson may have done enough to be named manager of the decade. The Fulham manager has not only given his club’s fans nights of glory they had scarcely dreamed of and rehabilitated a seemingly moribund competition, he has some much-needed romance to a sport fixated with financial concerns. Not even Sir Alex Ferguson, who judged purely on trophies is the manager of the last two decades, can claim that.

Hodgson’s achievement in guiding Fulham to the Europa League final may be a glorious one-off, but it would be nice to think he could inspire some of his fellow managers to take cup competitions more seriously, and in doing so give something back to the supporters. Given the primacy of the Champions League and Premier League these days most clubs start the season with one of two objectives – a top-four finish or survival in the top-flight. This is perfectly understandable, but rather prosaic, and leaves little room for glory and the thrill of chasing silverware, which is surely the reason most of us fell in love with sport in the first place.

Hodgson has shown it need not be thus, and in doing has set an example to other clubs, who this morning should be asking themselves: if Fulham can reach a European cup final, then why not us?

The accolades continue to pour in for Hodgson, and goalscorer Simon Davies made a stab at it when he said: “The manager has been first class since he walked through the door two years ago.

“We were struggling, conceding goal after goal. But he kept us up in the last game of the season in 2008 and now we're in the final of the Europa League. That's quite a turnaround, that's quite a journey.

“Roy brought his knowledge and drilled into us the way he wanted us to play. He worked on our shape and you can see that we're very hard to play against.”

Sir Alex Ferguson, who has won the prize for the last three years and nine times in total, is convinced Hodgson should be honoured this time.

He said: “Roy should be Manager of the Year, there is absolutely no doubt about it. It is a miracle. Hopefully he does win it now but it is one of the best British performances of all time.”