By STEVEN HOWARD
Published: 16th May 2012
FIRST, we had the Benny Hill, girl-chasing days of Sven Goran Eriksson. Or Svenny Hill.
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Then came the Boot Camp era of Fabio Capello.
Now it’s Roy Hodgson and a touch of Dad’s Army.
Capello was a heel-clicking, parade-ground drill sergeant, a martinet who liked to lick his team into shape.
In his place, we have the affable officer-class Hodgson, a man more likely to charm and cajole a performance out of his troops.
Even when he does lose it, he chooses to bang his head against the top of the dugout rather than rant at his players.
Whether this is likely to turn him into a winner on the pitch with England remains to be seen.
But, off it, he is charming some gnarled old birds out of the trees during this, admittedly, honeymoon period for the new England manager.
Yesterday, he named his 23-man squad for Euro 2012 at Wembley and just about came out on top.
Needless to say there were a few eye-raising selections like Liverpool’s Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll.
Brows also lifted when Hodgson revealed that should Scott Parker eventually prove unfit, then his replacement was likely to be Downing’s equally unimpressive Liverpool team-mate Jordan Henderson.
There were endless questions about the Rio Ferdinand-John Terry situation with Hodgson repeating time and again that he came to the decision to omit Ferdinand purely on footballing grounds.
At the same time, many found it hard to believe that Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott and Gary Cahill were better alternatives.
My view is that Hodgson was guided by the FA into the position of having to choose between Ferdinand and Terry.
And that his choice of the Chelsea skipper was correct.
On footballing rather than moral grounds, of course.
As a public relations exercise — always vitally important at this stage of his England career — it worked well enough.
Certainly, the moment he asked a couple of front-row photographers to shift aside so he could see the TV reporter behind asking the questions, showed the appealing civility of this 64-year-old.
Capello would probably have squinted over the top of his designer specs and addressed thin air.
There was also humour, something we never really associated with Capello — who never quite understood either us or the English language.
At one point, he was asked what he felt of England’s chances at the Euros seeing the squad was shorn of the injured Jack Wilshere, Jack Rodwell, Chris Smalling and Kyle Walker while there were still doubts about Parker — plus the fact he was without Wayne Rooney for the opening two games.
Timing his answer to perfection, Hodgson said: “Well, I was feeling quite confident until you mentioned all that.”
A rare smile crossed the face of Club England Managing Director Adrian Bevington, the FA official who must have felt like the captain on the bridge of the Titanic as England crashed into one iceberg after another during his opening 15 years with the governing body.
Later, someone else would start another question with the words: “You are a manager known to be very technical, very tactical, well-organised and... ”
Before he could finish, Hodgson jumped in and said: “Where’s the sting in the tail ofTHIS one?”
If nothing else, at least the new man is on the same wavelength.
But there were other things, many of them.
And the confirmation that the former West Brom boss is the antithesis of the whip-cracking Capello.
That he is determined to put right many of the mistakes made by his predecessor.
To that end, he rang Ferdinand to explain why the veteran Manchester United defender was being left out — probably with the same good grace Hodgson said that the player had accepted what would have been a massive blow.
Capello, on the other hand, did not even bother to tell Ferdinand that he was replacing him as captain with Terry.
While Capello rarely conversed with players he believed should be seen and not heard, Hodgson wants dialogue.
And, unlike Capello, he understands the importance of the captain to the team.
He said: “We see the captaincy differently. And maybe we should.
“It’s such an honour to play for your country, and we have to get back to that.
“This may sound naive but one of the things that has impressed me in my talks with the players is how much they do still prize playing for England and how important it is to them.
“They looked me in the eye and said they couldn’t wait, they really want to be there.
“While the disappointment from the one or two I’ve left out has been patent.
“The captaincy takes it one step further. I want to get a situation where the players feel they can get their ideas across to me. And that I am prepared to listen.”
He also explained that the bad blood between him and Glen Johnson had been resolved — and that it was his fault they fell out at Liverpool when he answered a question about the right-back’s form with too much honesty for his own good.
He also said he had spoken with Kenny Dalglish about Carroll and had been reassured about the player’s ‘out-of- football activities’.
Capello, instead, listened to reports of Carroll’s ‘socialising’, muttered that drinking was no good for players — and never selected him again.
So for Hodgson, so far so good. But the Downing thing still gnawed away at you.
At one point he talked about selecting players for footballing reasons and the next he includes one with no goals and no assists all season.
Well, apart from the two assists that have seen the end of Damien Comolli and Dalglish at Liverpool.
Like all England managers, Hodgson will be judged on results.
But, unlike his predecessors, we won’t be too surprised if he doesn’t get them.
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