Former England manager Roy Hodgson has made it known that he has no intention of becoming the permanent Bristol City manager after his stunning return to football management.
Hodgson, 78, was appointed manager of the Championship team until the end of the season last week, taking over from Gerhard Struber, who was sacked after overseeing a disappointing run of results this season.
City are 16th in the Championship and without a win in five games. They fell to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat against relegation-threatened West Brom last Saturday, and the team was booed three times during the game. City were also recently dumped out of the FA Cup by League One’s bottom side, Port Vale.
The future of the club is unclear, with Hodgson, who hasn’t coached since leaving Crystal Palace in 2024 when he was taken ill during a training session, only contracted until the end of the season.
And the man himself has now confirmed that he won’t be staying at Ashton Gate any longer.
On what attracted him to the role, he said in his first press conference: ‘I think it was the fact that it was a short-term project, a short-term appointment.
Roy Hodgson has ruled out staying on at Bristol City as manager next season because he is ‘too old’
‘After the club made their decision to change, I think they were looking for someone who could step in and was prepared to do a job for seven games.
‘Of course that appealed to me, because I have retired from the real maelstrom of working as a professional coach again, but I thought that I could manage five weeks – and I might even look forward to the five weeks, which has been the case so far.’
And when asked directly if he could stay beyond the end of the season, he added: ‘No – I am too old.
‘I hope to get some enjoyment from being here, to re-energise myself a little bit by being back on the grass and being back with players, something which has always been what I have wanted to do.’
The veteran, who has also coached the likes of Liverpool and Fulham in his 50-year career, will take charge of his first game against 18th-placed Charlton at the Valley on Friday, before City host Sheffield United – who sit just a place below them – the following Monday.
‘For me, it is going to be what happens on the pitch. I am here to coach the team and try and help the team to get results,’ Hodgson said. ‘I will only be satisfied if the people watching the team can see that is going on.’
City’s chief executive Charlie Boss said of the appointment of Hodgson, who briefly managed the club in 1982: ‘We talked about it as a board about who we thought could bring, not just quality coaching over the remaining seven games, but could bring something that could last longer than that – and the first name on our list was Roy’s.
‘So I couldn’t be more delighted that has materialised, and I really see this as something that has an impact, that can hopefully lead out from beyond the season into future years.’
