Everyone knows it is not a an easy one but I’m also hoping that everybody, fans and supporters, everybody in the country will get behind the team, because it is the team that counts, and it is the team which will win the matches.

 

And what I’ll do is I’ll do my very best to make sure the team is well prepared as possible for the task that lie ahead. I’m grateful to the chance to be manager of England and I’m very looking forward to it.

 

I’ve got great respect for Harry. He sent me a voicemail message, which I will of course reply to. He's been very gracious in everything he's done. I hope we will remain friends. We have unwittingly become rivals, but I’ll be one of the factor of our freindship, and I think he is still with the situation extreamly valid. With these interviews I appreciate they perhaps send him a message. 

 

And doubles our sports news correspondent Wembley. Well up a week ago, nobody was talking about Roy Hodgson. Today, it’s the new man that at the helm. What’ve made of it all?

 

Well, not only a week of course, it was Sunday everning before people were talking about Roy Hodgson and of course he had a bit of pieces of mentions as someboby might be on the shortlist, might not be on the shortlist of the FA. 

 

Harry Redknapp was the man that everybody was pointing to as the preferred candidate at the FA. And actually during that press conference David Bernstein the FA chairman told me Wednesday that it was about a month ago. So the beginning of April when they decided on Roy Hodgson as the singular preferred candidate for this job, a month ago. So everybody has been talking about Harry Redknapp really for the last month. And the FA really had made through with all them in one respect. 

And it’s also difficult to believe that the FA managed to keep that secret for quite so long; it’s a, it’s quite something to pull off, in today’s media world, of course. 

 

But Roy Hodgson really had just sat there, today he was very composed, and he gave a very mature performance, he also, clearly, has a passion for the game which, which came out in everything he said. And he accepts that he has got a big job of turning around popular opinion. He wants to get the media on his side of course, who have showed in the last couple of days that they might not be the supporters and the players; he accepts such a difficult job but clearly it’s one of the relishing. 

 

And there’s no doubt that the people’s choice and the press’ choice was Harry and the FA had a heat of a bit of risk on they flying in the face of public and press opionion. 

 

Yes. They are because on, I think it was on February 9th that David Bernstein and that Clobin Glinduge that we saw today around Roy Hodgson sat down and told us about the demise, if you like, of Fabio Capello the day before, and said that the next day they would put together a shortlist and in one stage during that press conference they were asked, ‘Will you listen to popular opinion because it’s been disregarded in the past,’ and David Bernstein gave the answer ‘Yes, we will listen to that.’ 

 

Well, as you pointed out correctly, Geromi, it appeared over the last few days they had flawn in the face of that. And if that goes wrong, and it could go catastrophicly wrong because you’ll riot against the Euro 2012, the big major championships, which could be an embarrassment, and on the other hand it could be a great victorious time for England and Roy Hodgson. But if it would go wrong that quickly, the honeymoon, if there is one, is over. And of course all fingers will point at the men who made that decision. 

 

So, it’s a brave decision, but of course as David Bernstein points out, this is the first time that England have brought in a manager wid any international experience at all. So, it’s a calculated one; and let’s see if it comes off.