Roy: I feel so lonely at Kop
For when the Kop is belting out its pre-match rendition of
'You'll Never Walk Alone', the under-fire Anfield chief will beg to
differ.
Even Hodgson himself must need reminding at times that he is
actually the current Manager of the Year, given how his six months
on Merseyside have gone.
Stuttering league form at best, a Carling Cup KO to tiny
Northampton and - most damning of all - fears that the team simply
are not playing for the boss any more.
Even some first-team regulars feel the time for change has now
arrived, a conclusion Liverpool's American owners have already
reached.
Hence their hunt for a replacement after deciding Hodgson is
certainly not the man to realise their dreams of returning this
famous club to its former glories.
For Hodgson, Wednesday's 1-0 Anfield defeat to struggling Wolves
- and his subsequent pop at the fans who had booed him - was as low
as it gets.
He may have 35 years' managerial experience under his belt, but
for a man acclaimed as an England boss in waiting last summer, the
feeling of isolation has never been stronger.
While the players can always expect an arm around the shoulder
from above in times of trouble, when quizzed as to whether this is
as lonely as it can get for a manager, Hodgson admitted simply:
"Yes."
He added: "It would be nice to have people around who could help
you a bit more but it doesn't really work that way. "It is a lonely
job being a manager of a top club and you can't expect people to
help you too much.
"The staff are very good and supportive and so are the players,
but your family is very important at these times. They try and
encourage you that life isn't all doom and gloom and there might be
a bright spot somewhere along the way. That is what you have to
cling on to.
"Two defeats in a row - and one of them at home against a team
everyone expects you to beat - that is a bad time. It is a time
when you are going to be very hurt and upset about everything.
"Lonely is not the wrong word to use but, to be quite honest,
you don't want company anyway. You want to be left alone with your
thoughts, you don't have the desire to do anything but sit around
with them.
"In those moments you don't want to be social. You don't ever
become weathered to it or not suffer." Message boards, websites and
phone-ins have been flooded with irate Kopites who will not rest
until Hodgson has left and a new man installed.
That could still be as late as the summer if the owners feel the
right man is not around until then, even though the search has
already begun and Hodgson will go as soon as the ideal candidate is
found.
Marseille's Didier Deschamps, Bolton boss Owen Coyle and
Borussia Dortmund's up-and-coming Jurgen Klopp are all under
scrutiny, as are former Barcelona chief Frank Rijkaard and Porto's
Andre Villas-Boas.
Yet, for now, all Hodgson can do is soldier on and hope the
second half of the season is a far cry from the first.
The Reds have slumped to 12th in the league, giving him
Liverpool's worst managerial record at this stage of a season since
George Kay 75 years ago.
Hodgson has won just six of his 18 league games. Kay, with five,
is the only man to win fewer. It is a situation which cuts deep
with 63-year-old Hodgson. He said: "I certainly cannot emphasise
enough that it hurts me deeply, it hurts my professional pride.
"It hurts all the things I believe in, to find myself in this
situation, but I have to accept it. I feel very bad and very
down.
"After some poor performances I have voiced my disapproval in no
uncertain terms behind closed doors to the players.
"I also have been hurt, frustrated and disappointed by the
performances. "We need wins. We need a run of them to try and show
the fans the team is what they think it should be.
"It has been an uphill struggle since I came. I've had a lot of
situations to deal with and worked very hard and along the way
there have been very big setbacks.
"Those have thrown me into the firing line and I have had to
deal with that as well. I accept it is part of being a big club and
of taking on a job of this stature.
"Coming to Liverpool for me was a pinnacle, to some extent a
reward for the work I had put in, not just at Fulham but the years
before.
"It was a recognition for my competence and then you come here
hoping you keep flying forward, but I did know it would be
difficult.
"I saw a quote from Benjamin Disraeli when he got the job as
Prime Minister and said, 'I have achieved my goal and climbed to
the top of a greasy pole'.
"That's really what we do. And if we get the results between now
and the end of the season, maybe people will respect us more for
the hardship we've gone through."
Sadly for Hodgson, as and when the time arrives he will already
have slid down that greasy pole...
