Roy Hodgson rules out long-term stay at Bristol City

Former England boss Roy Hodgson has no intention of making a full-time return to management after stepping in as interim head coach of Bristol City until the end of the season.

The 78-year-old, who left Crystal Palace in February 2024, has taken over from Gerhard Struber at the Sky Bet Championship club where he was previously in charge for a short spell 44 years ago.

Hodgson’s appointment at Ashton Gate – which was initially brokered by former Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore, now on City’s board of directors – takes him into half a century of football management, his first job coming at Swedish club Halmstad in 1976.

However, following a journey which has taken in a host of clubs – including Inter Milan, Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom as well as four years in charge of England, which ended in disappointment at Euro 2016 – Hodgson insists his latest venture is very much for the here and now.

“I think it was the fact that it was a short-term project, a short-term appointment,” Hodgson told a press conference on Monday afternoon.

“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.”

Asked if there was any potential for the job being longer-term, Hodgson, who maintained he had no interest in a sporting director role at Ashton Gate, said: “No – I am too old.”

The 78-year-old added: “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.”

Hodgson takes over a team 16th in the Championship, without a win in their last six fixtures, which also saw them dumped out of the FA Cup by League One strugglers Port Vale.

His first match in charge of the Robins will be at Charlton on Good Friday.

“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.”

Having decided to sack Austrian Struber – who was only appointed in the summer – on Friday, City’s chief executive Charlie Boss feels the arrival of a coach of Hodgson’s calibre can only be positive for the club moving forward.

“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,” Boss said.

“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.”