Roy Hodgson

The Manchester United manager initiated calls for the 62-year-old to receive his profession's ultimate accolade and plenty followed suit. "Roy should be manager of the year, there is absolutely no doubt about it," Ferguson said. "It's a miracle. Hopefully he does win it now, but it's one of the best British performances of all time."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...anager-of-year

Darren Lewis spouting some %@#$&!s.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opin...cle414779.html

He believes there is there is one more big job left in him but Roy Hodgson would be advised to stay well away from Liverpool.

The Fulham boss has shown himself to be an outstanding leader of men. A magnificent motivator to inspire the Cottagers to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and the Final of the Europa League.

And he has every right to bask in the warm glow of a fantastic job well done at Craven Cottage. Particularly while he is being linked with the Anfield job, the England job and, possibly, even the job at No.10 on Thursday.

But of all the offers that may come his way, the Liverpool position is the one fraught with most danger. Yes, even more so than the England job.

This has been Liverpool's transitional season. The one in which it is widely accepted that the club's hapless owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have undermined any chance of success with their restrictions on transfer funds.

But the man who succeeds Rafael Benitez next season - if indeed the Spaniard does quit for Juventus - will be expected to hit the ground running.

To knit the sum of the parts and make an effective machine capable of coping with the superior wealth of Chelsea, the production line of kids combined with the will to finally loosen the purse strings at Arsenal and the greater strength in depth at United.

And I haven't even mentioned Manchester City who will become a monster of a club should they make it into next season's Champions League. To be fair, even Spurs would be a force to be reckoned with should they make it.

In addition, the politics and uncertainty over any forthcoming investment at Anfield is such that Hodgson has no guarantees that he would get the considerable funds needed for the Reds to smash their way back into the top four next season.

For all his faults, Benitez brought one Champions League trophy to the club, reached another final and lifted the FA Cup. That, and not the barren seasons in which the Reds flattered to deceive, is the standard by which Hodgson would be judged.

And for all the compliments with which he is being showered, the 62 year-old tactician is savvy enough to know from his time at Blackburn that this remains an unforgiving industry.

One in which the heroics of this season will be regarded as a distant memory should he not make an immediate impact at Anfield.

To give Liverpool their due, they remain loyal to their bosses. The club itself has not sacked a manager during mid-season in its 117-year history.

The supporters on Merseyside are among the most knowledgeable in the country and, while everyone outside of the region has lambasted Benitez for his buying policy, his negative tactics and his reliance on Torres and Gerrard - all criticisms that have ultimately been justified - the fans stand by their man.

But the pressure on Hodgson to justify that faith will be unbearable next season. Just as it will be on the man that eventually succeeds Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

Which is the reason why Hodgson should deliver a polite: 'Thanks, but no thanks' if he is approached by Christian Purslow and the men from Anfield.

Right now, with Tom Hicks and George Gillett in charge, Liverpool are a poisoned chalice. It is a description in no way intended to insult one of the giants of English football. More to articulate the situation in which the Reds now find themselves.

Yes, Hicks and Gillett may have declared their intention to sell up. But are they really going to get the £800million they want for a club they bought for just £220million three years ago?

And talking of the Fulham squad that have reached the Europa League Final, none of them are superstar names with the profile that the Liverpool players enjoy but all of them buy into the Hodgson ethos.

Would the Liverpool fans accept a Zoltan Gera or a Simon Davies, though?

Especially when the talk from the likes of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and even Benitez himself are telling all and sundry that the ailing Reds need four or five top players to compete next season.

No, Hodgson should surely dodge this particular bullet in favour of either staying at Craven Cottage - the club that have given him the chance to reinvent himself in this country - or a project which will give him the time to replicate the success of this season.