‘It’s difficult to compete with icons’ – Roy Hodgson admits Kenny Dalglish’s presence hindered his time at Liverpool

Roy Hodgson, West Bromwich Albion (Getty Images)

Related Links

Teams

Players

West Brom manager Roy Hodgson believes the Liverpool job didn’t come at the right time for him after current Reds boss Kenny Dalglish had already stated that he wanted the role.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game against the Anfield outfit, which will pitch Hodgson against his former employers for the first time since leaving, the Baggies manager has admitted he arrived at Liverpool at an awkward time.

“It’s difficult to compete with icons.” He said of Dalglish. “I came to the right club, perhaps I didn’t come at the right time because Kenny did make it clear at that time he wanted the job.

“But the people who were making the decision at that time decided to go for me and of course as a result that left Kenny in a difficult position because he is one who wanted the job.

“So when things didn’t go well having him in the background wasn’t easy, it wouldn’t have been easy for any coach, but I mean that’s such an obvious statement and that happens at virtually every football club to be quite honest.

“There’s always someone in the wings who’s a little bit of an icon, who’s ready to take over if results don’t go their way,” Hodgson added.

However, the former Fulham boss refused to have words of war against Liverpool and conceded that his time associated with the Reds is over, but insisted he believed he was doing the right thing in joining the most decorated club in English football.

He added: “I have nothing negative to say about the club, or my time at the club other than it would have been nice if we could have won a few more games.

“My time at Liverpool is over, I’m very happy in my job here. I’m disappointed of course that I didn’t get the full three years which i was hoping for at Liverpool, but I’ve been in football long enough to know that’s sometimes what happens, especially when there’s a change of ownership during your time at the club.”

“I was realistic, I knew the risks when I went into the job. I still think it was the right thing to do to accept the offer, I’m still disappointed of course that it didn’t work out in a better way, but I have no regrets and I have certainly no bad feelings about Liverpool as a city.

“Certainly I don’t have any bad feelings about the football club, and I have only good feelings about the people I worked with there.”