Roy Hodgson has returned to football management at the age of 78.
The former England manager took charge of second-tier Bristol City on Friday for the second time in two years. quit one’s last managerial position Amid reports that he would be sacked, he fell ill and played for Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Hodgson is one of football’s most respected coaches, having held posts around the world over the past 50 years. One of his many former clubs is Bristol City. He worked as an assistant manager in the early 1980s before taking his first senior role in English football as a manager for a short period.
“I’ve had some great conversations with the board and I’m really excited about the opportunity to help them through to the end of the season,” Hodgson said of taking over the 16th-placed team in the 24-team Championship. “We’ll get to work right away.”
His first game in charge was against Charlton on April 3, and his contract runs until the end of the season.
The first job of Hodgson’s long itinerant coaching career took place in Halmstad, Sweden in 1976.
He then went on to manage famous clubs such as Inter Milan and Liverpool, and was in charge of England from 2012 to 2016.
Bristol City chief executive Charlie Boss said: “Roy’s appointment means more than just the results of the next seven games. “Throughout the remainder of the season, he will help set the standards and values at the club that we need to succeed going forward.”
There was also an older soccer coach.
Hodgson has already made history as the oldest manager in Premier League history, but he is still young compared to Ivor Powell.
Former Wales international Powell entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006 at the age of 90 as the world’s oldest active football coach. At the time, Powell was coaching at the University of Bath, where the 86-year-old student team he helped guide to the first round of the FA Cup in 2002.
Also, Romania’s current coach is 80-year-old Mircea Lucescu, but his team lost in the World Cup qualifying playoffs on Thursday.
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