Roy Hodgson, back in the dugout aged 78: 'I’ve got no intention of dying on the bench'

Bristol, England — When a terse text message landed on Roy Hodgson’s phone last week, the 78-year-old was enjoying what he calls “life outside the maelstrom” of professional coaching. Forty-eight hours later he was standing pitch-side at Ashton Gate, ball cap on head, whistle in hand, interim manager of Championship club Bristol City for the season’s final seven matches.

The call came from Richard Scudamore, the former Premier League chief executive now on the Bristol City board, who asked simply if Hodgson would speak with chief executive Charlie Boss about a short-term rescue mission. After conversations with his wife Sheila and long-time confidant Ray Lewington, Hodgson accepted, returning to the club where he first worked in England in 1980.

“I’m too old for a permanent job,” he laughed on Monday, “but five weeks? I can manage five weeks.”

The decision ends a two-year absence triggered by a collapse during a Crystal Palace training session in February 2024. Hodgson remembers feeling uncharacteristically cold, retreating to the dressing room for a coat, then collapsing as staff rushed to his aid. Extensive cardiac tests over 36 hours revealed no lasting damage—“I blacked out,” he shrugs—but the scare convinced him to step away.

Since then he has shed five kilograms, built a home-gym routine and walked the local parklands with Sheila, all while consulting for Fulham, Brentford and UEFA. None of it, he admits, delivered “the buzz I feel walking onto a training field.”

That buzz was evident Monday as he put Bristol City through their paces, barking instructions until, by his own admission, “my head hurt from more talking and shouting than in the last 18 months.” His methods, he insists, remain pragmatic: “I don’t pontificate about one way to play football. Leadership and clear principles on attacking and defending—those don’t change.”

Hodgson stresses the appointment is strictly short-term. Regardless of results, there will be no extended stay. “They needed someone for seven games; I hope I can give the squad some clarity, maybe re-energise myself, and then step aside.”

The veteran coach, who steered England from 2012-2016 and has managed Inter Milan, Fulham, Liverpool and Palace among others, jokes about predecessors who stayed too long. “I’ve no intention of dying on the bench, as happened to Jock Stein,” he says, noting the recent collapse of 78-year-old Mircea Lucescu. “I’ll work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen to me.”

Energy and enthusiasm, Hodgson repeats, are his barometers. “When those go, it’s time to stop.” For the next five weeks at least, both appear alive and well in BS3.