Roy Hodgson's tenure as England coach might be extended till 2018
England coach Roy Hodgson might be offered a contract extension if the Three Lions do well in Euro 2016 in France next summer. The ex-Liverpool manager has been in charge of the England national team since 2012.
The 68-year-old will complete 40 years in the coaching circuit at the start of next year, and feels that he can still go on after the Euro 2016 in France next year.
“If you ask me at this moment in time ‘can you see yourself working after next summer’, I'd have to say yes, absolutely,” he said.
The Football Association has also echoed Hodgson’s feelings and has backed the coach saying that he had to reconstruct an ‘ageing’ team and the real test lies ahead.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn said: “If we do well in the Euros then he is our man for 2018. If we see progress, this will make us feel that Roy is the best person to take this young team forward and really fire at the next two tournaments.
“He has had to rebuild a team. He had an ageing team for the last World Cup. He has built something different and has got some different things in his set-up now.”
Hodgson hopeful that injuries will not influence team selection for Euro 2016
The Three Lions have been drawn with Wales, Russia and Slovakia in the group stages of Euro. And Hodgson remains optimistic that the players he wants to draft into the squad are injury-free come May.
“I don't know for the life of me what that squad will look like when I name it in May because I don't know what players will be available,” he said.
“In the build-up in March [England play friendly games against Germany and Netherlands] I will become frustrated if I get a 23 in my mind at the end of February, and am watching games and seeing people carried off injured.
“It will be a damn sight more frustrating when I've got the 23 players, or 25, I'm really counting on to go to France, and then I'm seeing them disappear through injury or I'm learning that players I'm hoping will recover from injury might not do so.
“I had been counting on [Danny] Welbeck, [Jack] Wilshere, [Fabian] Delph, [Daniel] Sturridge, [Luke] Shaw until he broke his ankle. I'd been counting on them since June and yet still haven't seen hide or hair of them since June. You could add [Theo] Walcott and [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain to that as well.”