World Cup: England’s Joe Hart backs Roy Hodgson
By Mike Dyce
England’s World Cup hopes ended almost as quickly as the tournament started. With two out of three group games under their belt, they’ve lost both and already been eliminated from the tournament.
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Of course a lot of the blame falls on the shoulders of manager Roy Hodgson, who said he would not resign. He has been getting support though, most recently from England goalkeeper Joe Hart.
“Me personally, I speak for the players when I say we are proud to play for Roy Hodgson,” said Hard, via Sky Sports.
“He is a great manager, a very passionate man, and someone I have an awful lot of respect for. I hope to continue playing for him.”
Earlier in the day Hodgson received the backing of Football Association chairman Greg Dyke.
“Everyone is disappointed but we are supportive of Roy. He came to do a four-year cycle and we want him to stay and continue,” Dyke said, via Sky Sports.
“We think there are positives, despite losing narrowly to sides in the top eight (of the FIFA ranking). We don’t see any value in changing Roy. We think Roy has done a good job.
“We have young players who we’ve blooded by experiencing tournament football and it’s my view, as well as others in the FA, that he remains manager.”
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Hart said that it wasn’t a lack of quality though that was holding the team back.
“I imagine some people might say that but we don’t feel that inside the camp,” Hart said.
“We have bags of quality, bags of people coming through.
“We have great leaders, great experienced players in that dressing room, and have just come up short in those two games.
“You can’t do that in a World Cup, you can’t come up short in two games.”
So if it is not the manager, and if it is not the talent, then what is it?