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All you need to know about Hodgson

We take a look at Roy Hodgson, England's new manager, from the successes that have got him into the hot seat to the things you never knew about.

Roy Hodgson was born on August 9, 1947 in Croydon, Surrey.

A respected and well-liked manager, Hodgson enjoyed high profile spells with the Swiss national team, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers and Fulham before his tenure at Liverpool ended with the club just four points above the relegation zone after 20 games. He then guided West Bromwich Albion to safety two seasons in a row.

MAKING HIS NAME

After successful coaching jobs in Sweden and Switzerland, Hodgson took over the Swiss national team in 1992 and led them to the 1994 World Cup, losing just one qualifying match.

The Swiss finished runners-up in their group before losing to Spain in the next round.

After qualifying for Euro '96, Hodgson left for a two-year stint at Italian Serie A giants Internazionale in 1995 where he led them to the 1997 UEFA Cup final.

ROVERS SACKING

He returned to England at the end of that season to manage former Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers, helping them to UEFA Cup qualification in his first campaign.

However in the second, Hodgson's expensively assembled squad flopped and he was sacked in December 1998. The following year he enjoyed a brief return to Inter as caretaker manager before heading back to Switzerland with Grasshoppers for a year.

Hodgson spent the next six years managing sides in Italy and Norway as well as two international stints, firstly with the United Arab Emirates in 2002 and then Finland in 2005, where he narrowly missed out on Euro 2008 qualification.

FAIRYTALE TO NIGHTMARE

Having been named on several occasions as an outsider for the England national job, Hodgson returned home with Premier League strugglers Fulham in December 2007.

He received great praise for narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of the campaign before achieving an unlikely seventh place finish and Europa League spot the following season.

Hodgson's side went on to enjoy a fairytale season in 2009-2010, finishing runners-up to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League final -- their first major European final appearance.

His exploits earned him the League Manager of the Year award and led to his appointment at Liverpool. His time at Anfield was disappointing, with the team winning just seven of 20 Premier League games and the manager losing the backing of the majority of Liverpool fans.

Hodgson left 2009 Premier League runners-up Liverpool in January 2011 when 12th in the table, 19 points behind leaders Manchester United.

ANOTHER RESURGENCE

The following month, Hodgson took over at West Brom when the club were deep in relegation trouble.

Hodgson easily achieved Premier League survival, and consolidated the Baggies' position in 2011/12.

When he took the England job, West Brom were 10th in the table, just three points behind Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool side.

HODGSON TRIVIA

He's a voracious reader of literature who counts American author Philip Roth and Czech writer Milan Kundera among his favourites.

He speaks French, German, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish. And English, obviously, which is a bonus considering the last England manager's language skills.

He once turned down the chance to play tennis against Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander. Hodgson was to play the Swedish greats in a charity exhibition match, but he pulled out fearing that he'd be shown up in front of thousands of fans.

He'd have become a PE teacher if he hadn't gone into football coaching.

He is not keen on technology coming into football, fearing that it could "sanitise the game", explaing that "we must accept that football is not a science, it is a game, and it is a game where hazards play an enormous part... I'm not against it, but I am not a massive, fervent supporter of it either. If it comes along I shall embrace it like I have embraced all the other changes."

He loves jacket potato and baked beans.