Roy Hodgson wanted to stay at West Brom before England approach
Roy Hodgson has explained that he would have remained West Brom manager if England did not approach him for the job in 2016.
The Crystal Palace boss had a successful 15-month spell at The Hawthorns, leading to international recognition.
He said he simply could not turn down his country despite his affection for Albion, the fans and the area.
Speaking to The Athletic, Hodgson said, “I would have stayed. We were negotiating and it wasn’t a fierce negotiation. It was more a question of, ‘Will you continue, because we’d like you to do so?’.
“If England hadn’t wanted me at that time and West Brom had wanted me to carry on, then I would have done.
“I will always think of the time at West Brom with great fondness, not least because of the people I met there.
“I enjoyed the region as well. The people were very nice, the atmosphere at the stadium was always very good and the support we got was loyal support — proper support.”
Start of a decline
We were bitterly disappointed when Roy Hodgson left The Hawthorns and things have pretty much gone downhill ever since.
Immediately after his departure we enjoyed some success under Steve Clarke when we finished eighth in 2012/13.
Much of that squad had been moulded by Hodgson, and since then we had enjoyed very limited success until Slaven Bilic came in last year.
We have had to endure the likes of Pepe Mel, Alan Irvine and Tony Pulis.
It seems Sam Allardyce is beginning to fit into that category too, unfortunately, with just one win in 11 games.
Worse still, Hodgson failed as England manager, so we are left wondering what could have been.
Given his fondness for the club, it is a little strange we did not try to bring him back at some point.
Albion had the perfect chance to do so in the summer of 2017 as Hodgson was out of a job.
Pulis was in charge but growing increasingly unpopular.
The board kept him because we finished 10th in 2016/17, but that overshadowed big problems like scoring just 43 goals in 38 games.
After a run of nine games without a win at the end of that season he should have been dismissed, as it layed the foundations for our relegation the following season.
Pulis was sacked in November, but by then it was too late to bring Hodgson back as he had joined Crystal Palace.
In other West Brom news, Exclusive: West Brom failure to sign £70,000-a-wk player could be down to London pull – pundit.