Roy Hodgson is back in management at 78, appointed Bristol City’s interim head coach after the Championship club sacked Gerhard Struber following one win in nine games across all competitions.
Struber was dismissed along with assistant Bernd Eibler after recent performances failed to meet expectations.
The Austrian had grown increasingly frustrated with the club’s decision to sell top scorer Anis Mehmeti and key centre-back Zak Vyner in January, a move that visibly damaged both results and morale at Ashton Gate.
Bristol City had been a point off the play-off places after a win at Hull City in February, but are now 12 points adrift of the top six.
Hodgson’s connection to Bristol City goes back further than most people in the current squad have been alive.
He managed the club briefly in 1982 after serving as Bob Houghton’s assistant, but was sacked after just four months as the club battled severe financial difficulties.
He reportedly won only three of his 21 games during that spell. The intervening decades took him to Inter Milan, Liverpool, Fulham, Blackburn, West Brom, the England national team and two spells at Crystal Palace, before this appointment.
His last role ended in February 2024 when he stepped down from his second stint at Crystal Palace ahead of Oliver Glasner’s arrival at Selhurst Park.
He has been out of management since, making this return all the more unexpected.
Bristol City chief executive Charlie Boss, himself only appointed last month, framed the decision as bigger than the remaining seven fixtures.
“Roy’s appointment is about more than the results of the next seven games,” Boss said in a report by Goal.
“Over the remainder of the season, he will help us set the standards and values at the club that we will need to be successful going forward.”
Once Hodgson takes to the dugout, he will become the oldest manager in EFL Championship history, surpassing Neil Warnock.
