Reactions to the Roy Hodgson hiring in England

The public and press seemed to want Harry Redknapp. Others may have leaned toward retaining interim man Stuart Pearce.

But the England FA made it official today, announcing Roy Hodgson as the next man in line to guide England’s national team – a ridiculously tough job, surely among the globe’s thorniest due to tremendous expectations and to nearly unmanageable political and cultural undertow.

Reactions? You bet, careening around the country from Brighton to Blackpool and all points in between.

The Telegraph’s Henry Winter says Hodgson’s hiring embodies a “shift in English thinking, a desire on the FA’s part to push for an age of enlightenment.”

Say Winter: “English football needs to open its eyes and open its books. Debates in English football often centre around personality rather than policy, stars not strategy.”

The Guardian’s Dominic Fifield says Hodgson’s experience will serve him well in this position.

In the West Bromwich Albion head coach, they had a contender with 36 years spent directing from the dug-out, his vast experience gleaned with 15 clubs and three national associations over spells spent in eight different countries. His reputation at home may have been tarnished by a traumatic 191-day spell with Liverpool but those on the outside looking in have been baffled it has taken this long to acknowledge his qualities.

Meanwhile, The Mail’s Martin Samuel isn’t so enamored with the choice. He took England’s FA to task for Tuesday’s appointment.

My thoughts? It doesn’t matter whom the FA selected. The job, as I mentioned, is impossible. I’ll have more on that later.