Hello. My name is Woy Hodgson. I’m a PE teacher in South London who has had a career in non-league. This is my story into football management after a suspicious call from someone from Sweden. I hope you enjoy the story!
It’s the 2031. I have been thinking about a lot of things. Football, Fiorentina, my career. I’d fallen out of love with football as my last few jobs. I needed to fall back in love with it again as, up until now, it’s all I’ve ever known. That and teaching. It is my life. So I decided to return home. I have been offered a job back in England where I can be closer to my family and concentrate on being good at what I do again. So everyone, welcome to Leicester!
After leaving Fiorentina, I wondered if any top flight club would even offer me an interview. One team did and I was excited to see it was from Leicester City!
The appointment did raise some eyebrows according to local news and the job should have been given to a bloke called Arne Slot who was managing Brentford at the time. .
I arrived after the previous manager, Paulo Fonseca, has failed to win any games. 6 Premier League matches had been played as well as an EFL Cup game. Apart from Middlesbrough, they were all losses. A great place to start! We’re in the relegation zone, without a win. I think survival would be best here but if we could just reach mid-table after another 32 games, I’d be very happy. After all, this is my comeback! Maybe we should win the who thing!
The team was something I had inherited. Not a lot I can do about it as it’s locked in now for the season. The mistakes, it seems, had already been made. I know need to get the best out of what I have in front of me. It appears that I have a retirement home in front of me. The squad is what I would consider… experienced…
Our first three games would be against big spending Newcastle, Liverpool who have had an interim manager for 3 years because he keeps winning things. And Fulham. I have a soft spot for them but I don’t know why… All three games turned out to be wins. the Liverpool game, winning 4-1, I was particularly pleased with! These results helped us climb the table to 15th. An excellent start to the job!
The next month was also decent. Despite playing Manchester United and Arsenal, we managed to pick up another 10 points!
Things were looking up and I had thought, in a tradition for players at Leicester who perform well, I’d order pizza for everyone!
The good times continued until the end of the year 2031 as we remained unbeaten from our very first game against Newcastle.
That was until we had to face Leeds United on the final day of the year. We lost 2-0. I think some of the players were already on their Christmas holidays!
The only problem is that it set in motion something that I’d experienced before. Do you remember that time at Fiorentina where we hit a bad spell of form and then morale was shot? Then we went on to lose most of the games? Well that’s exactly what January was like.
There were some tough games in Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham but also we lost to Luton in the FA Cup third round. Shameful!
After these results, we had dropped from 4th to 7th and only there on goal difference. I do have to remember that after 6 games we were bottom so things aren’t that bad. Especially if I can find ways to raise spirits again!
That’s exactly wat happened. A few teambuilding trips bowling, out to restaurants and raft building out of firewood and spit, and we were back to winning. It wasn’t the form that we had when I started the job but it wasn’t loss after loss after loss like with Fiorentina!
Thing is, we were still hovering just outside the European places. We’d nee a solid finish to the season to stand a chance of qualifying for Europe next season.
That was when the board issued their ultimatum: To qualify for Europe or they said they had lined up a replacement for me. That seems a bit unfair given what I’d done for the club with SOMEBODY else’s squad! Oh well. I knew the target now. Let’s push for it…
The next month went by with another 7 points. Good, but not good enough.
Arsenal and Wolves sit between me and keeping my job for another season. I really need to beat Everton and Leeds as Chelsea will be a difficult game. I also need to hope Arsenal slip up somewhere with the reminding three matches to be played.
The game against Everton resulted in a draw. No good. We really needed those 3 points.
Thankfully, Arsenal also drew meaning nothing changes.
Next up were Leeds. They were our first defeat as manager of Leicester City. And these did it again. We lost 2-0 and now, the task of qualifying for Europe was looking impossible. Only the game against 3rd place Chelsea remaining.
Once again, Arsenal couldn’t get enough points to escape us. Going into the final game, we were level on points with the Arsenal meaning if we bettered their score in the next game, that would be enough. Their opponents: bottom of the table Bournemouth. Great!
It wasn’t meant to be. We did beat Chelsea, strangely who dropped down to fourth. But Arsenal also beat Bournemouth by the same scoring.
The results was that we finished 8th, a few goals outside the European places.
Such a shame. If I had just been given the job one game earlier, I may have been able to get that point we needed. We will never know.
But, as promised I was asked to leave the office the next day. The removal people were already there to help carry my stuff out. I overhead some of the management whispering as I walked by referring to some comments somebody had made in Italy about the club. They quickly stopped talking as I walked passed!
I’d consider the season a success. I saved Leicester City from relegation, I feel, and we almost got into European places. There’s something strange going on behind the scenes so maybe going somewhere else will be a good idea for me! I’ve found my passion for the sport and my job again. Bring on the next job!
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