The first Championship match of Roy Hodgson’s half-century-long coaching career was not an easy one to watch but, at the end of it, the Bristol City interim head coach was shrugging his shoulders and smiling. A seesaw second half at Charlton, stuffed full of late chances for both teams, was enough to make even the youngest coach’s heart race.
“There were a few five-minute periods where I thought: ‘This is fantastic.’ And there were a few periods where I was saying: ‘What on earth are you doing here?’” the 78-year-old smiled afterwards, victory secured in his first game back, 44 years after his first stint.
Hodgson spent the whole of his afternoon standing on the edge of his technical area. His team started well and carved Charlton open within the first three minutes when Emil Riis Jakobsen found himself clean through but fluffed his lines. Hodgson was pumping his fist not long after as Max Bird slid a pass through for Scott Twine to open the scoring.
Football has changed in the two years since Hodgson left Crystal Palace, including “the cult of the long throw”, with Charlton’s Harry Clarke launching a ball into the box within moments of kick-off here. “I only came across that in the 80s when we played Wimbledon,” he said.
Charlton’s equaliser came from a throw down their right as Lyndon Dykes combined with Charlie Kelman before finishing low into the far corner. Hodgson was straight in the fourth official’s ear, upset the throw had gone Charlton’s way.
That there was little to separate these two clubs at the break reveals the shift in their fortunes from 12 months ago. Nathan Jones’s Charlton needed the playoffs to leave League One behind while Bristol City were three games away from the Premier League. After playoff pain against Sheffield United, Gerhard Struber was chosen to lead another push at promotion.
City were around the playoff spots at the turn of the year but have been drifting since. Struber was sacked after a run of four defeats in five games left them closer to the drop zone than the top six.
An FA Cup exit to Port Vale did not dispel a feeling that City have become directionless in recent months. The new chief executive, Charlie Boss, who describes himself as “a low ego and high empathy transformative leader” on his LinkedIn profile, was appointed two days after their last win in February and is searching for a sporting director. The Lansdown family that owns the club is under increasing pressure.
The coaxing of Hodgson out of his retirement in Richmond – aided by a phone call from the former Premier League chief executive and now City director Richard Scudamore – was seen as a move to steady the ship and put solid foundations in place for next season. Keeping hold of Twine, at the heart of everything going forward at the Valley, must surely be a top priority.
It was Twine’s free-kick that produced City’s second. He went low under the wall and Will Mannion spilled at the feet of Noah Eile, who scrambled it over the line from a tight angle. The 23-year-old Swedish centre-back came through at Malmö, where Hodgson has a corner of the stadium named after him for his part in winning five league titles in the 1980s.
City could have had more. Riis Jakobsen tested Mannion from a tight angle and Twine was also denied by a smart save. Jones and Charlton will rue missed chances from the substitutes Matt Godden and Tyreece Campbell. Sinclair Armstrong spurned golden opportunities to seal it for City late on.
After managing just three wins in 20 games in caretaker charge of Bristol City in 1982, this one feels sweet. But Hodgson is not one to get carried away. “I would advise young coaches not to get too proud every time they win a game because they’re going to lose a lot,” he said. It is only six games until he “gets the slippers back on”.
