FA right to back Roy Hodgson, says former assistant Derek Fazackerley

Roy Hodgson is the right man to take England forward to the European Championship in 2016, according to his former assistant Derek Fazackerley.

Fazackerley was Hodgson’s No 2 when he was Blackburn manager and has worked with previous England managers Kevin Keegan and Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The 62-year-old says Hodgson was the right choice for the Football Association when he replaced Fabio Capello and that it would be “silly” to replace him now.

“When they appointed Roy two years ago he certainly ticked all the boxes, he had international experience, European experience at club level and he’s obviously taken international teams to tournaments before,” Fazackerley told Sky Sports News.

I don’t think there were too many people in the country that ticked the same boxes that Roy did and I think it would be silly now to change things around again.

“So in that respect, I don’t think there were too many people in the country that ticked the same boxes that Roy did and I think it would be silly now to change things around again.

“I think Roy will have learned an awful lot from this tournament and I’m sure it will be something that will help him going forward.

“Of course it’s a lot more difficult with England because everybody’s expectations are so great. You take Switzerland to the World Cup and of course you’ve over-achieved.

“If you don’t manage to succeed with England and get knocked out early like they have then that’s an underachievement and of course that’s very, very difficult to handle.”