´Proud´ Hodgson eyes Euro glory

Roy Hodgson insists England are a realistic chance of winning Euro 2012 after being unveiled as new national manager.

The 64-year-old, who will leave his post at West Bromwich Albion after their final two Premier League games of the season, says he is proud after being named as Fabio Capello’s successor and hopes fans will support him in his new role.

“It’s a very proud day for me, I’m a very happy man to have been offered the chance to manage my country,” Hodgson told reporters at his official unveiling on Tuesday.

“I’m looking forward to the task ahead, everybody knows it’s not an easy one.

“But I’m also hoping that everybody – the fans, the supporters, everybody within the country – will get behind the team, because it’s the team that counts, it’s the team that will win us matches, and I’ll do my very best to make sure the team is as well prepared as possible for the task that lies ahead.

“I’m grateful for the chance to be the manager of England and I’m looking forward to the task ahead.

“I think we’ve always got to go to tournaments to win them because we’re a major football nation.

“It’s never going to be easy and it’s going to be a little more difficult on this occasion because the man who qualified the team has left the team and I’ve come in to take over at a very late stage.

“But I certainly think the players would be disappointed if we expected anything less of them than an attempt to win a tournament.”

Hodgson penned a four-year contract after landing the role ahead of Harry Redknapp.

And he has acknowledged he faces a tough task picking his Euro 2012 squad for next month’s tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

“It’s going to be difficult, but hopefully I’ve got time on my hands to think about it and to make decisions that are necessary,” Hodgson said.

“Obviously I’ve been working in the country now for the last five years so all of the players are pretty well known to me even though I haven’t worked with that many of them.

“It’s going to be important for me after this press conference to get straight down to the task, of making it certain that when the time comes to announce the squad … that I’ve done as much research as I can and spoken to as many players as I possibly can.”

Despite enduring a tough six-month spell in charge of Liverpool, Hodgson insists he is ready for any criticism, saying: “I’m prepared. I took it at Liverpool and I’ll take it here. As far as I’m concerned Liverpool’s a chapter in the past.

“I’m looking very much forward. It’s been a while now since I left the club, a lot has happened since that time and as far as I’m concerned there’s no point in thinking too much about the past. I’m very concentrated on the future.

“There are lots of other episodes in my past I could concentrate on if I wanted to which perhaps would put a bigger smile on my face.”