“Everyone knows Wayne is not the sort of person, with his Liverpool accent, who is going to be able to stand up in front of a lecture room of people.”
Ouch.
Man the barricades.
As if Roy wasn’t unpopular enough with the people of Merseyside, following his, ahem, less than successful stint in charge of Liverpool, he then goes and slags off the accent.
Speaking about Wayne Rooney’s ability to motivate the players around him, Hodgson says the England captain can make himself understood despite the fact that he speaks with a Scouse accent.
“People suggested there was a lack of discipline and so on but, in my dealings with him, nothing could be further from the truth,” Hodgson said.
“If someone wants to write that Rooney hasn’t got the temperament I can’t stop them doing it but they are wrong.
“Everyone knows Wayne is not the sort of person, with his Liverpool accent, who is going to be able to stand up in front of a lecture room of people.
“But he doesn’t need to. All he has to do is make certain the players he is talking to understand where he is coming from.
“The great thing with Wayne, as it was with Steven, is the passion that they have for football, for their country and for their clubs.
“They can transmit that passion to a lot of those younger players. They can get their points across. They won’t do it maybe quite as eloquently as someone like myself could, but that doesn’t matter.”
How long before the whole, “but some of my best friends are Scousers!” defence?
Tick tock, Roy.
