[ad_1]
Former Inter manager Roy Hodgson has had a decorated career, but the current Crystal Palace manager struggled to reach Milan to join the club in 1995 and feared for his life along the way.
Then, in charge of Switzerland, Hodgson received a call from south of the border inviting him to negotiate with the Nerazzurri and set out on a tortuous journey across the Alps to make his morning meeting in northern Italy.
“I had been playing golf in Neuchâtel, where I lived, I came home and there was a message on my answering machine,” Hodgson recalled in a conversation with The Italian Football Podcast. “It was a very short message, and he didn’t speak Italian at the time. But he knew enough to interpret the phone call. The message only said: ‘Sono Facchetti, chiama mi’ [meaning: ‘I am Facchetti, call me’].
“Then I knew he wanted me to call him, which I did. And then we had a little conversation, which was difficult although Giacinto spoke a little French and I spoke French. And I understood a bit of Italian mainly by watching Domenica Sportiva for a few years while living in Neuchâtel.
“So the conversation took place and the idea was for me to go to Milan, he would send me an address and I would find my way to the offices of Inter president Massimo Moratti in the center of Milan.
“I decided that I would travel the night before because it was an early meeting at 9 am and I was going to drive there. But my job took me to a match in Basel. Basel were playing Grasshoppers in a massive playoff game in front of 50,000 people.
“I was also invited to a fantastic restaurant in Basel called Stucki with a friend of mine.
“So when I set out to go to Milan it was already after 10 at night and then of course when I got to St. Gotthard it was already closed so I had to go over the top of the mountains.
“It started to rain and then snow, so it was an incredibly scary experience. I remember thinking of all the headlines that would come the next morning about my death on the mountain.
“I stopped at a motel in Bellinzona for a three or four hour sleep and, God knows how, then I found my way to the center of Milan and found my way to Massimo’s. And that was magical because I couldn’t describe the steps I took to get there. But I got there.
“Massimo invited me to dinner that night and offered me whatever salary he considered appropriate. I never had an agent with them, I have never dealt much with them. And I thanked him and told him I would come. “
Hodgson has not allowed Roberto Carlos’ recent criticism of him to go unchallenged, as the Englishman responded to the former left-back, with whom he worked during their time together at Inter.
The former Real Madrid star, while recently celebrating his 47th birthday, accused Hodgson of ruining his Serie A career.
Roberto Carlos claimed that Hodgson had played him out of position at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, which led to his departure to move to the Spanish capital.
“Well that’s nonsense,” Hodgson said. “Anyone who saw us play at the time, they didn’t play more to the left than me.
“All the games he played at Inter when I was there were left-back.
“What I remember, when I was at Inter, I think he scored four goals in the first six or seven free-kick matches. For the rest of the season, he threw about 28 free throws and never made one. So I don’t know if that was my fault too.
“But him playing out of position? Unless he wasn’t a left-back, but that’s where they told me he played and how he came to the club. He was a very offensive left-back, he was much better in attack than in defense ”.
Continuing the discussion, Hodgson praised Javier Zanetti, who came as part of another signing and became one of Inter’s best players.
“Well, he didn’t sign to be an all-time great,” Hodgson confessed. “He was signed because Inter wanted to sign a forward named Sebastian Rambert and Zanetti came as part of the deal.
“He had an incredible physical ability to run, to keep running, to never give up. The other great ability he had was his ability to get out of difficult situations.
“Javier’s great career started in those two seasons with me, but it got better as he got older. I can’t honestly say that I saw in him the player he became.
“He became the player he became because he was a very dedicated footballer and he was very wise knowing what he could and couldn’t do and making the best of it.
“It would draw a direct parallel between Zanetti and James Milner, who is now at Liverpool.”
The post Hodgson: I remember imagining headlines about my death on the mountain while driving overnight in the snow to join Inter, they first appeared on Forza Italian Football.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com
[ad_2]
