The Anonymous Widower

Beware The Croydon Man

With all the fuss about Roy Hodgson becoming the new England manager, I thought I’d look up who else was born in Croydon, that much maligned suburb of South London.

The most interesting is that polymath and outstanding sportsman; Charles Burgess Fry, better known by his initials of C. B. This paragraph from Wikipaedia sums him up.

Fry’s achievements on the sporting field included representing England at both cricket and football, an FA Cup Final appearance for Southampton F.C. and equalling the then world record for long jump. He also reputedly turned down the throne of Albania. In later life, he suffered mental health problems, but in his 70s was still able to perform his party piece: jumping backwards onto a mantel from a standing position.

I think that if you look at Hodgson’s career, he hasn’t shirked any challenge and perhaps he just is the man to lead England in Euro-2012 and beyond. He’s not a polymath like Fry, but he’s a real polyglot, speaking ten languages with varying degrees of fluency.

Hodgson’s problem will be the press.  Last night, the Manchester-centric Radio 5 Live commentators were saying it was a bad decision.

I disagree, especially he appoints Stuart Pearce to his team.

May 1, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | BBC, Euro-2012, Football, Radio