Roy Hodgson was appointed England manager on a four-year contract, the Football Association announced Tuesday. The West Bromwich Albion boss emerged as the surprise front-runner for the England job Sunday as the FA confirmed it had ignored the popular clamor for Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp to be appointed. Hodgson held around four hours of discussions with senior FA officials at Wembley Monday, paving the way for the 64-year-old's appointment to the most demanding role in English football. Since Italian coach Fabio Capello resigned as England manager in February, in protest at the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy, Stuart Pearce has been in caretaker charge of the national side. That is despite the former England defender also being the manager of England's Under-21s and the British Olympic team. Concerns have been raised about the FA's ‘delay' in getting a permanent manager on board so close to the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, where England begin the tournament against France in Donetsk on June 11. Hodgson, whose mid-table West Brom side has two matches left in the league season, would take charge of England for the first time in a friendly against Norway in Oslo on May 26 if he signs up for the job. His first home match would be against Belgium a week later before taking a 23-man squad to the Euro 2012 base in Krakow, Poland. England's group stage opener is against France on June 11 in Donetsk, Ukraine, followed by matches against Sweden and co-host Ukraine. “Roy has not been involved in the preparations to date and that's not ideal,” said Geoff Hurst, who won the World Cup with England in 1966. “When you have a manager in place quite a while before, the preparation is going to be very natural, as it was with us in 1966. “But, in some respects ... It might take the pressure off, certainly from the media and the fans, to be successful this year. That could be a good thing because expectation is huge on the manager and the players.”
