Hodgson appointed England boss (From Daily Echo)

Roy Hodgson appointed England boss

3:00pm Tuesday 1st May 2012 in Sport

Roy Hodgson has been appointed as the new England manager on a four-year deal, the Football Association have confirmed.

The former West Brom, Liverpool, Fulham and Inter Milan boss has signed a four-year-deal, which would see him take charge of the team for major tournaments in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

The Football Association have called a press conference for 4pm today at Wembley when they will officially unveil Hodgson as the new England manager.

Hodgson attended a four-hour meeting yesterday when he met all four members of the Club England board responsible for appointing Fabio Capello's successor.

Although the meeting broke up just after 7pm without any official statement, discussions were described as positive and Hodgson was pictured leaving Wembley with an itinerary for Euro 2012.

Although the FA have not yet stated that Hodgson has accepted the job, it is impossible to imagine the West Brom manager has turned it down.

He has previously spoken of how much of an honour it would be and why it should be regarded as the pinnacle of any manager's career.

It is expected Hodgson will be handed a four-year contract but is likely to remain in charge for West Brom's final two Premier League games - against Bolton and Arsenal - after which his deal with the Midlands outfit is due to expire anyway.

Plans for Euro 2012, which include a base in Krakow, a short training stint in Spain and friendlies against Norway on May 26 and Belgium at Wembley seven days later, have already been put in place by predecessor Fabio Capello and interim boss Stuart Pearce.

It is widely assumed Pearce will remain on the senior coaching staff, in addition to his roles as Under-21 and British Olympic team boss.

However, Pearce will not now select England's Euro 2012 squad, which he confirmed last week had been pencilled in for unveiling on May 10.

It completes a whirlwind 48 hours for Hodgson and the FA.

Until the announcement on Sunday evening that they had been given permission to talk to Hodgson by West Brom, it was widely assumed ex-Saints boss Harry Redknapp would get the job.

More details might be revealed later about the reasons why Redknapp was overlooked.

However, the FA have made it clear Hodgson was the only candidate they have approached about the vacancy created by Capello's shock resignation in February.

One of Hodgson's first tasks will be to sort out the fall-out from that mess.

The FA have already confirmed they will not go back on their stance that John Terry will not be allowed to captain the team.

Scott Parker was handed the armband by Pearce for the friendly defeat to Holland but Hodgson now needs to make an appointment for the European Championships with Liverpool's Steven Gerrard also in the frame.

Terry's presence in the squad cannot be taken for granted either, given the obvious potential for discord with long-time central defensive partner Rio Ferdinand, who has not played for England all season but has been a regular for Manchester United over the second half of the season.

Hodgson will also need to decide whether to continue persuing Capello's policy of selecting younger players or offer another chance to strikers such as Jermain Defoe and ex-Saints striker Peter Crouch, who seemed to have been discarded by the Italian.