There are some football traditions that are as old as time.
Liverpool and Manchester United fans hating each other, for example, or no one ever being quite sure why it is that Crystal Palace and Brighton supporters have a rivalry.
When it comes to the international side of the game, there is no doubt that the enmity felt between the English and the French dates back far longer than the sport itself, with people on both sides of the English Channel looking to get one over on the other.
That might well be why Paddy Power erected a giant Roy Hodgson statue back in 2012.
Euro 2012
As 2012 approached, the world knew that the best footballers across the continent of Europe were going to be heading to Poland and Ukraine in order to take part in that summer’s European Championship. It was to be the 14th time that the competition had taken place, with Poland and Ukraine chosen as the two host nations five years earlier.
Four venues in each country would host matches and England were in a group with one of them, Ukraine, alongside Sweden and France. Not quite the group of death, but not far off.
@donetsk_reality Донецк Euro2012#донецк#украина #донбасс #футбол #донбассарена #донбасспомнит #донецкдвижтикток #мир ♬ Endless Summer – Jamila
The Three Lions had failed to qualify for the previous Euros four years earlier, resulting in the sacking of Steve McClaren and the appointment of Fabio Capello in his place. The Italian took the country to the World Cup in 2010 but lost to Germany in the Round of 16.
When the FA took the captaincy away from John Terry in the February of 2012, the Italian manager resigned his position in spite of the fact that he had got the Three Lions into that summer’s Euros. The calls were there for an English manager to be given the role instead.
Roy Hodgson
Born in Croydon in 1947, Roy Hodgson had been a mediocre manager throughout his career. Although he’d managed the likes of Inter Milan and the United Arab Emirates national teams, most of his success came at clubs like Halmstad, Malmö and Copenhagen.
Having done relatively well at Fulham, taking the club to the UEFA Cup final, the friendly English press gathered behind him to win him the Liverpool manager’s job in the wake of the club’s decision to sack Rafael Benítez in the summer of 2010.
Gut feel: Starmer as PM will be like Roy Hodgson as Liverpool manager. Dampening down expectations, shoring things up, nothing very exciting and Paul Konchesky in defence.
— Shamp (@megabrow12.bsky.social) 5 July 2024 at 10:58
He did not do well at Anfield, rubbing the supporters up the wrong way from the outset and saying the wrong thing at almost every turn. He was widely considered to be a failure in the role, leaving by ‘mutual consent’ on the eighth of January 2011 and was replaced by club legend Sir Kenny Dalglish.
He managed to rehabilitate his image as the West Bromwich Albion manager, leaving at the end of the 2011-2012 Premier League season in order to become England manager in a decision that was once again driven by the press.
The Paddy Power Statue
Having installed Roy Hodgson as England head coach just weeks before the European Championships were due to get underway, there was a bizarre sense of optimism in some quarters that the former Oddevold, Neuchâtel Xamax and Viking manager would be able to do something that no manager since Alf Ramsey had done and win an international competition with the Three Lions.
A 1-0 win over Norway in a friendly at the end of May furthered that sense of belief, which led to Paddy Power’s now infamous stunt.
The bookmaker, known for ridiculous pranks and japes in order to gain some attention, decided to turn Roy Hodgson’s image into that of the Christ the Redeemer statue that towers over Rio de Janeiro. An eight-ton sculpture that stood 100 feet tall was put in place on the White Cliffs of Dover, facing France.
It was reportedly visible from the coastline 16 miles away, bearing the words ‘Roy the Redeemer’ underneath it and with a green and white ball emblazoned with the letters ‘PP’ at his feet. England drew 1-1 with France in the group stage before being knocked out by Italy in the quarter-finals.