England might have won 10 games out of 10 in qualifying for Euro 2016, but manager Roy Hodgson still doesn’t have everyone’s full support.
Pundit Mark Lawrenson has described Hodgson as the “luckiest man alive” even if he is backing England to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament, saying the group stage exit at the last World Cup should have spelled the end for the former Liverpool boss.
“Fifty per cent of the managers who managed in the World Cup finals all went … I don’t want to see anyone get sacked but it should be, as an international manager a two-year cycle,” he told You-Are-The-Ref.com.
“Contracts should only ever be two years and if you do well you get another two.”
Eight other managers at Euro 2016 are longer-serving than Hodgson, with three others (Erik Hamrén of Sweden, Germany’s Jogi Löw and Spain coach Vicente del Bosque) having managed their current countries at Euro 2012.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos was also involved in the last European Championships, though he was in charge of the Greek national team for that tournament.
Of the 17 managers at the last World Cup to leave their posts in 2014, six were in charge of European national teams.
Since that first-round exit, England have won 17 of their 21 international matches, drawing twice and losing in friendlies against Spain and The Netherlands.
The previous 21 games had brought eight wins, eight draws and five defeats.
