Roy Hodgson has made a sensational return to management at the age of 78 with Bristol City after Gerhard Struber was sacked by the Championship club.
Hodgson, who has been out of work since leaving Crystal Palace in February 2024, will take charge of City for the remaining seven games of the season. They are currently 16th in the Championship.
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Hodgson’s storied managerial career in England began at Ashton Gate in 1982, after a period at Swedish club Halmstad. In total he has managed 17 different clubs and four different international sides, including England, from 2012-16. “I have had great conversations with the board and I am really excited by the opportunity to help until the end of the season,” he said. “We will get straight to work and look for a positive performance [against Charlton] on Good Friday.”
Struber, who succeeded Liam Manning last summer, had grown frustrated at the club and voiced his disappointment at the January window, when City sold key players Anis Mehmeti and Zak Vyner to division rivals Ipswich and Wrexham respectively. Struber’s assistant Bernd Eibler has also departed.
Results under the Austrian tailed off, with Struber winning only one of his final nine matches in all competitions. During that run, City were also dumped out of the FA Cup by League One’s bottom club, Port Vale. His last match was a home defeat by West Bromwich Albion, a side fighting relegation to the third tier.
“Roy’s appointment is about more than the results of the next seven games,” said the Bristol City chief executive Charlie Boss. “Over the remainder of the season, he will help us set the standards and values at the club that we will need to be successful going forwards. Roy is a vastly experienced coach who has achieved and won at the highest level. He will support me, our players and our football staff as we build towards achieving our potential.”
City also announced that longstanding technical director Brian Tinnion has been relieved of his first-team duties and his new role will focus on the academy pathway. City are in the process of recruiting an incoming sporting director who will help appoint a permanent head coach expected to replace Hodgson at the end of the season.
