Hodgson Warns Against Misconduct Ahead EURO 2012

May 20, 2012 7:43 pm

Roy Hodgson has warned his England squad that poor behaviour and misconduct will not be tolerated at Euro 2012.

The England manager is demanding professionalism from his players and has made his expectations clear.

“My message will be very simple: ‘Not only do I expect you to behave yourself, I’m going to demand that you behave yourself’,” Hodgson told the Daily Mail.

“And I’m going to demand also that any time they’re in a public place, they are aware of the fact that if they do anything they shouldn’t, they will not only be letting themselves down, they’ll be letting us all down, because unfortunately the criticism will pile upon us all.

“So it’s a big responsibility. If there’s anybody here who can’t take that responsibility, he’s not going to play a big part in my thinking in the future.

“I think they’re fully aware of their responsibilities. I won’t be hesitant in pointing them out and Adrian (Bevington, Club England managing director) has put together a document that we’ll take up with them, especially in light of the England rugby team (when they were competing in the Rugby Union World Cup in New Zealand and were plagued by off-the-field controversies and scandal).

“We don’t want any repeats of those types of things.

“It’s something we’re going be talking about all the time, I guess, but I don’t want to be teaching my grandmother how to suck eggs either. These are experienced players who have an incredible public profile.

“They know that every time they step out of the front door the eyes of the world are upon them. There are cameras everywhere nowadays. With the mobile phones, you can’t escape it.”

Hodgson is also explained delighted with England’s base in Krakow.

“It wasn’t my decision to go to Krakow but if I was asked how would I like my camp, either to be isolated or the other type where there is contact with other people, the players can go out and maybe have a cup of coffee and where they will see something else other than their room-mates, myself, and the coaching staff, then I would say give me that any day.

“The Swedes have been very good at that for years. Their mantra has been: ‘We’re dealing with people who have the same goals as us, they want to do well. We’ll make life as comfortable for them as we can and we trust them to behave like proper people when other people are around’.

“I hope it will go well and if it doesn’t then we will have learned another lesson.

“Imprisoning people isn’t the best way of getting the best out of them. Treating people like adults when they are adults is the best way of getting a working relationship with them.

“We’re not at school. We’re footballers. We’ve got the same goal, I hope, to play well and to achieve results for our team.”