Liverpool legend claims Roy Hodgson tried to get him back at Anfield as a player-coach in 2010

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Roy Hodgson will likely forever go down as the worst manager in Liverpool’s long and distinguished history.

Arriving from Fulham in 2010, the Englishman would likely argue that he took over the Reds at one of the lowest points of their existence.

With Liverpool almost heading into administration at one point amid extreme uncertainty over the ownership situation, there are mitigating factors.

Nevertheless, Hodgson scored own goal after own goal when communicating with Liverpool supporters and made some utterly baffling decisions in the transfer market, too.

Having said that, not all of the future England manager’s decisions were terrible. Not everything was as doom and gloom as is often portrayed.

One of his better calls would have been to bring back former captain Sami Hyypia in a player-coach role. But, as Hyypia has now revealed, Hodgson’s plan was thwarted by Bayer Leverkusen.

Roy Hodgson asked Sami Hyypia to come back

Hyypia is remembered as one of Liverpool’s best ever centre-backs. A legend of the Champions League win in 2005, the Finn is also a former captain at Anfield.

Having been phased out of the team under Rafa Benitez, Hyypia ended his 10-year spell with the Reds in 2009, moving on to Bayer Leverkusen.

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Unbeknownst to many at the time, though, the blond-haired defender could seemingly have returned under Hodgson one year later. Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, Hyypia says the manager offered him a ‘duel role’ to come back.

“Roy said he would like to get me back, it was like a double role, because we had worked together with the Finnish national team,” he says. “We knew each other from that and I had a good relationship with him. I said to Roy that I was at Bayer Leverkusen now and I needed to speak to them about it.”

“I spoke with the directors of Leverkusen, told them Roy called me and asked if I would go back to Liverpool, and what was their view about that? I knew that they respected me as a person and I knew that they would be totally honest with their answer. Somehow I thought that they would think about me as well a little bit in this situation.

“But they said, ‘Look, we are very happy that you are here and we are not willing to let you go.’ So, that was it for me. I’m not a person who starts a fight, I accept my fate or accept decisions made about me. I respected their opinion.

“I told Roy and explained that Leverkusen wanted me to stay, and that was it, that was the end of the discussion. He respected my opinion and my decision.”

Hyypia could have ended up as Liverpool manager

Although Hyypia is a genuine Liverpool legend, there is no guarantee that his return would have turned the tide for Hodgson in terms of fan opinion.

The Finnish icon was 37 at the time, and had already lost his place in the starting XI some years before. It may have been simply seen as another poor transfer decision from Hodgson.

Nevertheless, the way things went for Hodgson at Anfield, had this have happened, there is a possibility that Hyypia could have ended up succeeding him as manager.

Instead, the defender went on to play another season with Leverkusen, retiring in 2011 before being named as permanent manager in 2012. Although Hyypia enjoyed some success with his former club, his management career never recovered from a poor spell at Brighton in 2014.

Had Hodgson been successful in this approach, he could have brought Hyypia back home, where opportunities to manage Liverpool may have presented themselves. They certainly will not now.