Hodgson happy with summer's work
by Tom Kell, 05 September 2008
After a frenzied summer of comings and goings at Craven Cottage, Roy Hodgson admits he is delighted at the look of his new streamlined Fulham squad.
Hodgson has seen off a grand total of 27 players since taking over last season, but added 14 new faces during the close-season.
Having steered The Cottagers to a late, great escape last year, he now feels well placed to launch an assault higher up the league.
“I think what I’m most happy about is that we’ve changed the squad around and we’ve got a small squad now, a squad that we really believe in and is well-balanced,” he told the club’s official website.
“When I came in January we really had far too many players and lots of them just trebling or quadrupling up for positions, never getting a game and obviously costing the club a lot of money, but not playing any football.
“Whereas now, with a squad of only 23 players, of which three are goalkeepers, it will give the younger players a chance to push forward and show what they can do in the first-team squad.
“It will give the players on the fringes a greater chance of playing, and although the squad is at the limit in terms of size, at least it’s full of the right type of players that we want to be at the club and not just players that one has inherited and that are here really by default rather than anything else. “