They say you should never go back. Only in veteran football manager Roy Hodgson’s case, you do … just not for nearly half a century, as news broke Friday that he was returning to manage a team, Bristol City, after a 44-year gap since his last spell with them.
Hodgson has had plenty of coaching stops in his managerial career — in fact, he’s had 21 different head coach roles over a 50-year career, including spells at Inter Milan, Liverpool and the England national team. His last stop, at Premier League side Crystal Palace, ended in February 2024. It looked like that was that. Last year in an interview with Sky Sports, he said: “I don’t want to be Frank Sinatra and keep retiring.”
Then came Friday’s announcement: Hodgson, aged 78, will return to the touchline to take charge of Bristol City’s final seven games of the 2025-26 English Football Championship season. If the place looks a little familiar to him, that’s because it is: Bristol City were Hodgson’s second club of his career.
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It didn’t go so well the first time round. After a four-year stint at Swedish side Halmstad in which he won two surprise league titles, Hodgson joined Bristol City in 1980 as assistant manager to Bob Houghton before taking the caretaker manager job in January 1982. It only lasted 21 games. Bristol City were cash-strapped at the time, with Hodgson just helping the club to see out the season.
“Bristol City was nothing short of a disaster, he told the BBC in 2012. “We had only been there for a matter of weeks before the banks started to pull the rug from underneath the club.
“My job when I eventually took over, as caretaker manager, was quite simply to carry on in the aftermath of all the players leaving the club and just fulfilling the fixtures.”
By the numbers, Hodgson’s return in 2026 is staggering. Bristol City have made 24 manager changes since he departed in April 1982. The wildest figure is the gap between tenures: At 44 years between coaching spells, Hodgson is in a league of his own. No matter the sport, there simply is no equivalent.
Other big gaps in soccer
Vanderlei Luxemburgo (Vasco de Gama), 37 years: The closest that anyone comes to Hodgson’s new record is Brazilian journeyman Vanderlei Luxemburgo. He managed over 30 teams in his 40-year managerial career, including Real Madrid (2004-05) and the Brazil national team (1998-00). His 2019 arrival at Brazilian side Vasco de Gama was something of a long-fated return after he coached there 37 years prior in 1982. It doesn’t quite count, though, given he was an assistant manager in his first spell.
As if one return wasn’t enough, he went back again as manager in 2020.
Ronnie McFall (Glentoran), 34 years: The real closest that football can do is the story of Ronnie McFall. Glentoran have won 23 Northern Irish league titles in their history. One of them, in 1981, came under McFall. He enjoyed a five-year stint at the Belfast-based club between 1979 and 1984, only to return in 2018.
Hodgson will be hoping it is not an omen. McFall resigned just shy of 12 months later with the club suffering their worst run of form in its over 100-year history.
Does anyone in a major U.S. men’s sport come close?
MLB: Tony La Russa (Chicago White Sox), 35 years — Tony LaRussa’s first manager job in Major League Baseball came at the Chicago White Sox between 1979 and 1986. Aged 34, he was the youngest big league manager, although it didn’t stop him winning Manager of the Year in 1983 after the White Sox won the American League West. He returned 35 years and three World Series rings later to manage the team between 2021 and 2022, then the oldest manager in the league.
NBA: Rick Carlisle (Indiana Pacers), 14 years — Rick Carlisle’s two stints as Indiana Pacers head coach is the NBA’s biggest gap, although it isn’t all that remarkable. He had previously served as an assistant coach in Indiana before his first head coaching job there, between 2003 and 2007 before he returned in 2021. He is yet to lead the Pacers to the NBA Finals, but he will have some time to achieve it after signing a multi-year extension next season.
NFL: Jon Gruden (Oakland Raiders), 17 years — Jon Gruden led the Raiders to back-to-back playoff appearances in his first stint between 1998 and 2001 before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for multiple first-round draft picks, resulting in Tampa winning the Super Bowl the following year against his old team. He returned in 2018 for another four years at the Raiders, during which time they moved from Oakland to Las Vegas, but did not make the playoffs.
