Osaze — I Regret Insulting Keshi But He Wasn't Fair To Me

Estranged Super Eagles attacker Osaze Odemwingie has said he regrets his abusive Twitter comments. He claimed they were made because coach Stephen Keshi was not fair to him. He even described Chris Green, whom he had also abused, as a good man:

“I remember it was Green who settled my case with Siasia then, but I was too angry when he called me over this matter, and was impatient to listen to him.”  

“My comment was not directed at him personally, but to those who made the decision, but I think I overreacted then.”

On his face-off with Keshi, Osaze said:

“I called the coach two or three times within that period, maybe two or three days before the list was made public and told him of my commitment to be part of the Nations Cup, and have told my (club) coach I will be going to the Nations Cup.

“I told the coach I was ready to report to camp by January 3, even before other professionals start reporting to camp, if I were in his programme for the Nations Cup, and even told him to feel free to drop me, if I were not in his programme.

“I felt betrayed after that seeming heart-to-heart discussions with the coach few days to the release of the team list and he could not hint me I was not in his plan for the Nations Cup.

“I am human and open to errors by the way I may have taken the issue, and regret the whole controversy, and want to put all this behind me now and focus on my club career, while wishing the team the best of luck as a Nigerian.”

Recall that the West Bromwich striker had in the wake of the release of the Nigeria provisional team list for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations taken to his Twitter account and made disparaging comments against Keshi, the team captain and some Nigeria Football Federation officials. 

Past coaches, including Samson Siasia and Lars Lagerback, were not spared and continued days later with direct hits at ex-Nigeria international Victor Ikpeba.

However, Osaze said his mistakes were made in a fit of anger.

Talking Horses

They race on Wednesday on the all-weather at Lingfield, above, where Yarroom is the best bet in the opening race. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

11.45am Dettori gets six month ban for positive drugs test

Tony Paley: Frankie Dettori has been suspended from riding for six months after being found guilty of taking a prohibited substance, his legal representative Christopher Stewart-Moore said on Wednesday morning.

The three-times British champion jockey, 41, tested positive for what is believed to be cocaine following a routine examination at Longchamp on September 16. Dettori's suspension runs from November 20 to May 19 and is likely to be reciprocated by racing jurisdictions worldwide, including by the British Horseracing Authority.

He will be back in time to ride in the Epsom Derby. You can read more details throughout the day in our story here.

9.30am Catterick gets go-ahead but more weather worries for racing

Tony Paley: Wednesday's meeting at Catterick goes ahead following an early-morning course inspection. With temperatures having only dipped to minus 1C, allied to a dry night, the jumps fixture was promptly given the go-ahead at 7.30am.

Catterick clerk of the course Fiona Needham said: "It's very good news. We had no snow and overnight temperatures got down to minus 1C, which wasn't a problem." The going is soft, good to soft in places.

Meanwhile, Thursday's meetings at Wincanton and Leicester must pass 8am precautionary inspections on raceday morning. Although the Somerset circuit is raceable, course officials are taking no chances. Overnight temperatures are set to drop to minus 2C, but the inspection has been called in case the frost is sharper than has been forecast.

Wincanton Clerk of the course Barry Johnson said: "I'm very confident we'll be fine - we'll be OK with minus 2C - but some forecasts are predicting minus 4C. There's no frost in the ground now, but the ground is quite wet. It's very much a precautionary inspection."

Frost is the main issue at Leicester, with temperatures set to drop to as low as minus 5C. A maximum daytime temperature of 2C on Thursday has also been forecast.

Clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said on Wednesday morning: "There's no frost whatsoever this morning - we are perfectly raceable - but there is quite a severe frost forecast tonight. If we think we have a chance at 8am, we'll probably call another inspection later in the morning and then, possibly, look again. We've got to be patient."

Wednesday's best bets, by Tony Paley

It was snowing, OK it was sleeting, this morning in north London, but with the weather forecast suggesting freezing temperatures overnight, more flurries of snow and heavy rain on the way by the end of the week it's probably best to grab that all-weather form book and take a peek at life on the sand.

Lingfield is a good place to start as the course is starting an extended run of eight days racing caused by the temporary closure of Wolverhampton and flooding at Southwell which is likely to set to keep that track out of action until the new year.

The first race there on Wednesday features the best bet of the day in the shape of Yarroom (12.00) from Roger Varian's yard. The Cape Cross colt impressed when getting off the mark at Wolverhampton last time, easing clear to win by seven lengths and it will be disappointing if he can't follow up off top weight on his handicap debut.

Hometown Glory (1.30), who should be suited by stepping up in trip to a mile for trainer Brian Meehan, is another to consider on the Polytrack card. He has a good record on the surface and everything looks in place for him to give a good account on Wednesday afternoon.

Catterick getting the go-ahead on Wednesday is a bonus as Rear Admiral (12.20) looks well worth a very close look in the opener at the Yorkshire track. He has been in excellent form in the point-to-point field since his last run over hurdles with four easy wins from five starts. The selection hails from the shrewd Mick Easterby camp and they could well have a very well handicapped runner on their hands.

Tipping competition, day two

Perhaps the Anglo French race at Folkestone wasn't the friendliest race we could have chosen yesterday. In any event, no one had the winner, Fitandproperjob (9-1). Yossarian24 had the other two, Rouge Et Blanc (100-30) and Angel Cake (6-1), giving him the early lead.

This week's prize is a copy of the Racing Post's annual, now in its second year and a really good-quality offering that any fan of the sport will enjoy, with masses of lovely pics and contributions from Tony McCoy, Richard Hughes and Willie Mullins. If you don't win, you can buy a copy here.

To kick things off, we'd like your tips, please, for these races: 2.40 Hereford, 2.50 Catterick, 5.50 Kempton.

You'll see that we have a new presentation format for comments in the sports section of the website, below. Apparently, a bug means that you can't display more than 50 comments on the same page, but they're working to fix this so that you will, once again, be able to display all comments at once.

As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today but you will start on -3.

In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.

For terms and conditions click here.

IKHANA: WHY WE FAILED IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Former chief coach of Super Falcons, Kadiri Ikhana has shed light on why the senior women’s national team he led to the African Women’s Championship in Equatorial Guinea failed to retain the trophy and the reason why he resigned his appointment. He told RICHARD JIDEAKA that the host country's antics and absence of two key players frustrated his team from doing well…

How did you feel leading the Super Falcons to relinquish the AWC title without a fight in Equatorial Guinea?

Well, I felt very sad and disappointed that we failed to retain the cup as we planned to do from the beginning. A lot of factors actually affected the team from performing at its optimal best. To show how devastated I felt after we lost in the semi-final to South Africa, I took a decision to resign and which I did as soon as we returned to Nigeria.

Coach, were you forced to resign or you did that out of your own volition considering the fact that your contract said you should at least reach the semi- final of the championship?

But you know me very well that nobody can force me out. I resigned because I failed to meet the target I set for myself. My target was to win the trophy but having surprisingly lost in the semi-final, I just knew it was all over for me.

You mentioned that so many factors were responsible for the Super Falcons’ poor outing in anAfrican championships; can you divulge some of these factors?
 
Yes, one of them was that 10 days to our departure on a training tour of Ghana, the NFF technical department with the directive from the technical committee chairman released two of my key attackers to a foreign club without my consent. I protested this action which I regarded as a deliberate attempt to frustrate and weaken the team. I expressed my bitterness when I went to defend the list before the technical committee members but I was assured that the club would release the players for the competition which they never did. The players in question- Desire Oparanozie and Francisca Ordega, are by all standard players who could have turned things around for the team. When it became obvious that I would not have them for the championship, I had to quickly draft in some new players as replacements.

Another factor was the late arrival of foreign-based players to join the team. Five of the foreign-based players invited for the AWC were only able to join us three days to our departure to Ghana and the sixth player, Perpetua Nkwocha, joined us on the day of our departure to Ghana. This short period did not allow us to evaluate their fitness level; psychological and mental preparedness but having registered them based on their pedigree, we had to make do with them.

Could there be any other factor that led to your dismal outing at the AWC?


Of course, the major factor why we lost was the antics of the host and organizers. It was as if they had mapped out strategies to frustrate us and this began as soon as we landed at the Malabo airport on Thursday October 25. They made things difficult for us and easy for other teams. They succeeded because at the end, our players lost concentration and became frustrated. Some of them even fell sick and could not play some games. They made us stay for about five hours at the airport before we could board our flights to and from Malabo and Bata. They provided inadequate rooms for the team and some of us had to stay in different hotels. Can you imagine that for us to eat we had to move from one hotel to another three times in a day and none of these took nothing less than an hour. We were made to shuttle between Bata and Malabo. We traveled more than all other teams during the championship.

Back to your preparation for the championship, would you say it was adequate and that the NFF played their role very well?

To be fair to the federation, they gave us the best of preparation any team can ask of. The team lost because we fell to the antics of the hosts and despite all the efforts made by Dr. Sanusi Mohammed and others to lift the girls’ spirit, nothing came out of it.

What is the way forward for Nigerian women’s football?

The NFF should settle the feud in the women’s league and ensure that the league becomes competitive and attractive. Again, they should use the age grade teams for developmental competitions and not the ‘you must qualify’ idea that is ruining the progress of the senior team. I mean players must not be allowed to play any age grade competition twice and any player in the senior team must not be allowed to return to the junior team no matter how young she may be. I think, we still have what it takes to rule Africa again if the whole of next year is used to build a new team since there would be no competition next year. I also think that the so- called foreign based players should be made to join camp at least two weeks before any major competition or we forget about them. From my observation, it seems that they either do not play football regularly over there or that the standard of the league they play is too low.

Would you give female football another try if given the opportunity?

In my resignation letter, I thanked the NFF president for the opportunity given me to serve the country and I hope to serve again if they find me suitable for any job. So, I would be ready to coach the girls again because I was able to instill discipline in the team and I know I can do better than I did last time.
 

AGBIM: VENEZUELA WIN WILL BOOST OUR AFCON PREPARATION

Super Eagles reserve goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim has told IZUCHUKWU OKOSI that last Thursday’s international friendly game in USA was the beginning of good preparation ahead of the 2013 AFCON in South Africa

How would you describe the Super Eagles’ performance in the friendly match against Venezuela in Miami, USA last week?

It was not an easy game despite the result. The Venezuelan side has some experienced and gifted players so it was not easy at all to beat them. We also have very good players who are motivated to do well and fight for their places in the Nations Cup squad.

You did not play any part in the game in Miami, were you disappointed?

Well, I would have loved to play a part in that game because it was a friendly affair, but I have to respect the decision of the coach to leave me out. Being in the team was a privilege in the first place but I know that my time to play consistently in the national team will come.

There are plans by the Nigeria Football Federation to arrange more friendly games this time with African teams before the Nations Cup. How are the players looking forward to playing those games?

The friendly game against African sides will be fine because of the Africa Nations Cup coming up in less than two months in South Africa. The countries that have been mooted as our likely opponents are very strong sides and I believe that we will give a good account of ourselves in those games as usual.

The Nigeria Premier League season has not kicked- off yet, don’t you think it will affect the match fitness and invariably the chances of the home-based players to make the Nations Cup squad?

It is a worrisome development but the coaches know the abilities of the players in the Nigeria Premier League- especially those who have been part of the national team set-up. Hopefully, when the camping for the Nations Cup opens on December 17, everything will be sorted out before the end of the exercise.

The whole team celebrated the win over Venezuela in Miami after the game. What was the mood amongst the players and coaches like?

The win was a morale booster and it also means that the team is improving and can get better when the Nations Cup comes around.

How did Stephen Keshi motivate the team before the game?

He told us to prove that we merit a place in his team for the Nations Cup. He was happy that the likes of Shola Ameobi and Bright Dike opted to represent Nigeria. From all he has been saying to the players, he has confidence in our abilities. He respects our feelings and always inspire his players which is very important in the game of football.

The team will camp in Faro, Portugal ahead of the Nations Cup. Do you think weather factors will hinder your preparations for the Nations Cup?

The camping in Europe will not affect us rather it will help us, the home-based players especially. It will be winter in South Africa in January and playing Venezuela was like playing away from home.

The likes of Shola Ameobi and Bright Dike made their Super Eagles debuts against Venezuela. What impact would you say they made in the team?

Both players were excited to play for Nigeria and it showed in their performances. Dike plays in the MLS but despite that, you could see that he was happy to play for Nigeria. Ameobi is an experienced player and his qualities are needed in the team. If you have such players in your team, you know that you have a genuine chance to do well against your opponents. He was a source of inspiration to other players.

Sammy, Shola’s brother has decided to wait for a chance to play for England in future; do you think he should emulate his brother and play for Nigeria?

It would be nice to have both of them play for Nigeria because they are both gifted players.

Sammy was invited to the Flying Eagles camp in the past even though he eventually did not play for the team.
Well, it’s his decision to make. Let’s see if he would have a change of mind.

With the determination of other African Nations to win the Nations Cup, do you think the Eagles are ready for the threat of other teams?

The spirit amongst the players is very high and we want to win the Nations Cup. We will be ready for the challenges ahead surely.

You moved to Rangers FC of Enugu. How would you describe the new atmosphere?

Rangers are the pride of the eastern people, and I was warmly received when I got to the club. I could see that it was a team where you can develop as a player. It’s a friendly place to work and hopefully, I will do well with them.

Are you setting any personal target for the year 2013?

Of course, I do, every player does. I want to win the league with my new club, Rangers. It’s
been long since they won a title in the domestic scene and I want to be part of the team that will break that jinx.

Thank you for your time…

It’s always a pleasure to speak with you.

Manchester City's Champions League campaign is new top English flop

Roberto Mancini claimed he was not embarrassed after the defeat by Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday saw Manchester City crash out of the Champions League.

Roberto Mancini's Manchester City did not stand still in this Champions League campaign, they regressed. Three points, no wins, muted performances and an alarming lack of know-how marked a path to bottom place in Group D. Even Europa League football – the "prize" for finishing third of four teams – was beyond reach.

This goes down as the most dire English performance in the group stages of the continent's elite competition. The nadir of Blackburn Rovers in 1995-96, which featured the David Batty-Graeme Le Saux punch-up at Spartak Moscow, showed a final tally of four points and can now be replaced by City's humiliation.

A phase that threw up the glory-soaked night of cash-strapped Celtic beating Barcelona 2-1 thanks to a late winner from an 18-year-old debutant, Tony Watt, had the £1bn Sheikh Mansour project taught a lesson at every stop it limped into. City scored only seven times (two fewer than last year), lost 3-1 to a callow Ajax in Amsterdam, and ended a painful, six-game long capitulation by surrendering on Tuesday evening to a largely second-string Borussia Dortmund.

The injured David Silva and Gaël Clichy apart, plus the suspended Yaya Touré, the XI sent out by Mancini, who cannot stop rotating strikers, was his strongest. For Dortmund, Jürgen Klopp fielded only five of the team that taught City a lesson in the earlier, reverse match between the two, as the captain, Sebastian Kehl, Sven Bender and Mario Götze were injured and the star Polish trio of Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski were named only as substitutes.

Dietmar Hamann, the former City midfielder who won the 2005 Champions League with Liverpool, summed up the disbelief at the performance that sealed City's exit from European football this season. "The gulf looked very big," he told Sky Sports. "Borussia rested some of their top players. The players who came in for City all cost a lot of money. The Borussia players didn't. I saw one team that had the will to win and one that didn't. If I didn't know beforehand what their position in the group was I would have thought that Borussia had something to play for and City didn't."

As damning was the verdict of Ruud Gullit, a double European Cup winner with Milan: "The manager takes the responsibility when you win and when you lose. If the intention was to get out of playing in the Europa League then they did a great job. If their intention was to win to get in to the Europa League then they made a fool of themselves. It was dreadful. There was no team at all. I didn't see anybody getting mad or angry or even looking like they wanted to do it. It was such a bad performance. Even though they didn't want to play in the Europa League, at least they could have made an effort. At least do something.

"They bought a lot of players for their name. I don't think they bought players for other reasons. I don't see the reason they bought Maicon. Maybe someone can tell me that. They had some good players and they sold them."

In last season's Champions League bow City gathered 10 points, scored nine times and returned two victories to finish behind Napoli and Bayern Munich. Then, Mancini's mantra was that 10 points is usually enough to progress, and that lessons would be learned, the experience drawn on.

Yet the alarm again sounded as early as the end of this term's opener at Real Madrid. 87th and 90th minute goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo turned a 2-1 win into a morale sapping loss for City. "Mancini said after one defeat that he knew what the problem was and he would fix it," Gullit added. "That's what he said. I have not seen that he has fixed it. I just see them playing worse and worse."

From Madrid, Mancini's men sleepwalked through the stage. Two weeks later, Mario Balotelli's late penalty salvaged a point at the Etihad after Dortmund's slick passing and clever technique took City apart. Then came the debacle at Ajax despite Samir Nasri giving City a 22nd-minute lead, when lax defending and foggy-minded attacking allowed Frank de Boer's band to win at a canter, 3-1. In the return, the Dutch champions were 2-0 up after only 17 minutes before goals from Touré and Sergio Agüero salvaged a point. That made it only one managed from the six on offer against the group's weakest team.

Ultimately, this return cost Mancini's gang the chance to retain hope of progressing into the final two matches as the Italian faced the indignity of having José Mourinho bring his side to the Etihad in late November with City virtually out and watch the man who may replace him one day oversee the 1-1 draw that finally killed any mathematical chance. Of this, Mourinho laughed and said: "If it was Real Madrid the press wouldn't let me return to Madrid."

At the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday Mancini claimed he was not embarrassed by City's failure. He added: "Dortmund went out in the group stage last season, and were fourth. But this season they can win it in my opinion. When you start and make mistakes, like we did in the first two or three games, you cannot recover."

Football's ruthlessness means Mancini will be lucky to get the chance to make it third time lucky next season.

Shared woes match Portsmouth and Coventry amid football and finance

Portsmouth's financial woes may be reaching an end but Coventry's stadium issues also offer a grim lesson.

The battle over Fratton Park is shortly to be resolved in court (1). The twisted history of Portsmouth's financial ills and, indeed, its ownership ills seem to be moving towards a denouement (the topics of the stadium which has become separated from its club in ownership terms, and the mixed blessing that a new stadium can bring, are ones that I have covered in previous postings (see postings passim). Certainly as a member of the Pompey Supporters Trust, and a strong advocate of fan ownership, I want the Trust to "win" the case (they are not a directly participating party, hence the quotation marks). The case for a much lower valuation is a strong one, and for once I'm optimistic that the result will, for once, go the right way. If it doesn't, it will almost certainly mean the liquidation of the club, and the fight to establish a resurrection club will begin in earnest no doubt.

Nearer to home, literally, as I live in work in Coventry, if not metaphorically, the issue of the ownership of the Ricoh is almost as prominent on my radar.

Its origins go back to the heady days when Coventry was enjoying a notably long and unbroken run in the top flight, dating back to 1967 and the managership of Jimmy Hill. Its then stadium at Highfield Road dated from 1899, and, with a post-Taylor capacity of approximately 23,500, it lacked any of the facilities that a Premier League stadium needed to compete from a business point of view. It was not a million miles from Fratton Park to be honest.

In 1997, under the Chairmanship of Bryan Richardson, grand plans were announced for an ultra-modern stadium to be built on a brown-field site on the northern edge of the city, close by Junction three of the M6 (and adjacent to the Coventry-Nuneaton railway line). Arena 2000, as it was originally to be called, was to be the envy of many a self-respecting Premier League, with a retractable roof and a removable pitch, making it ideal for other revenue-generating activities such as pop concerts. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, just about everything:

The brown-field site, which had been the site of Foleshill Gasworks, proved problematic. Contamination of the site required two years of remedial work to make it reusable (2).

The club was being operated unsustainably. By 2003 debts were at a level of £20m (3) and continued to rise (4) and rise (5).

On the pitch, Gordon Strachan failed in the battle to keep the club up in 2001.

In 2002 it was only possible for the building project to continue with the formation of a new joint company, Arena Coventry Limited (6), 50% owned by Coventry City Council and 50% by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, a wealthy local charity for children which has a strong sports interest.

Sponsorship of the stadium by local car manufacturer Jaguar, itself under financial pressure, fell through as production of their cars in Coventry ceased (7).

To cut a long and tortuous story short, the stadium was built, but to a significantly lower specification than originally planned (capacity was reduced to 32,500), Ricoh took on the sponsorship, and Championship Coventry played their first game there in 2005. Not that this proved a particular turning point for the club. In 2007 a potentially club-saving takeover by American consortium Manhattan Sports Capital Partners fell through (8). Then, having come within twenty-five minutes of going into Administration, the club was acquired by venture capitalists SISU (9).

Although SISU planned to buy at least the 50% of the shares owned by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, this has not happened, and the club continues to rent the stadium from Arena Coventry Limited. From the club's financial perspective, the stadium is thus a monthly liability rather than the major asset and revenue generator originally envisaged.

Relegation from the Championship to League 1 in 2011 exacerbated an already difficult situation. Attendances and revenues were hit. The agreed rent, reported to be £100,000 per month, became significantly unrealistic for a League 1 club to sustain. Again cutting a long story short, the owners and club have been unable to agree a compromise rent that is realistic, and the club, SISU that is, started a 'rent strike' in March last year (10). Obviously this is a situation that cannot run on indefinitely, and in the last few weeks matters have come to a head, with both sides apparently digging their heels in and maintaining collision course. On the one hand, Deputy Conservative leader John Blundell says that ACL may have to seek a winding-up order over the unpaid arrears (11), while on the other Coventry City Chief Executive Tim Fisher accuses Arena Coventry Limited of pulling out of talks (12). Whatever the rights and wrongs of the respective protagonists, some compromise needs to be reached, and rapidly.

As well as the two confrontational tales of Fratton Park and the Ricoh, there is a crumb of comfort on the stadium front at Stockport County's Edgeley Park (13) where a deal has been announced that will see the club running the stadium at a reduced rent and retaining the revenues from it. Let's hope there will positive news to report shortly from both Coventry and Portsmouth.

• This is an article from our Guardian Sport Network. To find out more about it click here.

• This article first appeared on John Beech's Football Management blog.

Roy Hodgson shows Oxford Union his style is as impressive as Psy's

The multilingual Roy Hodgson tries mixing it up with some hand signals during England's World Cup qualifier in Poland.

The Oxford Union was called a "shambles" in the university press last week for its botched handling of the visit of Psy, the South Korean singer. Apparently 1,300 people applied to see the "Korean superstar" but fewer than 400 were allowed in, with "media people" and the paparazzi taking up too much space in the chamber. Psy taught the gathered few the Gangnam Style dance that has been infecting the nation. It all sounds a little naff, but was probably more eagerly anticipated than Roy Hodgson's visit to the Union on Tuesday afternoon.

Hodgson's appearance was not mentioned in last week's edition of the Oxford Student newspaper. Space was allotted instead to a story about a crackdown on the "slob culture" in a college common room and a feature on where to avoid zombies if the dead rise in a forthcoming apocalypse. Two writers in the sport section debated the merits of the north London managers under the headline: "André Villas Bollocks Vs. What an Arsènehole". Where's Lord Justice Leveson when you need him?

With Union hacks dizzy from the visit of a Korean pop star and students either scratching around in their own filth or scouting for post-apocalyptic bunkers, the visit of the England manager must seem rather boring. Hodgson comes with little fanfare. Walking into the room, he could pass for an academic. He would fit in well here if he didn't wear such expensive suits.

Hodgson has his own history of academia. He taught PE in schools in south London before managing football teams professionally and even taught some French while playing in South Africa. The 65-year-old comes across like a benign arts teacher who is too soft to stand up to misbehaviour but a nice enough guy not to attract the wrath of troublemakers. He would be a good boss.

The Union librarian, Rajiv Dattani, introduces Hodgson with a speech that will do little to allay fears that students are overly dependent on Wikipedia. The man from the FA puts on a quick video and we all watch a highlights reel of Hodgson's best bits. We see his teams – Fulham, Liverpool and England, of course – score goals and then the camera cuts to pictures of the manager smiling on the touchline.

If the video does little for Hodgson's varied and illustrious career, the man himself is keen to put things right. Hodgson has managed 19 teams in eight countries and seems happiest when discussing his work outside England. His urbane and cultured approach to life and management seem to go down well with the students. He references the Joseph Heller novel Good As Gold while talking about expectations; he quotes Winston Churchill on the topic of favouritism; and, while discussing the transfer market, he draws the analogy between a player's price being what a club are willing to pay and a piece of art being valued at what the collector will spend.

Hodgson spends most of his half-hour talk taking the audience – "you future leaders of commerce and industry" – through his managerial principles. He admits that the concept of having a football philosophy came to him late in his career, only when he returned to manage in Sweden for the second time in 1983. Before being asked to speak in managerial conferences – "They became a big deal in the 1980s" – Hodgson says he hadn't really considered what type of manager he was, or what he believed about the game. He says he would be "appalled" if he were to look back on his old coaching sessions. He films training with England now, so no learning opportunity is lost.

Hodgson's management philosophy seems to be influenced by the writing of Dale Carnegie, the American self-improvement author who urged leaders to inspire their team by thinking positively. Hodgson says a few times that "the best way to improve people is through praise rather than criticism". He emphasises the importance of enthusiasm and energy, qualities he needed while managing Internazionale. The club's owner had told Hodgson that he would not have to learn Italian and could speak in French to an interpreter, who would pass on his instructions to the players. After a few weeks, Hodgson recognised that his dour translator was not conveying the message with enough gusto, so he learned to speak Italian himself.

Hodgson's flair for languages is astounding. He picked up Swedish in six months but never once used it to speak to his players. They preferred to speak in English, so his new linguistic skills were saved for dealing with the press, giving talks and socialising. He was particularly taken by the Swedes' ability to speak "the Queen's English" with no sign of a foreign accent. While managing the Switzerland national team he learned French, but this perceived favouritism angered the German-speaking media in the country. So he picked up some German and delivered a speech to the assembled journalists in their native tongue. Problem solved.

Hodgson's passion for his time abroad comes up time and time again. He left England aged 28 with a wife and young son, and didn't return again until he was nearly 50. The time away had "a profound effect on him". When beginning the question and answer session, Hodgson appeals for inquiries from people who want to learn about other countries, but, naturally enough, most people ask about England and its football clubs. He is proud of West Brom's progress; he was "pleased" when Adam Johnson left Manchester City for Sunderland "to get a game", as it was "difficult to assess him in the Manchester City reserves". And he speaks fondly of Michael Appleton, the Blackpool manager who is his former assistant at West Brom.

Hodgson deals with each question manfully, but he lights up when asked about the lack of English footballers playing abroad. "That's a good question," he says. "It's about money," he answers initially, before rolling off into a soliloquy on England's island mentality. He refrains from criticising his players, but his desire to see some of them to take more risks is plain. David Beckham is picked out for special praise for "chancing his arm" and moving to Real Madrid, Milan and LA Galaxy.

Hodgson winds things up with a few tips for life. He says to dream big, to keep things in perspective and to not fear failure. As he walks off to appreciative applause from the members of this old institution – founded in 1823 and with a WiFi password that references a 19th century prime minister – it's impossible not to think that this very un-English England manager would enjoy the frenzy caused by a Korean pop singer.