ROY HODGSON might have signed a four-year deal as England boss.

But in reality, I reckon he’s got a couple of months to prove himself.

Expectations have always been massive in this country, and we’ve seen the likes of Graham Taylor, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Steve McLaren struggle to cope with the unique pressure of the national job.

With Euro 2012 looming, Hodgson is already up against it because he’s not Harry Redknapp.

Harry seemed to be the choice of the public and the press, and he was certainly mine.

I’m still disappointed the Football Association didn’t go for the Tottenham chief.

But it’s not Hodgson’s fault, and there’s no denying he has his qualities.

He’s worked with 16 clubs, including Inter Milan, in eight countries and has been in charge of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Finland, and that’s a fair amount of experience.

And while there’s a question mark over his spell at Liverpool, he worked wonders by taking Fulham to the final of the Europa League.

Hodgson has also established West Brom, previously a yo-yo club, in the Premier League this season.

It all leads to a more-than-decent CV, and hopefully the public, unlike some of the tabloids, will do the decent thing and get behind him as we start the countdown to Euro 2012.

Time, of course, is at a premium, particularly as Hodgson will continue to look after West Brom until the end of the domestic season.

The timing of the appointment means he’ll have to hit the ground running as he prepares for tough Euro games stage against improving France, Sweden, who are always stubborn opponents, and co-hosts Ukraine.

Hodgson has two friendlies, in Norway and against Belgium at Wembley, in which to fine-tune, and we’ll all be eager to see his team selection, bearing in mind we’ll be without Wayne Rooney for the first two Euro games.

He also has the John Terry-Rio Ferdinand situation to sort, so man-management is going to be an important part of his skill set.