Jealous Hodgson takes a swipe at Pochettino, Benitez

Roy Hodgson has admitted to feeling jealous as to the amount of money that so-called lesser-spending clubs receive.

The Crystal Palace boss, who have spent around £20m since Hodgson’s arrival in 2017, named Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino and old Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez as two managers who had more money to spend than was the general perception.

Palace face Spurs in north London on Saturday and while Pochettino will not be able to call on new signings Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso due to injury, the Argentinian coach was able to splash the cash this summer after two windows of inactivity.

Benitez on the other hand was always complaining about lack of investment in his squad and that was probably one of the reasons why he left for China in the summer.

“A lot of teams who claim they don’t spend much money, actually do,” Hodgson told the Evening Standard. “Every year I had to read that poor Rafa Benitez, Newcastle don’t spend any money.

“Of course they spent something like 10 times more than we did during that period of time. No one used to write often ‘what a pity Roy Hodgson doesn’t get a lot to spend!’

“It was all Rafa and Pochettino. In that respect, I have a certain element of jealousy.”

Hodgson though has great respect for Pochettino, who guided Spurs into the Champions League final last season.

“There aren’t many trophies to win, but he got to a Champions League final. English teams to have got to a Champions League finals are not numerous. That is more than a feather in the cap in my book. That is worth a lot,” said Hodgson.

“They have spent a lot of money in comparison to us, but not Liverpool, Man City, Man United and before the transfer embargo, Chelsea.

“Arsene Wenger was the master of husbandry in all those years at Arsenal, keeping a team in the Champions League every year while spending hundreds of millions on the stadium and academy.

“I am of the somewhat boring view that I think you should leave a club in a healthier position than when you joined, not spending hundreds of millions on players who don’t turn out to be as good as you like, that doesn’t strike me as being a particularly good husband.

“Pochettino, like Arsene, can hold his hands up and say his results have been very good, while they now have a very good stadium. Not just Pochettino, Daniel Levy and everyone involved, but the manager during that time has been Pochettino.

“Great credit to him, I am a big admirer of his and I am looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.”

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