WHAT HAPPENED?
Former Liverpool captain Gerrard, on the back of early title-winning success at Scottish giants Rangers, has already spread his managerial wings by heading to the Saudi Pro League. He has, however, flopped at Aston Villa and Al-Ettifaq.
Manchester United’s all-time leading goalscorer Rooney has also headed abroad - gracing the dugout in MLS with D.C. United - but has found the going tough in his homeland across spells at Derby, Birmingham and Plymouth.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
With both out of work at present, questions are being asked of what happens next. Hodgson - who has spent time in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, the UAE, Norway and Finland in his coaching career - is not convinced that Gerrard and Rooney will take a shock turn in their respective careers.
GettyWHAT HODGSON SAID
Ex-England manager Hodgson has told Haiper: “It's not going to happen for the people you're mentioning there, that level of player. They're always going to be courted by clubs in England because who wouldn't want Steven Gerrard's name attached to their club or Wayne Rooney's name attached to their club.
“So that's not going to happen. It's going to be more people like Graham Potter and myself who, if given the chance, will go there. I'm pretty certain that now it's getting harder and harder for young managers or any manager to keep his job in football, especially when you go outside the Premier League.
“The average time a coach or manager spends at a club is less than a year if you go down the leagues. We've got 92 league clubs, so there's going to be lots of people managing those clubs who I'm sure would not be averse to going abroad.
“But then you've got to bring in the two other aspects. Can the clubs abroad, i.e. in Sweden, can they afford to bring these people out? They could certainly afford to bring over the likes of myself or Graham Potter in those years, but that will have changed to some extent. The demands of people leaving an English club to go to Sweden might be slightly higher.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Hodgson would, however, advise Gerrard and Rooney to head abroad again if the opportunity presented itself. He added: “You have to be driven to be a Gerrard or Wayne Rooney. You don't become Gerrard and Rooney or Harry Kane if you're not driven to have that type of success. So they've got the drive. The problem I've always thought about for the great players is whether or not they can adjust to any lack of competence that they see around them every day and they're trying to put it right.
“It must be a lot harder to continually show sympathy and empathy and the understanding that people can't do what you think is so simple and so easy and why can't they do it. But I don't know that's the case with Steven and Wayne. I spoke to Wayne briefly about his time at Plymouth and he was quite the opposite. He was really enjoying being there with players who he thought needed a lot of help and he could help.
“I'm certain Steven would say the same thing, but I think for coaches below that level, they don't need that. If they really made it clear, I would like to go and coach abroad, it would be more like Vincent Kompany. You start at Anderlecht, who then came back for a bit and then went to Bayern Munich.
“That level of player will always have that strata of clubs. I think we've got to accept that Sweden, with the money they could offer, will have to be below that strata. So they'll have to look at a slightly lesser name.
“But whether or not they would do it, that's another matter. If they came to me, one of those people, and said, look, what do you think? Would you think this is a good idea? Would you think I could benefit? I wouldn't hesitate to say, yeah, catch the next plane and make sure you go out there and enjoy it.”
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR ROONEY & GERRARD?
Gerrard has been out of work since leaving the Middle East in January, while Rooney - in the wake of his departure from Plymouth at the end of 2024 - is currently focused on punditry duty and a documentary series that he will be starring in alongside wife Coleen.