Hodgson: I hope my mate Sir Alex will forgive me

Roy Hodgson fears his appointment as Liverpool boss will spark the collapse of his friendship with Sir Alex Ferguson.

The former Fulham coach, who replaced Rafael Benitez last week, is great mates with Fergie.

At the end of last season, the Manchester United coach hailed the Cottagers’ progress to the Europa League final as one of the greatest ever achievements by a British club.

But Hodgson’s arrival at ­Anfield could be the end of a beautiful friendship.

The bitter rivalry between the two giants was stoked up during Benitez’s reign, when Rafa and Ferguson regularly traded verbal blows.

“I know Sir Alex is not really a Liverpool man,” said ­Hodgson, “so I’m a bit ­concerned about my excellent relationship with him.

“I sincerely hope he forgives me for moving north and hopefully we can have a glass of wine together, maybe in secret.

“I hope that’s how he is going to see it – but he is one of the people I intend to ring to find out.

“I rang the Fulham chairman (Mohamed Al Fayed). That was one phone call I had to get out of the way. Alex might be the next one.”

The intense competition ­between the two north-west clubs reached fever pitch in 2009 when Fergie’s men equalled Liverpool’s long-standing record of 18 League titles – and the Kopites were runners-up.

Liverpool had a dismal ­campaign this time round – finishing seventh – but ­Hodgson is more interested in restoring their place as a top-four club than playing mind games with his new ­adversary.

He said: “I’ve always ­believed you don’t have battles with other managers.

“Football teams have battles with other football teams, clubs have battles with other clubs. I’ve never subscribed to that theory that it’s me and you. It’s a nonsense.”

Hodgson, 62, wants to get back to the Liverpool tradition created by Bill Shankly in the 1960s – and continued by Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish in the 70s and 80s.

He said: “All the things I’ve always liked are the things Liverpool were famous for in their heyday.

“Pass and move, always move it quickly and once you lose it get back in to position.

“That was the mantra which took Liverpool through their great years.

“I like a high-tempo passing game. I like players to work hard, I like players to get back in position. Those are my priniciples. I was influenced by the Liverpool team which dominated the 70s with all its great players and ­playing the football they played.

“Also the Arsenal team of 1970-71 with Don Howe, who I thought was an exceptional coach, and the Chelsea team around about the same era of Dave Sexton.

“All those teams, for me, played football the way I was hoping to coach a football team to play.

“And they’re also teams who had great success in playing that way and had managers and coaches who I as a young coach thought I could learn from.”

Hodgson signalled there would be a change in direction from Benitez’s fondness for buying Spanish players – and vowed Liverpool would be going for more home-grown talent. He said: “We have to fall back on English players with the way UEFA and Premier League rules are going.

“We’ve got to get more homegrown players because otherwise we’re going to struggle to get our squad numbers together.

“Kenny Dalglish (the youth academy ambassador) can play a very important role in this.”