Hope for Hodgson but Fulham give it away again

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Hodgson had been contemplating a job at Inter Milan as Massimo Moratti's sporting director when the call came from south-west London.

It would be naive to think a £1million booty, payable on retention of Barclays Premier League status, did not aid his decision making, but Hodgson has been around long enough for money not to be his sole motivation.

And certainly, after seeing his new charges fail to end their abysmal away record which stretches to 27 matches and 15 months without victory, that bounty is in no way guaranteed. But, like Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alex Ferguson before him, the former Blackburn manager insisted it was the lure of day-to-day involvement that enticed him back to a country that has never truly acknowledged his coaching credentials.

"I've been given a great opportunity to come back and coach a club with great traditions in the Premier League," he said. "At the moment they're not at the right end of the table, but if they were they wouldn't have been contacting me.

"The job with Inter would have been a lot easier for me. Less pressure? Oh yes, absolutely. I've been a little surprised by the interest in me, not just from Fulham but other sources as well. When Fulham said: ''We want you'' there wasn't a decision to make."

Hodgson called Inter president Moratti, asking to be released from his promise to work there.

"He was very good about it," said Hodgson. "He was disappointed but he understood the lure of the field tends to win the day."

Hodgson could have enjoyed a winning start had the visitors seized the moment in the first half after Carlos Bocanegra's near-post opener. But Seb Larsson scored a fortuitous equaliser 10 minutes into the second half and Birmingham played with real passion, perhaps mindful that their next three matches are against the top three teams in the League.

Fulham survived, despite the dismissal of Hameur Bouazza for two bookable offences, but the quality of play was questionable in blustery conditions.

"I saw a very good first half from the team, some spirit," said Hodgson. "I was hoping that would carry on but credit to Birmingham, they came out much more aggressively in the second half and put us on the back foot.

"Nothing I saw has dampened my optimisim for the job. My message is that we will fight, work hard, try to get ourselves organised and we'll see what that brings.

"I have contacts all over the world and maybe will have to move quickly for new players but the January transfer window is a dangerous time of year and if we are going to bring in any players they must have a profile we have identified carefully."

Birmingham's Finland striker Mikael Forssell has first-hand knowledge of Hodgson, who has managed the national team.

"Roy's a great organiser of a team," said Forssell. "He is the person who will actually keep them up. He is a defensive type of coach and I don't think Fulham will let in as many goals as they have been. With Finland we conceded only a few goals in the Euro 2008 campaign."