Hodgson tackles Al Fayed over ‘walk out’ claim

Roy Hodgson has accused Mohamed Al Fayed of damaging their relationship after the Fulham owner hit out at Hodgson for quitting Craven Cottage to join Liverpool.

Hodgson has admitted he was disappointed to read his former chairman’s comments in the wake of him leaving Fulham to succeed Rafael Benitez at Anfield.

Al Fayed, 77, accused Hodgson of letting the club down by walking out on them.

Hodgson, who helped established Fulham in the Premier League and led them to last season’s Europa League final during his successful spell in charge at the London club, refused to let Al Fayed’s criticism pass without a response when questioned on the subject.

Hodgson said: “They were part jovial I think. He (Al Fayed) didn’t want me to leave and thought that’s what I should do.

“But the chance to manage here was a bit special. I loved Fulham. My good fortune in leaving was that all the staff, players and chief executive understood the decision.

“I’m a bit disappointed that the excellent relationship I had with Mohamed has taken a bit of a knockback. It would have been nice had he said nice things about me, but I’ll just have to take things on the chin.”

Hodgson meanwhile admits he might be powerless to prevent Javier Mascherano from leaving if an acceptable bid comes in.

The Argentine captain is keen on a move to Inter Milan to be reunited with Benitez and Hodgson knows he faces a difficult task in keeping the midfield enforcer despite having managed to talk Fernando Torres into remaining at the club.

Mascherano’s agent has flown to Italy to try and thrash out a deal with the European champions and Hodgson added: “In terms of Javier Mascherano, that will be more difficult.

“If a big offer comes in and it’s a club he wants to go to then that will be harder (for us), but this hasn’t happened yet and I continue to work with him and consider him a Liverpool player.

“If an offer comes in that meets our valuation and he wants to go, then maybe my powers of persuasion won’t be as strong.”

Hodgson is delighted Torres has pledged his future to the club ahead of the new season, despite strong speculation linking him with moves to Chelsea and Real Madrid.

But Hodgson did admit he never feared Torres, who is doubtful for the start of the new campaign, would turn his back on the club.

He said: “Of course I’m pleased. He’s only been back a couple of days and needs to do a lot of work to recover from his holidays and the injury he picked up at World Cup.

“I’m still hopeful it won’t be out of question to use him against Arsenal. I’ve got to say, ever since I took the job we were always confident he would stay and that there was nothing to worry about, that he would play for Liverpool.

“It’s nice the speculation can now end once and for all and that he has made it absolutely clear how committed he is to this club.

“We believe he wasn’t fully fit going into World Cup and that affected his performances. We want to make sure we prepare him right for the new season because it’s not just about the first few games. But we don’t want to look too far ahead.”

Hodgson has promised to field his strongest possible side when Liverpool host Rabotnicki Skopje in the second leg of their Europa League, third round qualifying game at Anfield later Thursday.