| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Brian Hodge | ||
| Date of birth | (1962-10-25)25 October 1962 (age 62) | ||
| Place of birth | Nottingham, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1985 | Nottingham Forest | 123 | (30) |
| 1985–1986 | Aston Villa | 53 | (12) |
| 1986–1988 | Tottenham Hotspur | 45 | (7) |
| 1988–1991 | Nottingham Forest | 83 | (20) |
| 1991–1994 | Leeds United | 54 | (10) |
| 1994 | →Derby County (loan) | 10 | (2) |
| 1994–1995 | Queens Park Rangers | 15 | (0) |
| 1995–1996 | Watford | 2 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Leyton Orient | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 386 | (71) | |
| International career | |||
| 1982–1985 | England U21 | 8 | (3) |
| 1984–1991 | England B | 2 | (1) |
| 1986–1991 | England | 24 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2013 | Notts County (caretaker) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Stephen Brian Hodge (born 25 October 1962) is an English retired footballer who played as amidfielder. He enjoyed a high-profile club and international career in the 1980s and 1990s. One high point of his career was playing in the1986 World Cup, another was winning twoLeague Cups withNottingham Forest. He was also part ofLeeds United's1992 title-winning team though his starting appearances at Leeds were limited.
Prior to the 2013–14 season Hodge was appointed development squad coach atNotts County.[2]
On 27 October 2013 Hodge was appointed caretaker manager, reverting to his position as development squad coach on 6 November 2013 with the appointment ofShaun Derry as manager.
A left-footedmidfielder who was comfortable in a central or wide position, Hodge was born inNottingham and joined his boyhood clubNottingham Forest as an apprentice in 1980; he made his debut againstIpswich Town on the final day of the1981–82 season.
A favourite of Forest's managerBrian Clough, Hodge became a first-team regular the following season as the club tried to build a new young team after the side which won twoEuropean Cups began to age and disintegrate. Hodge was a frequent goalscorer from midfield as Forest consolidated their League position but were unable to push for trophies other than a semi-final in theUEFA Cup in 1984, where they lost in controversial circumstances toAnderlecht.
In the summer of 1985, Forest surprisingly accepted an offer of £450,000 fromAston Villa and Hodge – whose nickname was Harry – made his move from theEast Midlands to theWest Midlands.
The move toBirmingham did work initially but the team was in decline and once Hodge had received England recognition, it was perceived by the Villa fans that he was not fully committed to the team's cause, typified during a 4–1 home defeat by Norwich City where his intended back pass toKevin Poole was slotted in by a Norwich player – the boos ringing round the ground signalled the beginning of the end for his Villa career. Hodge was sold to Tottenham in December 1986 for £650,000.
Tottenham managerDavid Pleat put Hodge wide on the left of a vibrant, attacking five-man midfield which also included England teammates Hoddle andChris Waddle, Argentinian veteranOsvaldo Ardiles and hardworking ballwinnerPaul Allen. Each were expected to contribute goals and assists behind one main centre forward,Clive Allen, and it worked. Hodge scored on his debut onBoxing Day 1986 in a 4–0 thrashing ofWest Ham United and scored three times more while creating plenty for others as Spurs chased three trophies.
Sadly for Hodge, his quest for domestic success eluded him again as Spurs were knocked out by fierce rivalsArsenal in the semi-finals of theLeague Cup, tailed off in theirFirst Division title charge and came third, and lost a thrilling1987 FA Cup final at Wembley againstCoventry City, following an outstanding 4–1 semi-final win overWatford in which Hodge scored twice.
Clough paid Spurs £550,000 to take Hodge back to Nottingham Forest. The club won theFull Members Cup in 1989 and then reached the League Cup final, with Hodge finally winning a major domestic medal: the 3–1 win overLuton Town at Wembley saw him play a crucial part as it was he, making a foraging run from deep, who was brought down for the penalty whichNigel Clough converted, setting Forest on the road to victory. A week later, however, Hodge was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of theHillsborough disaster during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. He played in the rescheduled game atOld Trafford, which Liverpool won 3–1.
The following season, Hodge played as Forest retained the League Cup with a 1–0 win overOldham Athletic, but by the next year he was struggling to hold down a regular place in the team's midfield after the emergence of teenage Irish phenomenonRoy Keane to partnerGarry Parker, who had become the first-choice central midfielder despite being the only one of the three never to play international football. He was only named as a substitute by Clough for the1991 FA Cup final against his old club Tottenham Hotspur; he came on as a second-half substitute but Spurs ran out 2–1 winners after extra time.
In the summer of 1991, Hodge was sold toLeeds United for £900,000 – the highest transfer fee he had commanded. He struggled to win a regular place atElland Road but did make a significant contribution to the league title winning side of1991–92, winning a championship medal. In that season he made 23 appearances and scored seven goals; his goal tally included two braces in games againstSheffield United (won 4–3) andSouthampton (drew 3-3) and the only goal in a 1–0 win overLiverpool.[3] In 1994 Hodge went on loan to Derby County.
He joinedQueens Park Rangers for a nominal fee in 1994. Two seasons followed with Hodge playing just 15 times.
Next he joinedWatford. He played twice for them in the1995–96 season.[citation needed]
An unsuccessful trial atWalsall came in the autumn of 1996, followed by a brief spell playing in Hong Kong. He signed for Division Three sideLeyton Orient in March 1998, playing just once before finally retiring from playing at the end of the season.[citation needed]
Though he was only three caps into his international career by the timeBobby Robson announced his squad for the1986 FIFA World Cup, Hodge was given a place on the plane toMexico, coming on as a substitute in the first two group games againstPortugal andMorocco, which England lost and drew respectively. Making urgent changes for the final group game againstPoland, Robson put Hodge in the side and he responded with an outstanding personal display within a crushing team performance. Hodge's superb left wing cross on the run gaveGary Lineker his second goal in a first half hat-trick which eased England's passage to the second round.
There they facedParaguay, and it was a sliding, stretching Hodge who kept in an over-hit cross fromGlenn Hoddle, by pushing the ball into the path of Lineker to tap home. Again England were 3–0 victors, withArgentina awaiting ominously in the last eight. Here Hodge would earn his own somewhat dubious place in football history – inadvertently setting up Maradona's'Hand of God' goal – and ending the game with a highly prized memento, Maradona's No. 10 shirt. The shirt resided atThe National Football Museum in Manchester until Hodge sold it at auction in May 2022.[4][5]
Hodge retained his place in the team as England began their qualification campaign for the1988 European Championships with victories overNorthern Ireland andYugoslavia, but was not selected for the finals squad.[citation needed]
Robson recalled Hodge for the first game after the European Championships – a 1–0 win overDenmark at Wembley – as he had been briefly back on form at club level with Nottingham Forest. He was again cast aside internationally afterwards, but his club form improved dramatically and he found himself regularly called up by Robson as a result, though actual appearances were scarce.
He managed to force his way back into the England reckoning with a strong appearance as a substitute againstItaly at Wembley, by which time England's place at the1990 FIFA World Cup was secured. Hodge subsequently played in the final four warm-up matches before the tournament itself. To his delight, Hodge made the final squad but he then suffered an injury and as a consequence was the only outfield England player not to kick a ball during the tournament, even though England reached the semi-finals. He did not even regain his fitness in time to get on the pitch for the third-place play-off game.
Robson quit after the World Cup and Hodge was not selected initially by successorGraham Taylor. Taylor brought Hodge back for a 2–0 win overCameroon early in 1991 and he was then given his 24th and final cap in a 1–0 win againstTurkey inİzmir in a qualifier for the1992 European Championships.
Having gained an A coaching licence Hodge worked withRoy McFarland atChesterfield.[citation needed]
He had brief roles at Notts County as development squad manager, and as caretaker manager of the first team.[6]
Following Maradona's death in November 2020, Hodge was subjected to numerous requests from people wishing to buy the shirt he had swapped with Maradona at the end of the World Cup quarter-final in 1986. Hodge said, "It's not for sale. I am not trying to sell it."[4] However, Hodge felt that it was the right time to sell the shirt through the reputable international auction house Sotheby's in April 2022.
After the shirt sale was announced Maradona's daughter Dalma and ex-wife Claudia made claims that the shirt was not the same shirt that Maradona scored both goals in. However this was later disproved by Sotheby's after working with Photo Resolution imagery to determine the authenticity of the shirt and also referring to Maradona's autobiography in which he states that he gave the shirt to Hodge in the tunnel after the game prior to returning to the changing room.[7] In May 2022, the shirt sold for £7.1m, a record for a shirt worn during a sporting event.[8]
In 2010 Hodge released an autobiography entitled, "The Man With Maradona's Shirt".
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