Roy Hodgson's return from retirement to take the reins at second-tier Bristol City for just seven games - 44 years after he left the club in 1982 - momentarily seemed like an April fool come six days early when it was announced last Friday.

Why would the 78-year-old, whose health had played a part in his departure from Crystal Palace two years ago, want to step back into the management hotseat at a club with nothing to play for and with little time to make a lasting impression?

It turns out, even the man himself is not certain. "I don't know what prompted me to even consider it," he said at his unveiling on Monday. "I've been perfectly happy in this retirement period, if a little bit bored from time to time."

Hodgson's arrival and unlikely decision to return to the West Country after almost half a century has only piqued the interest around a man whose past CV includes Inter Milan, Liverpool and England - but nothing below the top flight in England dating all the way back to his first spell in Bristol.

His appointment blows away the previous record for the longest gap between managerial stints at...