ROY Hodgson today made an amazing return to Inter Milan as coach until the end of the season.

The move has been slammed in Italy as making Inter the laughing stock of Italian football.

Hodgson left the Italian giants in 1997 to join Blackburn Rovers after a fall-out with Inter management, despite leading the club to the UEFA Cup final.

He was then sacked at Ewood Park in November last year after a dismal run of results.

Inter have suffered managerial turmoil throughout the season and are still not safe from relegation.

With four tough games remaining, Inter have just nine points more than the bottom-placed side in Serie A.

Italian journalist Carlo Galavotti, of Gazetta della Sport, said: "It shows that neither Hodgson nor the club have any shame.

"Inter have succeeded in making themselves look a joke of a club. Hodgson might become the first manager to take two sides down in two different countries in the same season."

Hodgson is understood to have been offered £50,000 a game to lead Inter to safety, starting with their trip to Roma on Sunday.

He had been strongly linked with the vacant posts at the Australian and Austrian national sides.

The managerial merry-go-round at the San Siro started with the dismissal of Gigi Simone in February. Juventus coach Marcello Lippi has been lined up to take over on a permanent basis but did not want to start until the new season.

Romanian coach Mircea Luscescu quit after the Champions' League exit at the hands of Manchester United and goalkeeping coach Luciano Castellini perished after Sunday's 3-1 defeat at Udinese.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.