ROVERS: Pride and Roy - Hodgson takes positive approach despite fear of Europe failure

THE burden of potential failure momentarily seemed to lie heavily on Roy Hodgson's well-groomed shoulders.

And, no matter how inappropriate that might seem after going from trauma to transformation in one season, if Blackburn Rovers miss out on a UEFA Cup spot tomorrow that is exactly how Hodgson will view it - failure.

For the man who built himself a high-flying reputation from nothing, starting in the relative backwater of Sweden and continuing through the foothills of the Alps, the rarified atmosphere of the international scene to the furnace of San Siro in Milan, sets demanding targets.

And he always aims to hit them.

Tomorrow afternoon, his hopes of being a sure-shot could rest on a single victory over a Newcastle club carrying many remnants of the last Ewood success in 1995.

The irony of the situation would be enough to drive some men to drink, especially as Rovers should already have opened the champagne in celebration, rather than wondering if they will be drowning their sorrows.

Happily, however, for those more fervent Rovers supporters who will be lighting an extra candle at Sunday morning mass, or ensuring the 'lucky shirt' is washed, ironed and in its usual pristine condition, Hodgson is also a man who ensures the brighter side of life dominates the dark.

Yet he doesn't duck the issue, admitting he would be "shattered" if the European dream turned to dust on the final day. The possibility of bitter disappointment darkened his brow for a moment or two before he returned to his more usual positive theme.

"I am very satisfied with our first year albeit fearing now that we would have a very bad scenario if we don't win our last game," he confessed.

"That would disappoint me enormously because I think the club and the players deserve the success of at least a UEFA place for the season we have had.

"We have a good side and a good staff and I think the position in the table proves that.

"With a team which has only been out of the top six once all season, there's not too much to complain about in my opinion.

"If we don't make UEFA I shall be extremely disappointed not to say shattered, because that's the reward I think that the players deserve after all the hard work they have put in.

"It's also the reward the club and its supporters deserve after such a horrific season last year.

"But, of course, it's like everything else. Last year there were celebrations because the team didn't get relegated. This year there could be general condemnation because we haven't finished in sixth place.

"It's really a question of how you want to see things." How Hodgson himself sees it is that a happy day tomorrow could be a stepping stone to further success - including a future title challenge.

Even if it goes wrong, those positive senses tell him that staying around the elite group will give Rovers every chance of repeating their triumph.

"I think we have the wherewithal but whether we can be up there challenging for the top depends to a great extent on luck and the flow of the season," he said.

"We weren't that far out this season. Many people could argue and did argue that we did not have enough strength in depth.

"Funnily enough we still weren't far from it. We were only a couple of results from keeping on that little flow and going all the way.

"If you can keep in that top six every year, as one of the teams to look out for, then the chance of another championship gets closer and closer.

"It's going to be shared out around five or six in the country. We are looking every year at only five or six contenders. "Basically, if you can stay up there, you've got a chance and that's the most important thing.

"We have got to make certain that wherever we go, or whichever team comes here, we can meet them on an equal basis.

"It could be your day, it could be ours but we are equal. I think we did that with Manchester United, even with the Arsenal despite having gone 4-0 down in zero time.

"In the second half we not only matched them we took the game to them, out-pressured them, outfought them and even outscored them.

"It is, of course, a bit late in the day when you are 4-0 down but even so...

"And we beat them at their place.

"To be fair, we have lost games but we have never really gone into them thinking 'Let's hope we can cling on for a point here, or let's hope we can be lucky and get something out of this one'."

Football is the most black and white of professions but Hodgson knows he has to keep a sense of perspective.

"I shall only be disappointed in the sense that there's a big prize there - which has really been our prize for the whole of the year with people expecting us just to scoop it up," he said.

"If, suddenly, someone whisked that prize away from us on the last day of the season, that's going to be very disappointing.

"It's like the child who loses a toy in the playground. "But it won't alter my judgment that the season has been largely positive bcause you have to judge it over nine months and not two.

"I am positive but were we not to qualify it would depress me, there's no question about that.

"And I don't know how long it would take me to get over the disappointment of seeing what really is our reward snatched away from us, through our own silly fault if you like - because we should have taken the necessary points.

"But, once I get over that, IF I have to, then I shall definitely be looking positively and optimistically towards the future.

"Besides, we are not in that situation yet, because we might well qualify."

One magpie they say is bad luck, two is good.

So with as many as 16 clad in the black and white of Newcastle and waiting for Hodgson and his team tomorrow, that, surely, should be more than enough to dispel any portents of gloom.

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