ROY Hodgson is the Godfather of European football, writes TONY DEWHURST.

That's the view of Ewood Park's latest £3 million capture Stephane Henchoz.

The Swiss international will arrive in Lancashire next week after agreeing terms with Rovers yesterday providing he passes a medical examination.

But Henchoz believes Hodgson is the man to restore Premiership glory to Blackburn.

He said: "He was my manager at Neuchatel Xamax and with the Switzerland national team and I've so much to thank Roy Hodgson for.

"I have learned so much from him because he is such an authority on football.

"He knows all aspects of the game and some of the players have called him the Godfather."

Henchoz was at Brockhall this week for medical tests and the deal is expected to be finalised on Monday.

"Blackburn have got a fantastic manager who is a great thinker of tactics and the right players to choose," added Henchoz.

"His training methods are excellent and his his record speaks for itself. I know he will succeed at Blackburn and he is the main reason why I will come to England to play in Blackburn.

"Roy Hodgson has managed at the top level in Italy with Inter and made the Swiss team a lot stronger in the world.

"English football will be a great challenge for me and I'm looking forward to working with Roy Hodgson again."

Meanwhile, Tony Parkes jets off on a top-secret spying mission to Scandinavia tomorrow to continue the Hodgson rebuilding programme. And top of his Euro-shopping list is a goalkeeper to replace hot property Shay Given.

Parkes will take in at least two fixtures and with World Cup fixtures involving Denmark against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Copenhagen and Finland taking on Azerbaijan in Helsinki - the Ewood caretaker boss has several options

He said: "Roy Hodgson gives us names of players he wants us to look at and other members of the staff will be in other parts of Europe.

"It is still a very busy time for us because several European leagues play through the summer."

"It is truly a world game now and and if you talk to managers around England they will tell you they are are looking to the continent more and more because of the inflated transfer market here.

"The price availability abroad means you can get a better bargain. You find players in England are either tied up on long contracts or are overpriced.

"You could easily pay £10-12 million for a player here while you could go to the continent and get the same type of player with just as much skill for perhaps half the price."

Rovers striker Kevin Gallacher today set Scotland a nine point plan to clinch a place in the World Cup finals in France as Craig Brown's injury hit side face Belarus tomorrow in their last away fixture.

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