Neil Warnock's Huddersfield Town record smashed by Bristol City appointing Roy Hodgson | OneFootball

Roy Hodgson's return to Bristol City has been sealed and he's broken a Neil Warnock record at Huddersfield Town in the process.

Roy Hodgson has replaced Gerhard Struber at Bristol City until the end of the season, with recent form having seen the Robins fall away from the play-offs and into mid-table.

Between matchday one and matchday 23, Bristol City were in the play-off places for 13 of them. However, four wins in the last 16 league games has left them 16th with seven league games remaining in the Championship.

Matchday 38 and 39 are the first times this season that they have not been in the top half, with Gerhard Struber losing four and drawing one in the last five. They are 12 points above the bottom three on 51 points, thus set for a 12th season of second tier football in a row next term.

They have turned to Roy Hodgson to see out the remainder of the season, with the former Liverpool and England manager out of work since leaving Crystal Palace in February 2024. It's his 25th role in management, but he has taken charge of Bristol City before.

Roy Hodgson smashes Neil Warnock's Huddersfield Town record

Hodgson has returned to a role before on two other occasions, having managed Inter Milan from 1995 until 1997 before a caretaker role in 1999. He also had two stints with Crystal Palace in 2017 until 2021 and again for 2023/24.

He was in charge of Bristol City back in 1982, taking charge of 21 games in just his second role in management after Halmstads BK in Sweden. In fact, it was the Englishman's only role outside of Sweden during his early managerial career, with four out of five clubs in that part of Europe.

Naturally, the discourse surrounding the 78-year-old's return to Ashton Gate has been vast. It's not the first time a manager has returned to a club after a long gap and managing many other sides in between.

Neil Warnock is 77 and similar occured when he took charge of Huddersfield Town in 2023 after last managing the club in 1995. Prior to today, that was the current record for gap between games managed in the Football League with the same club.

Per Opta's Jonny Cooper, it was 27 years for Warnock at Huddersfield. Hodgson going back to Bristol City smashes that record by 16 years, with a gap of 43 years and 344 days between games.

Opta revealed Bristol City have played 2,023 league matches since they sacked Hodgson in April 1982. It's a record that doesn't look likely to be broken again, such is the gap that he has beaten the previous by.

Roy Hodgson's first stint at Bristol City explained

In 1980, Hodgson returned to England to join Bristol City as assistant to Bob Houghton, working under him for two years during a turbulent period. When Houghton departed in early 1982, Hodgson stepped up as caretaker manager, taking charge from January to April.

However, the club was in severe financial crisis, forcing player sales and limiting competitiveness, which made meaningful progress nearly impossible. Results suffered, and Hodgson’s short spell ended after just four months.

Reflecting later, Hodgson said: "Bristol City was nothing short of a disaster in that we had only been there for a matter of weeks before the banks started to pull the rug from underneath the club. My job when I eventually took over, as caretaker manager, was quite simply to carry on in the aftermath of all the players leaving the club and just fulfilling the fixtures."