Steve Hodge

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Hodge's first spell at Forest ended in the summer of 1985 when the club accepted an offer of £450,000 from Aston Villa. After spells at Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, and a return to Spurs, Clough paid Spurs £550,000 to take Hodge back to Nottingham Forest. The club won the Full Members Cup in 1989 and then reached the League Cup final, with Hodge finally winning a major domestic medal: the 3–1 win over Luton Town at Wembley saw him play a crucial part as it was he, making a foraging run from deep, who was brought down for the penalty which Nigel Clough converted, setting Forest on the road to victory. A week later, however, Hodge was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. He played in the rescheduled game at Old Trafford, which Liverpool won 3–1. The following season, Hodge played as Forest retained the League Cup with a 1–0 win over Oldham Athletic, but by the next year he was struggling to hold down a regular place in the team's midfield after the emergence of teenage Irish midfielder Roy Keane to partner Garry Parker. He was only named as a substitute by Clough for the 1991 FA Cup final against his old club Tottenham Hotspur; he came on as a second-half substitute but Spurs won the final 2–1 after extra time.

In Their Own Story

In the summer of 1985, Forest accepted an offer of £450,000 from Aston Villa and Hodge – whose nickname was Harry – made his move from the East Midlands to the West Midlands. He scored 12 goals in 53 league appearances for Aston Villa before being sold to Tottenham in December 1986 for £650,000. Tottenham manager David Pleat selected Hodge for a position on the wide left of a vibrant, attacking five-man midfield which also included England teammates Hoddle and Chris Waddle, Argentinian veteran Osvaldo Ardiles and hardworking ballwinner Paul Allen. Hodge scored on his debut on Boxing Day 1986 in a 4–0 win against West Ham United and scored three times more while creating assists for others as Spurs chased three trophies. Hodge's quest for domestic success eluded him as Spurs were knocked out by rivals Arsenal in the semi-finals of the League Cup, tailed off in their First Division title challenge and came third, and lost the 1987 FA Cup final at Wembley 3–2 against Coventry City, following an outstanding 4–1 semi-final win over Watford in which Hodge scored twice.

Reader's Guide

Hodge was sold to Leeds United for £900,000 in the summer of 1991 – the highest transfer fee he had commanded. He struggled to win a regular place at Elland Road but did make a significant contribution to the league title winning side of 1991–92, winning a championship medal. In that season he made 23 appearances and scored seven goals; his goal tally included two braces in games against Sheffield United (won 4–3) and Southampton (drew 3–3) and the only goal in a 1–0 win over Liverpool. In 1994 Hodge was loaned to Derby County. He joined Queens Park Rangers for a nominal fee in 1994, playing just 15 times in two seasons. He subsequently joined Watford, playing twice for them in the 1995–96 season. He later had a brief spell playing for Instant-Dict in Hong Kong after leaving Division Three side Leyton Orient in March 1998, having played just once for Leyton Orient during the season. Prior to the 2013–14 season Hodge was appointed development squad coach at Notts County. On 27 October 2013 Hodge was appointed caretaker manager of Notts County, reverting to his position as development squad coach on 6 November 2013 with the appointment of Shaun Derry as manager.

Did You Know?

• Hodge's nickname was Harry.
• Hodge inadvertently set up Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, and ended the game with Maradona's No. 10 shirt, which sold at auction for £7.1m in May 2022.
• Hodge's superb left wing cross on the run gave Gary Lineker his second goal in a first half hat-trick against Poland in the 1986 World Cup group stage.
• Hodge released an autobiography in 2010 entitled, 'The Man With Maradona's Shirt'.
• Hodge won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship with England U21 in 1984.