Roy Hodgson turned down the chance to compete on 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson

The former England manager - who stepped down as coach of the national football team following their embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Iceland in the 2016 World Cup - insists he had no desire to take part in the show because he doesn't want to be seen as a "celebrity" as it would cheapen his sporting achievements.

And Roy insists if he had taken part, he'd have been as hapless on the dancefloor as former politician Ed Balls, who was popular with viewers but not the judges on the last series of the show.

He told The Big Issue: "We are moving in a different world now, where celebrity is the key. I'd have been another Ed Balls!

"I've never regarded myself as a celebrity, I have regarded myself as a professional football manager, a job which I have done for many years and think I do well.

"I'm quite proud of my achievements. But I don't think that lifts me into the celebrity world.

"It has given me a life doing exactly what I wanted to do. But I don't regard myself as any different to anybody else."

And the 69-year-old coach wouldn't want the fame and attention that would come with appearing on the show.

He added: "I want to walk down streets, I want to leave Richmond by train, I don't want to travel in a chauffeur-driven car. Because it's not me, it's not my background, it's not where I came from. And it's not what I could get used to."


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