Roy happy with Albion progress

The former Blackburn, Inter Milan and Liverpool boss replaced Roberto Di Matteo with the Baggies facing the prospect of relegation from the Premier League.

But Hodgson kept them up in style and has since steered the West Midlands outfit six points clear of the bottom three this season, but wants the club to keep improving.

Decent

Hodgson said: "It's been a good year. At the moment, I'm not beaming with joy every day.

"We had a bad start in January and February but, if you take the year as a whole, it's been decent.

"We finished very well last season. This season we've had some good periods.

"We broke a few hoodoos for the club. We won at Stoke for the first time in years, the victories over Aston Villa were in the same category. We've put those hoodoos to bed."

Hodgson is now ready for the big Black Country derby with Wolves at Molineux on Sunday and insists the clash against their neighbours will be massive.

The Albion manager is also relieved to be playing away from the Hawthorns after collecting just eight points at home compared with 18 from away matches this season.

Huge

He said: "This is a massive game, it's always a big game. It might not be a derby that the whole of England view as of tremendous importance, but it is important in the West Midlands.

"To us it's as important as Arsenal versus Tottenham or Manchester United versus Manchester City.

"But it shouldn't be a relief to be playing at Molineux. It will be very dangerous if we start to think we're so good away from home that we don't need the Hawthorns.

"That would be a very foolish thing to get sucked into. If we're going to do well, then we need to win our home games."