Glenn Hoddle ends his exile and joins Harry Redknapp at QPR to aid Premier League survival bid

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Ex-England boss to help implement new 3-5-2 with Redknapp
Rio Ferdinand is set to be deployed as a sweeper in the new system
Hoddle last had Premier League manager's job at Wolves eight years ago
Steve McClaren left to take the manager's job at Derby County last year
QPR face Hull City at Loftus Road on the first day of the season

Published: 17:39 EST, 12 August 2014 | Updated: 17:39 EST, 12 August 2014

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Harry Redknapp has ended Glenn Hoddle’s eight-year hiatus from club football by recruiting him to radically shake up QPR’s tactical options.

The ex-England manager has not worked for a club since he left Wolves in 2006, but has been identified by Redknapp as the perfect coach to help him implement a new 3-5-2 system as Rangers bid to stay in the Premier League.

It marks a stunning return for Hoddle, who held talks with Tottenham after Andre Villas-Boas was sacked last season.

VIDEO Scroll down to see 'Sherwood: The game has moved on since Hoddle managed'

Dream team: Glenn Hoddle (right) will work with Harry Redknapp at QPR

Keeping his hand in: Hoddle worked for ITV at the World Cup in Brazil over this summer

The 56-year-old will now form part of Redknapp’s backroom staff alongside Joe Jordan and Kevin Bond as the club look set to ditch the 4-4-2 formation that dominated their promotion campaign.

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Redknapp said: ‘Glenn will be great. He has a brilliant knowledge of the game and will be fantastic out on the training ground with the players.

‘He is a hugely respected coach. I decided if I was going to bring somebody in, I was going to go for somebody who was top class — and that’s what Glenn is.’

Hoddle said earlier this year that he had received ‘many, many offers’ to return to management since he left Wolves, but opted to run a football academy and work as a pundit.

He favoured a 3-5-2 formation when he started at Swindon and Chelsea, before using it sporadically in his ill-fated England tenure. Redknapp is understood to be considering using Rio Ferdinand as a sweeper in a system that will replicate Louis van Gaal’s at Manchester United.

Tactical guru: Hoddle used the 3-5-2 formation during his time as England manager

New man: QPR signed Jordon Mutch for £6million last week but lost to PAOK at the weekend

Sherwood: The game has moved on since Hoddle managed

Hoddle said: ‘After winning promotion last season, the first aim at QPR is to stay in the Premier League and I am looking forward to helping play my part as we try to achieve that.

‘I have always loved coaching, and I can’t wait to meet the players, get on the training pitch and get to work.’

Former QPR midfielder Trevor Sinclair believes Hoddle, who faces the test of adapting to a role under another manager, will be a success at Loftus Road. ‘He is one of the most forward-thinking coaches. I think putting him with Harry could be a dream combination,’ he said.

TACTICS TO OUTWIT THE 4-2-3-1 BRIGADE

The 3-5-2 formation is set to make a comeback with Glenn Hoddle at QPR to implement the system he helped popularise in the 1990s.

Hoddle used the formation for England’s 1998 World Cup campaign, having tested it out while manager of Chelsea.

At Loftus Road, Rio Ferdinand will play the sweeper role that Hoddle had in mind when signing Ruud Gullit at Stamford Bridge in 1995.

Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United revolution will also showcase the system, as he used it to guide Holland to third place at this summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

Top-level football is saturated with teams playing 4-2-3-1, so playing three at the back allows a side to outnumber the opposition forwards and go man-for-man in midfield while possessing the added attacking threat of two men up front.

Width is provided from two wing backs who must be able to contribute in both halves, with United’s signing of Luke Shaw seeing the teenager pencilled into the left-sided role at Old Trafford.