LEE Hodson has, despite distinguishing himself in two games against Celtic, not been a regular starter for Rangers this season so he will have no great concern about having to cut short his summer break to prepare for Europa League qualifiers next season.
Not even with a crucial Russia 2018 qualifier against Azerbaijan away from home to play with Northern Ireland on June 10 – less than three weeks before the first leg of the first qualifying round is played on June 29.
However, the right back has stressed that nobody else in the Ibrox squad, including those players who will have taken part in over 40 games, has any issues with new manager Pedro Caixinha telling them they can only have 10 days off this summer given what is at stake immediately after they return.
“We’ve got a very big prize at the end of it - qualifying for the group stages of Europe,” said Hodson. “If you ask any of the players in the squad do they want to make the group stages of the Europa League then the whole squad is going to put their hands up.
“So the sacrifice is having a short holiday to recharge our batteries. The lads will just use that time we have off and come back ready for the chance to get into the Europa group stages.
“I haven’t got a holiday booked and I don’t think many of the lads have. Obviously, we’ve got the semi-final and hopefully the cup final. I don’t think many of the lads have got holidays on their minds at this moment.
“Plus, for me there are internationals in the summer as well. Northern Ireland have got a game on June 10 away to Azerbaijan. If I’m in that squad I’m sure there will be a few training camps at the end of May, so I probably won’t get much holiday at all.
“But I’m happy enough to go and play for my country and then come back to try to make Europe. I don’t think any of the lads are really concentrating on holidays at this moment as we still have a lot of season to finish off and most importantly get into the cup final.”
Hodson, who joined from Milton Keynes Dons last summer after spending the second half of the season on loan with Kilmarnock, only had a short break last year as he was involved in the Euro 2016 finals in France with his national team.
The 25-year-old, though, is confident he will be able to cope with the demands of domestic and continental competition in the 2017/18 campaign even with less than a fortnight off in the close season.
“Last summer I was away at the Euros,” he said. “I finished with Kilmarnock and went off straight away with Northern Ireland and that was me until June 28. Then I got a week off and made the most of that week, looked after my body. It is what it is and I would take a week’s holiday any day of the year to go to a major tournament, to be honest with you.
“To be part of such an amazing tournament and say you’ve been there and experienced it, I’d have taken no holiday if I was told at the start of last season I’d be making the Euro squad to go away with Northern Ireland. So I’m not too worried about the short period of time off, I just need to use it wisely.
“Top players do it, they come back from the Euros get ten days off and are then back into it, they have internationals throughout the next summer, World Cup the year after that. So if they can deal with it, we have top players at the club and we want to be playing at the top stage in Europe, so if that’s what it takes, a short period of time off, as a group of players that’s fine with us and we’re working hard towards it.”
Rangers were last involved in Europe back in the 2011/12 season when they lost in the Champions League and Europa League qualifying rounds and Hodson knows how important it is to the Ibrox club to be involved at that level against after a six year absence.
“As a bunch of players we know how important it is to be back in Europe next season, not just for us but for the club, the fans and everyone involved,” he said. “So we know it’s going to be important coming back at the start of June and hit pre-season hard to prepare ourselves for that first game on June 28 or 29.
“We’ll concentrate on the rest of this season and when it comes towards the end of this season I’m sure we’ll concentrate more on that first game in the Europa League.
“I’ve not played in either competition. So for me it would be a first, I’d love to play in a major competition like that especially at club level and experience it. As a group of lads there is not one of us that doesn’t want to be there, we all want to be playing in that game on 28th or 29th of June and then pushing onto the group stages. It’s massive for us as a group of players.”
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