EARLY last September, on the eve of the Italian seasonal start-up, I spent an untypically wet Monday afternoon out at Apiano Gentile, the training ground of Inter Milan, about 50 kilometres up the road from Milan and just a stone's throw from the Swiss border.

The object of the exercise was to have a chat with the club's English coach, Roy Hodgson.

One expected to encounter a man in upbeat mood. Here he was, about to start his first full season in Italian soccer following on one where he had taken over an Inter that seemed relegation bound and turned it into a side good enough to qualify for the UEFA Cup. (Incidentally, Inter are still alive and well in the UEFA Cup and tonight face Belgian side Anderlecht in Brussels in their quarter-final, first leg tie).

Inter's summer spending spree had been impressive - French star Youri Djorkaeff (from Pans St Germain), Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano (Real Madrid), Dutch midfielder Aron Winter (Lazio), the unlucky Nigerian Kanu (Ajax Amsterdam, and currently recovering in Cleveland, heart surgery defender Jocelyn Angloma (Torino), Swiss mid-fielder Ciriaco Sforza (Bayern Munich) and defender Fabio Galante (Genoa) had all been added to a squad that already contained useful talent such as Paul Ince, Argentinian Javier Zanetti and Nicola Berti.

One expected the polite and affable Hodgson to be in expansive mood. Not so. He was just a little more than annoyed. Indeed, he was tempted to get his retaliation in first, vis a vis the media, so to speak.

He had not read the week's sports papers, but he knew what they were saying just the same. A finger was being pointed at him, suggesting that even though he had proved a more than adequate fireman in his rescue act the previous season, he simply did not have the qualities and skills that would transform the side into a title winning unit. That week's Gazzetta Dello Sport had spelt it out clearly:

"A problem does exist, however, and he (Hodgson) is the problem. Will he prove capable of leading the (potentially) great side created for him by club president Moratti to long-awaited league title success? Will he be able to handle all the external pressures and inevitable internal disenchantments without losing his way and his job?"

When it was announced last Wednesday that Hodgson would be leaving Inter at the end of the season to take over at Blackburn Rovers, one was tempted to conclude that the answer to the questions posed above by the man from Gazzetta was a resounding "No".

Despite his denials, Hodgson's decision to leave Inter looks like the action of a man who reckons that he has been in the heat of the kitchen just long enough. Even that Monday afternoon, six months ago, he was already fed up with the speculation:

"The Italian media are frightened to put the coaches at clubs like Juventus and Milan under pressure, because those clubs bounce back at them. It suits them to put me under pressure, it suits them to write, "Oh, he's in danger".

Last week, Hodgson added: "If there's a coach in Italy who has proved that he can handle pressure, criticism and even injustice, then that's me. In the last 18 months, all of that has been heaped on my head."

Those hardly sound like the words of a man in love with Italian soccer and/or its ancillary media pressures. Even more intriguing were the words of the club's owner, petrol millionaire Massimo Moratti, who said simply last Wednesday:

"I imagine that Hodgson's leaving because he's had enough of the pressure, and that's understandable."

Hodgson's basic gripe is simple. He reckons the results achieved so far speak in his favour. Ignoring his rescue act last season, just look at Inter's current standing: second in the league, still up and running in the UEFA Cup and only last week knocked out of the Italian Cup by Napoli in a penalty shoot-out at the end of a dramatic semi-final tie.

If you compare Inter's illustrious neighbours, AC Milan, that record does not look bad this season at least. (Milan, of course, are 11th in the league and out of both the Champions' League and Italian Cup).

Despite that record, though, Hodgson found himself nearly coming to blows with enraged Inter fans outside the training ground just over a month ago, on the day after a home draw with Udinese.

In the meantime, starting tonight against Anderlecht, Hodgson can take his revenge on his critics by chalking up another good result. By the end of the season, Inter might be regretting his potentially premature departure.