ROY Hodgson takes on former club Liverpool this Saturday claiming he has no regret over his lack of spending power at Anfield.

The Albion boss endured a miserable six-month spell in Merseyside, culminating in his dismissal in early January.

His successor Kenny Dalglish spent £58million during January following Hodgson’s departure - although £50million was raised by the sale of Fernando Torres - before splashing out a further £50million during the close season.

Hodgson’s spending capabilities were hamstrung by uncertainty over the club’s financial future, not least as the Reds were in the throes of a change in ownership.

But he bears no resentment toward Dalglish or the resources he has at his disposal.

He said: “The fact is that when I went in it was a time of transition and the first job for the people that employed me was basically to make certain the club didn’t go into liquidation because there were major problems with the previous owners not being able to meet the bank’s demands and the bank maybe closing the club down.

“The first thing was to get the club back into a situation where it could operate properly and not only did they do that, they organised it so when the new owners came in the club was totally debt-free, which is a great advantage.

“And the new owners have added to that by investing in the squad.

“The situation now is vastly different to the situation I had but I realised when I went in there that there was going to be a change of ownership and that these things can always happen.”