Hodgson signed Davies while at Blackburn 11-years-ago in a £7.5million deal, but the striker failed to make an impact at the club.
But Davies became an instant hit when he joined Bolton under Sam Allardyce.
Hodgson said: “Unfortunately he didn’t succeed for me. He had a bad time there.
“We didn’t get any real benefit from him and he didn’t succeed at one or two other clubs afterwards but Sam gave him a lifeline when his career was definitely very much going in the wrong direction.
“I’ve talked to him about this when I met him at Bolton a couple of years ago and he grabbed that lifeline with both hands. For the last five or six years he’s been a fantastic player and a fantastic servant to Bolton.”
“It’s no surprise to see his form over the last few seasons. It’s quite strange because the summer we signed him we had a good year and got into Europe.
“People were speaking very well of Blackburn and thinking we could have another good season, and Kevin Davies was hailed as an excellent signing by virtually everybody.
“Of course the major problem was losing Chris Sutton and Kevin Gallagher in the first couple of weeks of the season. We had to throw Kevin in and when it didn’t work out for him things got worse and worse.
“He certainly put that behind him and now he’s a highly respected front player in the country and a player most teams would love to have.
“I’m pleased with that because I’m pleased to see I’m not totally incompetent when looking at forward players. I’m pleased he succeeded even if he didn’t help me at the time.”
