This is one of the hardest obituaries I’ve ever had to write. The news of the death of Terry Venables last weekend was a great shock. He’d endured a long illness but few of us were aware, and so when the news came through on Sunday morning it stopped me in my tracks.
Venables was present through my formative years as a football supporter. I never supported any of the clubs he was in charge of, but he was one of those blokes you just had to love. Well, I did, anyway.
In days before cynicism and tribalism clouded many people’s judgement, when he was given the job of managing Barcelona it was like he was going off abroad to represent us.
His ability to bring out the best in his players made his teams always worth watching.
When England failed to qualify for USA ’94, just four years after being a penalty kick away from the Final, the national team was at a low ebb.
A Quarter-Final place in ’86 then a Semi-Final next time, surely England hadn’t gone backwards? Where was the talent? English football had re-branded into a Premier League with more money being ploughed in, but had the years in isolation during the Heysel ban affected the game more than anyone realised?
England needed a saviour, it needed someone to galvanise the country, bring everyone together. Enter Terry Venables.
And what a difference he made to it all. All of a sudden there was talent, we did have great players and Terry was the man to believe in them. Under his influence boys became men. He gave those who watched some of the best memories they’ve ever had, and those who played under him, the best time of their career.
You could argue Euro ’96 gave the Premier League the boost it needed. Grounds were full, the atmosphere terrific and of course, there’s nothing like a host nation going deep in a tournament to really fire it up. Players from other nations were seduced by it all and they began to move here in their droves.
His tenure in charge of the national team lasted just over two years, 24 matches. Yet for many it is still remembered as one of the greatest tenures of any England manager.
Yet if you just looked at what he won, there wasn’t much to live up to the hype. But Terry had charisma, he had charm, he had a tactical brain years ahead of others. When many English coaches were suspicious of foreign methods, Terry lapped it up. When he arrived at the Nou Camp he was possibly the most cosmopolitan of any eligible English coach.
Barca had appointed perhaps the most Italian of English coaches, the most German, maybe even a Dutch-type coach.
Spain had a huge respect for English managers. English clubs had dominated European club competition in a way only Real had managed in the early days of the European Cup.
As he stood on the pitch at the Nou Camp, decked out in a yellow Barca shirt, during the summer of ’84, Liverpool had just won the European Cup for a fourth time. English clubs had won six of the previous seven Finals.
For Barcelona, it was over 10 years since they last tasted La Liga success. Not only had they fallen behind their fierce rivals from the capital but the previous four titles had been shared by Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. Athletic were now just one win behind Barca’s haul and that just wouldn’t do.
In the press over here, Venables was nicknamed ”El Tel”. But how did he get the job? He’d never won anything. He had an FA Cup Final and two Division Two championships to his name, but hardly anything to flatten the bubbles in the champagne at the Bernabeu.
What Venables had was a reputation, and you have to go back to the last days of his playing career to discover how this grew.
Terence Frederick Venables was born in Dagenham on 6 January 1943. He was a wonderkid or a hot prospect as Football Manager would have him. He was the first player to represent England at every age level. First playing for England schoolboys then the youth and amateur sides before being picked for the U23 side in 1962.
In October 1964 he made his full England debut. On 21 October he lined up at Wembley in a friendly against Belgium. Then in December, he was picked for the trip to Amsterdam to take on the Dutch. Alan Mullery made his debut in that match and the two would find themselves linked several times throughout their career.
He was never on the winning side as England drew both matches. Sir Alf Ramsey chose him in a list of 33 possibles for the 1966 World Cup, but he never made the final squad. He never pulled on an England shirt again.
He had joined Chelsea when just 15 and was in the Youth Cup winning team in 1960 and 1961. His performances prompted some in the press to label him “the new Duncan Edwards”.
Early on in his career, he showed signs of tactical nous. When Tommy Docherty took over from Ted Drake at Stamford Bridge, the pair endured a difficult relationship. Venables thought the Doc to be tactically limited.
Those around him said he was already exhibiting attributes compatible with the coaching side of the game. So much so, he took his FA coaching badges at just 24 receiving a distinction.
His first piece of silverware as a professional came when Chelsea won the League Cup against Leicester City in 1965. The Final of the competition in those days was over two legs. At Stamford Bridge in the first game, he scored a penalty past Gordon Banks to give Chelsea a 2-1 lead. They eventually won that tie 3-2. A goalless draw at Filbert Street gave them the trophy.
That Chelsea side contained John Hollins, George Graham and Eddie McCreadie, who all went into management once their playing careers were over.
Venables was in good company.
That season was a memorable one for the club as they reached the FA Cup Semi-Finals, only to lose to eventual winners Liverpool.
In the league, they were in with a shout of the league title. Over the Easter period, they’d just beaten Liverpool, 4-0 and drawn 2-2 with West Brom to go top. There were three games left, all of them away from home.
They travelled to Anfield and lost 0-2. Docherty had told the team they could have a night out after the match. After the result, he changed his mind. Eight of the team, including Venables, ignored him and went out anyway.
Docherty suspended all eight for the rest of the season.
The decision backfired as they went to Burnley and were thumped, 2-6. Their title hopes were crushed as Leeds and Man Utd passed them. Docherty reinstated the group for the final match of the season but the damage was done. They lost at Blackpool and Venables never forgave his manager.
Docherty responded by putting his young star on the transfer list. As Chelsea suffered another FA Cup Semi-Final loss the following season, Venables was off to north London signing for Tottenham.
The 1966-67 season saw Spurs finish third in the league and they too reached the FA Cup Semi-Final. Venables, this time, was a winner as they beat Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough.
Ironically, his old side was in the other Semi-Final and this time they were successful too. This set up a fascinating Final between Venables’ current side and his old one.
Lining up in midfield alongside Mullery he was part of an FA Cup-winning team for the first time as they won 2-1.
Once again he had a difficult relationship with his manager, claiming he found Bill Nicholson to have a negative attitude. He lasted at White Hart Lane for just three years before moving back to West London and this time to Queen’s Park Rangers.
He said the move changed his life. QPR were a Second Division side and four years later they finally won promotion to the First Division. By then manager Gordon Jago was using Venables in a coaching capacity in training sessions.
QPR may have been the place where he felt he started to gain confidence as a coach but it was his next move where he others began to take notice.
Join us tomorrow as Venables starts to make the transition towards being a manager in his own right.
