Only time will tell
Terry Venables would make a fine Ireland manager says Tony Cascarino.
Tony Cascarino, 18 Nov 2005
he people who are horrified by the idea of Terry Venables becoming Ireland manager obviously don’t know very much about football, because he’s an excellent coach who’s rated by virtually everybody who’s played under him.
Detractors will point to Terry’s unsuccessful stints at Leeds, Crystal Palace and Portsmouth, but at Elland Road he was lead up the garden path with false promises about not having to sell players, and appeared to take the other two jobs to bankroll his court case against Alan Sugar.
After that, it’s all positive. He was a huge success at Barcelona, got the best out of Gazza at Spurs and took England to within a whisker of winning Euro ’96.
I’ve asked round and keep getting the same answer, which is that if Terry takes the Ireland job it’ll be for the right reasons. His favouring good one-touch football will suit a lot of our lads, and bring the excitement back to the national side that sadly evaporated under Brian Kerr.
He may have had his falling-outs with chairmen, but at no club where he’s managed has there been a split in the dressing room. Rather than scream and shout, he treats his players like men and let’s them have their say in the dressing room.
Liking guys with pace, I imagine he’d have Stephen Elliott in his starting line-up and have an immediate look at Manchester City’s Willow Flood and Stephen Ireland. He would also put a spring in the step of people like Matty Holland and Kevin Kilbane who looked increasingly dejected during the World Cup qualifiers.
Another thing in his favour is that he’s media friendly, and doesn’t allow criticism to get to him like Brian did. Terry’s good mates with Joe Kinnear, so he’ll know all there is to know about the FAI and come into the job with his eyes open.
There’s been talk of him having Stevie Staunton as his number two but, no disrespect to Stan, why would he want to work with somebody he doesn’t know? It’s far more likely that he’d bring in one of his trusted lieutenants like Ted Buxton who’s somebody else players naturally respect.
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