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How good was Venables?

90sSpursBook

90sSpursBook

Erik Edman
I grew up with the Spurs of the late 80's which culminated in the 1991 FA Cup win. The season before we finished 3rd.

I know there were some dark days too - we were bottom at the start of the 88/89 season and our league form deteriorated rapidly the year we won the FA Cup. Clearly Venables needed to concentrate his efforts on the training pitch and I have heard players of that era saying that they would often go weeks without seeing him at training but I don't think anyone disputes that he had the complete package of being a coach, man-manager, tactician and media savvy.

He then went on to do very well with England and should never have been let go. Just got me thinking that he is still in his 60s so could still be managing (his career and reputation post England has been rather tarnished). Just imagine (lots of if's) if he was for us what Ferguson became at United. DO you think there are parallels?

Should Venables be considered a Spurs legend?....I think he is the only person to have won the FA Cup with Spurs as both player and manager.
 
I think after Nicholson, Burkinshaw and Rowe, he comes in 4th as our most successful post-war manager.

An FA cup win and a 3rd placed league finish can't be argued with.
 
Gutted when he left Spurs. Gutted when he left England. Fantastic manager, proven abroad too.

For me his crowning moments domestically were our FA Cup win and the 4-1 against Holland at Wembley, Euro 96.
 
Gutter Boy said:
I think after Nicholson, Burkinshaw and Rowe, he comes in 4th as our most successful post-war manager.

An FA cup win and a 3rd placed league finish can't be argued with.
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You keep forgetting Deadwood, GB. He hasn't been given long enough to take cup competitions seriously (the first 3 three attempts this season were obviously blips or practises and are rightly being ignored as irrelevant) and he has the best % ratio of any manager don't you know, so it would be unfair to ignore his claim to greatness.
 
AuroRaman said:
Gutted when he left Spurs. Gutted when he left England. Fantastic manager, proven abroad too.

For me his crowning moments domestically were our FA Cup win and the 4-1 against Holland at Wembley, Euro 96.
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what a game that was (although quite possibly misty eyed nostalgia)
 
Venables must be really good as he was the last Spurs manager to win the FA Cup. But then he must have jinxed us as we have not won it since then.
 
I liked it when he was the boss, and I believe he was probably a good bloke to work for and got the best out of people. He was just a little bit too much of a "lad" for the likes of directors and the blazers at the FA. He always was good tactically and had some innovative set pieces up his sleeve. I'm sure he would have adapted with the changes in the game as he was trying things out before others.
 
Had big issues with him in his early days because of his boring negative approach, his obsession with the offside trap and insistence on playing his close buddy Fenwick regardless of the latter's consistently abject performances.

However things gradually improved over time, once inspired acquisitions like Gascoigne, Walsh, Lineker and Stewart had settled in.
 
I think if he'd had Gazza, Waddle and Lineker in the same side, we'd have won the title…I loved him at the time, but he did have a bit of the bull****ting raconteur about him. The main difference was, however, that he continually tried to test himself at the top. Barca, England, us…I think what made me like him more was the fact that Sugar hated him LOL...
 
I always felt that he could have achieved more as a manager (club or international)but his off-field activities and business interests got in the way. Euro 96 was special, I wonder if our national team could ever bring us that feel good factor again :|
 
Spur of the moment said:
Had big issues with him in his early days because of his boring negative approach, his obsession with the offside trap and insistence on playing his close buddy Fenwick regardless of the latter's consistently abject performances.

However things gradually improved over time, once inspired acquisitions like Gascoigne, Walsh, Lineker and Stewart had settled in.
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I was never a big fan. He lost me when he proclaimed that we wouldn't play the offside trap and he then signed his mate Fenwick so we could do so. W began to look like a poorer version of the team down the road. Gascoigne and Lineker lifted us out of mediocrity. Stewart was a poor signing as a center forward (I think the bar is still shaking from that penalty he missed) and it was a fluke that he ended being a success in midfield. I missed the game, but know he was moved back there only because we went down to 10 men and was a revelation.
 
Lily White said:
I always felt that he could have achieved more as a manager (club or international)but his off-field activities and business interests got in the way. Euro 96 was special, I wonder if our national team could ever bring us that feel good factor again :|
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I think that his undoing was always that he was more interested in making money than he was football.
 
I think he had lost interest in coaching at the end of his tenure at WHL, leaving it to Livermore & Clemence (who did a good job, in my view). He was more a DoF at the end, identifying good young talent such as that Gascoigne chap; OK, anyone could have spotted Gazza's talent, but he managed to persuade the lad to come to us.
 
our purchases during the eighties was very spotty... pretty much dire signings and then wham! someone like gascoigne or lineker...something of a galacticos thing that got everyone all excited. on the pitch it would be much the same... dire football then a moment of brilliance. but we had character and some style. not sure if venables had total control of the purchases as I recalled we were working through some financing issues throughout the eighties, but on the pitch it was pretty entertaining when we were allowed to play our game.
 
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