Terry Venables led England on an unforgettable ride at Euro 96, with Gary Neville as the right-back; Neville praised his tactical nous and ability to foresee how games would be won and lost; Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou also paid tribute to the former Spurs boss
Monday 27 November 2023 13:46, UK
Gary Neville has hailed Terry Venables as the most technically gifted British coach following his death aged 80.
Former England manager Venables died aged 80 on Sunday.
Venables was at the helm for England's unforgettable run to the semi-finals of Euro 96 after forging a highly successful club managerial career with Crystal Palace, QPR, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur.
Former England and Manchester United defender Neville was part of the Three Lions side that captured the imagination of the public and he paid tribute to the tactical innovation Venables used as national team boss.
"One of my great regrets and disappointments with England is that he was unable to continue after Euro '96," Neville said.
"He was a huge personality and character, larger than life and, I think at the time, too big for the FA to handle.
"We lost out with England through that change because he was onto something special. He developed a great spirit but also a really technically gifted, tactically aware team of leaders like [Paul] Gascoigne, [Paul] Ince, [Tony] Adams and [Stuart] Pearce.
"He managed them really well, with young players coming through as well. But he was unable to take us beyond that tournament.
"We talk about Pep Guardiola now in terms of the outcomes of matches. He called it in training three or four days before.
"I'd never played under a coach as good as Terry Venables at that. He would almost predict the outcome of games.
"At Euro '96, we played four or five different systems and changed systems within games. I've got no doubts this was the most technically gifted and tactically aware English and British coach that we've ever produced."
Neville paid a further tribute to his former manager on the Gary Neville Podcast, recalling his stature within the England dressing room as well as a personal memory from his fourth cap, a 0-0 draw away to Norway in October 1995, and the level of man management he never saw from any other England manager.
"Terry wins LaLiga with Barcelona, and takes them to a Champions League final," he said. "People will say oh, he won it with Barcelona, of course you should, but I don't think they'd won one for 11 years.
"He was a brilliant man. He could handle big players, he was strict with the senior players, in their performance levels but also their behavioural and discipline, he didn't just go for the younger ones.
"When England managers ordinarily get the job, because they only have the players for a few weeks at a time, they don't want to risk falling out with them. Terry didn't care about that, he had the authority, confidence and stability to say he was the boss and he quite clearly was.
"There is no English coach I've ever seen do what he did. We've had great coaches who have played strict, rigid systems and with good ways of playing, but Venables had the ability.
"He was a technical coach who could coach in Spain, anywhere in the world, and players would think this guy really knows what he's doing.
"My first away game for England was in Norway, and there was a prominent journalist who wrote for The Sun at the time, who gave me four out of 10 and put the words next to it that I was a nervous wreck and totally out of my depth.
"It caused me a lot of anguish at the time when I read it the next day. Terry rang me on the Thursday and had a long conversation with me. He didn't have to do that - he didn't know I'd read it. But he said he wanted me to know if I'd read certain comments which had been written about me, I'd done everything he'd wanted and that I was on track to be part of Euro 96.
"I can't think of another time an England manager rung me up out of camp. He was my first England manager, my best England manager. I don't think England have reached the heights in terms of the football that they did in Euro 96.
"As much as Gareth Southgate has done an incredible job, he would be the first to say the football we played in that tournament was ahead of its time."
Meanwhile, Tottenham's current Australian head coach Ange Postecoglou, a former Socceroos boss, paid tribute to Venables after his side's 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on Super Sunday.
"If you are asking about a person who embodies everything this football club has always wanted to be, it is Terry," Postecoglou told Sky Sports.
"He was the manager for the [Australia] national team and almost got us to the World Cup, but the biggest testament is that anyone who I have ever come across that has worked with him will say he is by far the best coach, manager and tactician they have come across."
