TERRY VENABLES’ FOOTBALL TIMELINE
1958 Joined Chelsea as an apprentice before signing professional terms two years later, and then winning a League Cup winner’s medal in 1965 following a 3-2 victory over Leicester. He had earned his two England caps the previous year in fixtures against Belgium and Holland.
1966 Moved to Tottenham and won the following year’s FA Cup with a 2-1 victory over his former club.
1969 Left Tottenham for QPR, moving on five years later to Crystal Palace. 1976 After one season as a player at Palace he retired and joined the coaching staff and, in ‘76, he was promoted to manager. In his first year he took Palace to promotion from the Third Division and just a further two to secure the Second Division title. 1980 Took over at QPR, leading the second-tier side to the 1982 FA Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham in a replay, and the following year to the Second Division title, while becoming both their major shareholder and managing director. He led QPR to a fifth-placed finish and qualification for the UEFA Cup in the 1983-84 campaign.
1984 Left Loftus Road to take over at Barcelona (right). In his first season he led the club to their first Spanish league title in 11 years. However, Barca only finished runners-up in the league during the following two seasons, also losing in the final of the 1986 European Cup on penalties to Steaua Bucharest. 1987 Appointed as Tottenham manager after being sacked by Barcelona.
1991 Venables coached Spurs to 1991 FA Cup glory with a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest. When Venables and Alan Sugar won the takeover battle for the club that June, he was also appointed chief executive, but his relationship with the then chairman gradually broke down.
1993 Sugar sacked Venables as manager, and later that year the BBC’s Panorama programme alleged misdealings connected with Venables’ businesses, which he responded to by threatening legal action. 1994 Appointed England manager. That August, police also dropped their inquiry into allegations he paid Brian Clough a £50,000 bung to arrange a player transfer.
1996 In January Venables revealed he would resign as England manager after that year’s European Championship to focus on pending court cases, but that could not take the gloss off what so nearly became such a glorious summer for the hosts before losing on penalties to Germany in the semi-finals. Venables later described that summer as the “best time of my life”. In July, Venables made an unexpected return to the sport as Portsmouth’s director of football and by November he had been appointed Australia manager, also becoming Portsmouth chairman, having bought the club for £1. 1998 He stepped down from his role of Portsmouth chairman in January and also agreed to a High Court order banning him from holding company directorships for seven years. His return to Palace as manager that April was short-lived, but he was recruited again, this time to be the boss of struggling Middlesbrough, in December 2000. 2002 Having left Middlesbrough after leading them to Premier League survival, he returned for one last job in club management, this time at financially troubled Leeds.
2006 Venables returned to the England set-up as new manager Steve McClaren’s assistant in the summer of 2006. Failure to qualify for Euro 2008 saw them dismissed in November 2007.