INSULTS, AFFAIRS AND BUNGS... POISONED
SINCE England’s last World Cup semi-final in 1990, they have appointed nine full-time managers. Yet those nine men have, between them, insulted the disabled, had an affair with an FA secretary, fallen out with the FA over the captain, offered to tap up another national captain and shown a willingness to guide businessmen through loopholes. Here, Sportsmail revisits each of the cases from the Three Lions’ muddy recent past. TERRY VENABLES Five months before Euro ’96, Venables had announced his intention to step away from the role that summer. He cited upcoming court cases as the reason behind his decision to walk away. In 1994, a police inquiry cleared Venables of allegations that he paid Brian Clough a £50,000 bung for the transfer of Teddy Sheringham. Venables would say that there was a ‘concerted and organised campaign’ to discredit him. GLENN HODDLE In a January 1999 interview, Hoddle expressed his personal views on faith and the human spirit. He was quoted as saying: ‘You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains. ‘Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap.’ Hoddle’s opinions — which he later claimed were ‘turned on their head’, ‘misconstrued’ and ‘misinterpreted’ — outraged disability groups, supporters and MPs. It soon emerged that Hoddle had previously aired similar thoughts in another interview. By February 2, he was stripped of his role. SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON Eriksson was involved in two major, public ‘controversies’ during his tenure.