Remembering Terry Venables as England manager: A thoughtful tactician who produced superb highs

Terry Venables, who has died at the age of 80, is probably the England manager of recent decades most admired across the country. It’s an impressive status given the fact that, in his period as England manager, he only actually recorded two competitive victories: against Scotland and the Netherlands.

Coincidentally, upon his appointment nearly three years before those victories were recorded on home soil at Euro 96 — and before the draw for the tournament had even been made — Venables was spending a lot of time thinking about those nations.

Venables’ problem was that, as hosts of Euro 96 and having failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1994, England had no competitive matches for over two years beforehand. He recognised this issue and wanted to bring back the concept of annual England vs Scotland games, with the old rivalry likely to produce fearsome, high-tempo matches beyond what you usually expect from international friendlies.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, provided Venables’ footballing inspiration. As a youth team player in the 1950s, he regularly travelled to the Netherlands for football competitions. Although his sides usually prevailed, he grew to admire the Dutch love of adventurous, positive and technical football. It served him well in the mid-1980s when he coached Barcelona — still obsessed with Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff — with whom he won La Liga in 1985. At the time of his appointment as England manager, the Ajax side coached by Louis van Gaal — who Venables would come to befriend — were becoming the most admired side in Europe.

Venables as Barcelona manager in 1986 (Mike King/Allsport UK//Getty Images)

Venables’ Scotland plan failed. Although the Football Association were keen to arrange friendlies between the nations, their counterparts north of the border said no.

The Dutch plan was more successful. Venables flew to Italy to speak with then-England captain David Platt, before meeting with Tony Adams, who Venables would eventually select as captain instead of Platt. Venables asked them both whether they agreed England should undergo a stylistic revolution, moving on from the days of Graham Taylor’s simple — and ultimately unsuccessful — long-ball style. Both agreed and Venables pressed ahead with his plan.

From there, Venables had a clear plan of attack — quite literally. He wanted England to play possession football, to press high up the pitch, and to be tactically flexible. He immediately brought to an end the careers of midfielder Carlton Palmer and centre-back Des Walker, who lacked the technical qualities to play the football Venables wanted. In his first match in charge, a 1-0 victory over Denmark, he handed debuts to three young technical players: left-back Graeme Le Saux, winger Darren Anderton and, as a substitute, No 10 Matt Le Tissier.

England played in a 4-3-2-1 ‘Christmas tree’ shape, which was so unheard-of — and in such stark contrast to the boxy systems England had played previously — that Venables came to be associated with that system. But it was only one of the various systems England used. They could also play 3-5-2, 4-3-3, or a more traditional 4-4-2, usually with one forward dropping deep. England were, at this stage, as flexible as any side in Europe — perhaps with the exception of the Netherlands.

In this era, it was often said great teams were built from the defence, but Venables deliberately built from the front. In a 2-0 victory over the USA in September 1994, Venables played Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham together up front. It worked well, so Venables’ mind was made up. He would stick with that pairing when fit over the next two years — despite Shearer’s remarkable 13-match barren spell for England and the presence of the likes of Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright in reserve.

Venables overwhelmingly appreciated good technical players. He also handed a debut to winger Steve McManaman, who would play in various roles, and Gareth Southgate, a much more refined, intelligent defender than some of his predecessors in an England shirt. Gary Neville was selected after fewer than 20 Premier League appearances and used as a right-sided centre-back, a right-back and a right wing-back in a variety of systems.

Venables also learned from England’s poor performances. They were outplayed by Romania in a 1-1 friendly draw in October 1994, with England’s midfield passing not up to scratch. For that match, it was the tenacious Paul Ince in midfield alongside the box-to-box Rob Lee, who was later replaced by Dennis Wise, another combative player. But this midfield wasn’t good enough for the type of football England wanted. Venables then decided he would use his old favourite from Tottenham, Paul Gascoigne, alongside the intelligent, measured Jamie Redknapp — although Redknapp’s injury problems would result in a recall for Ince, with whom Venables had a difficult relationship.

But England’s core group for Euro 96 felt very ‘Venables’. Of those who started at the tournament, only Shearer, Platt and left-back Stuart Pearce had represented England at Euro 92. It was a mini-revolution and with Le Saux, the ideal left wing-back, unavailable through injury, Venables’ bold plan with the 3-5-2 was to field two attack-minded wingers at club level, Anderton and McManaman, in the wing-back roles.

Pre-tournament advertising, which did not age well (Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)

England weren’t magnificent throughout Euro 96. They started poorly against Switzerland, possibly affected by nerves.

But then they produced two of the most memorable England performances in living memory.

In the second group game, Venables finally got his wish of playing against Scotland at Wembley, on a scorching hot Saturday afternoon. He started with Southgate as more of a midfielder than a defender, leaving Pearce, Adams and Neville as the back three. Southgate could drop back into defence when required. It was a move borrowed from the Dutch playbook.

England weren’t quite passing the ball well enough, however, so at half-time Venables sacrificed Pearce, moved Southgate into a permanent defensive role, and introduced Redknapp in midfield.

This changed the game. Redknapp wouldn’t last the whole half, struck down by yet another injury, but during his time on the pitch he spread play wonderfully and put England in command.

England’s opener came at the end of a flowing passing move when Neville, part of the back three, remember, overlapped to the byline and crossed deep for Shearer to nod home. Then, after David Seaman had saved a Gary McAllister penalty, England broke quickly and Gascoigne scored arguably England’s greatest goal, popping the ball over Colin Hendry’s head with his left foot, then smashing it home with his right. It was the type of run Venables had always encouraged him to make at Tottenham: not just in support of the forwards, but in behind them.

Paul Gascoigne's memorable strike against Scotland came #OnThisDay 26 years ago! 👏pic.twitter.com/p7a28xszbc

— England (@England) June 15, 2022

England needed only a point against the Netherlands to guarantee progress and in some quarters, Venables was encouraged to play cautiously.

But this was his chance to do something he’d always wanted: to coach a Dutch-style side to victory against the Dutch. Therefore, his system was highly attacking. With the Netherlands expecting their back three to be comfortable against England’s strike pairing, Venables moved McManaman forward into a front trio with Shearer and Sheringham, who played deeper than usual to drag out Michael Reiziger. Anderton tucked into midfield alongside Ince and Gascoigne. The Dutch back three couldn’t cope in the first half and when Guus Hiddink switched to a back four at half-time, that left them overrun in midfield and England’s domination only grew.

The goals were excellent, too.

The first was a penalty scored by Shearer, but it had been won when Ince, England’s deepest midfielder, charged forward into the box. Like Neville’s assist against Scotland, it showed how England’s notionally defensive players were given freedom to attack. “Movement off the ball is something we’ve been working on,” said Venables afterwards.

The second came from a corner, headed home by Sheringham, after a speedy attack from Anderton and McManaman.

Happy birthday to former #ThreeLions striker Teddy Sheringham! 🎂 pic.twitter.com/fIi2hdfWxW

— England (@England) April 2, 2022

The third was a picture-book goal, started when Adams moved into midfield to win the ball proactively and then allowed Gascoigne to take it forward to the left. He swapped passes with McManaman, drove into the box and then, with the Dutch defence dragged to one side, Gascoigne and then Sheringham transferred the ball across to Shearer, in oceans of space, for the third.

The fourth was a Sheringham rebound after Anderton had driven inside and his shot was parried by Edwin van der Sar. The Netherlands’ late consolation, meanwhile, took the Dutch through and therefore eliminated Scotland, which was the icing on the cake for many England supporters.

England didn’t complete the fairytale. In the quarter-final, they were fortunate to squeeze past Spain on penalties, especially given their opponents had a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside. They fell at the semi-final stage in a shootout after a 1-1 draw with Germany, when Venables surprisingly elected not to make a single substitution in 120 minutes.

Venables consoles Gareth Southgate after England’s semi-final exit (Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Yet Euro 96 is not remembered as a painful underachievement but instead as a glorious near-triumph. It’s difficult to separate this from the wider context — a new-found confidence about England in general, a summer of great weather, the rise of the Premier League, the popularity of Britpop — but Venables’ side contributed not merely by going far in the tournament, but by doing so with an expansive, positive style of football and with a fresh set of players.

Just two years after England had failed to qualify for the World Cup and less than a decade since English sides were banned from playing in European competition, suddenly England felt like the centre of European football. The concept of ‘Football’s Coming Home’ was not about the destiny of the trophy but about the hosting of the tournament. In a competition rather low on excitement overall — just 2.06 goals per game — England provided much of the fun.

It brings to mind the words of Johan Cruyff when remembering his Netherlands side’s defeat in the final of the 1974 World Cup. “Maybe we were the real winners in the end,” he once said. “I think the world remembers our team more.”

England didn’t get to that level, but given Venables was so inspired by the Dutch style of play and considering his side was defined by that 4-1 win over the Netherlands, it feels an apt reference point for what England produced at Euro 96.

(Top photo: Phil Cole/Getty Images)