Portsmouth’s Tony Adams was doing a Q & A at Nationwide’s Swindon HQ on Monday.
He said that Terry Venables was great for him in Euro 96, he kept it simple when talking to players, that Steve McClaren bringing him in is a great coup, and so on.
What Tony says about Tel is exactly what you would expect him to say. Most players who worked with Venables says he is a great coach and every tabloid hack who has ever got a story from him says he is a great coach.
However, I’ve always had huge reservations about Venables, who indulged Gazza at Spurs to a ridiculous degree. We heard stories about Paul Stewart and Gazza being grossly overweight, wearing bin liners under their tracksuits to sweat off the booze, and having races in the groundsman’s motorised lawn mowers at the training ground.
In their first game of Euro 96, Tel’s England were over-run by Switzerland, and he spent the second half making defensive substitutions to scramble a 1-1 draw.
Yes, they thrashed a divided Holland team 4-1 with England’s best tournament peformance since they lost 1-0 to Brazil in a thriller in Mexico in 1970, when Jeff Astle missed that sitter and Gordon Banks made that legendary save from Pele.
So Tel gave us our best win in 26 years. But that was all you got from Terry Venables : one memorable victory. The rest of his England games were dull and most of them were draws.
When it really mattered in the Euro 96 semi-final, Gazza was too tired to tap in from 12 inches against Germany and we lost the penalty shoot-out, as always.
As England coach, he did not deliver in 1996. So can he atone for that failure by helping Steve McClaren win the European Championships in 2008 ? Don’t put money on it.
FOR WEEKS Rooney’s form has been a matter of daily debate.
Banned from England, correctly, suspended by the FA, harshly, Rooney came back from his metatarasal and his bans and has struggled to find his match fitness, his touch, his game.
England play Macedonia in Manchester on Saturday and Steve McClaren has said he will start Rooney, even though he is not scoring and nowhere near his best form.
Why is the lad struggling?Is it just time? Does he need another four weeks? Does he still lack games?
Myself, I’m a bit worried. It looks as if the pressure is getting to him. And that is because the pressure is incessant. Since amazing the world with his high-powered artistry at Euro 2004, a lot has been expected from Rooney in every game. He is in the spotlight. He is in the crucible.The laser beams of expectation are shining on him and there is no escape. His fame is amplified by the communications technology that goes with twenty-first century celebrity, so Wayne Rooney’s form is the sporting issue of the moment. Forget bungs and dim young Craig Allardyce, or Lord Stevens telling us to wait another eight weeks for his definitive bung report, Rooney’s form is the big issue.
At Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo is flying, and maybe CR gets one-on-one advice from Sir Alex’s assistant Carlos Queiroz.
But who is there for Wayne ? Sir Alex said when he signed him that Rooney doesn’t need him to tell him how to play football.
And Sir Alex, nicknamed “Razor Elbows” when he played centre forward for Rangers, loves aggressive players. Scholes cannot tackle but he is still kicking people ten years later. Sir Alex loved Keane, he loved van Nistlerooy. He values the belligerence of Rooney, who intimidates opponents, as Keane did.
Rooney, a macho teenager, always seemed very self-contained, always denied needing help He has always said : leave me alone to do my thing.
But, at the same time, he is a shy lad and maybe he fears opening up. Maybe he thinks that advice will clutter his mind and cause him to lose his edge.
Having said all that, Wayne Rooney is cooler than Gazza, less vulnerable, less self-destructive.As we saw recently when Wayne and Colleen and three other couples were having dinner in the Panacea restaurant.
Blackburn’s Michael Gray, who was drunk, approached their table and suggested they share the girls around, taking two each. Rooney asked him to go away three times, as did the staff. But when Gray still insisted on being obnoxious Rooney, without getting out of his chair, clipped Gray on the chin and flattened him.
It was not a brawl caused by a rough scouser from Croxteth.And it did not involve a civilian. It was just a small incident in a restaurant. It was a shame that Michael Gray got pissed and behaved stupidly. But many British footballers do that.
Two weeks ago Sunderland manager Roy Keane was a Sky pundit at Old Trafford and said that Rooney still has “a hell of a lot to do. Wayne has achieved nothing. I would judge players over a few years rather than one or two.”
Roy is right. At the moment Rooney’s achievements are less impressive than his talents, and that’s partly because he does not consistently use his talents to maximum effect.
Why is that ? Is Sir Alex the right manager for him ? Would Rooney benefit from a move ?
So Saturday could be interesting. If Venables is half as talented as Tony Adams says he is, the assistant coach must be able to help Wayne Rooney regain his form against Macedonia.
Clearly, if Rooney scores against Macedonia, and again in Croatia next week, the form issue goes away and the footballer comes back.The real Rooney could be back in business. And if Rooney plays better for England at Old Trafford than he does for Manchester United, it doesn’t reflect well on Ferguson, does it ?