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England legend Paul Gascoigne backs 'unbelievable' Terry Venables to replace Fabio Capello
The 44-year-old has put forward the former national team boss as a possible candidate to take over the reins, but hastens to add that Harry Redknapp is the obvious choice
09-Feb-2012 1:55:46 PM
By Alex Young
England legend Paul Gascoigne has given his backing for the "unbelievable" Terry Venables to replace Fabio Capello as Three Lions boss.
The Italian's shock departure came on Wednesday night, and was immediately met with a flurry of speculation over who should replace him, with Tottenham's Harry Redknapp the noticeable favourite.
"If Harry didn’t want it and Spurs weren’t willing to let him go I would give Terry Venables a shot again. With a shadow of a doubt. The man is just an unbelievable manager," Gascoigne told Sky Sports.
But the 44-year-old was quick to add that he fully expects Redknapp to land the role, praising the Spurs boss in the process.
He added: "[Redknapp is] a great bloke. Everyone would love him as the England manager because he is a player's man. Everyone would want to play for him and he’s proved that at the clubs he's been to. Fantastic manager. He’s like Terry Venables. Harry’s a similar type of bloke.
"[Capello's resignation is] a massive shock to everyone especially with the European Championships just around the corner.
"They’ve still got time to get a manager in and get the team that he wants but, I think, with that John Terry position you could see that [the resignation] around the corner.
"As Sir Alex Ferguson said 'the most important person is the manager'. I know as an England player the squad that he’s got – half of them will be quite pleased and half of them undecided. It’s a massive thing."
Venables was boss of the national side while Gascoigne was still playing between 1994-1996, covering the Euro 1996 tournament where England were knocked out at the semi-final stage by Germany on penalties.
The Italian's shock departure came on Wednesday night, and was immediately met with a flurry of speculation over who should replace him, with Tottenham's Harry Redknapp the noticeable favourite.
"If Harry didn’t want it and Spurs weren’t willing to let him go I would give Terry Venables a shot again. With a shadow of a doubt. The man is just an unbelievable manager," Gascoigne told Sky Sports.
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He added: "[Redknapp is] a great bloke. Everyone would love him as the England manager because he is a player's man. Everyone would want to play for him and he’s proved that at the clubs he's been to. Fantastic manager. He’s like Terry Venables. Harry’s a similar type of bloke.
"[Capello's resignation is] a massive shock to everyone especially with the European Championships just around the corner.
"They’ve still got time to get a manager in and get the team that he wants but, I think, with that John Terry position you could see that [the resignation] around the corner.
"As Sir Alex Ferguson said 'the most important person is the manager'. I know as an England player the squad that he’s got – half of them will be quite pleased and half of them undecided. It’s a massive thing."
Venables was boss of the national side while Gascoigne was still playing between 1994-1996, covering the Euro 1996 tournament where England were knocked out at the semi-final stage by Germany on penalties.
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