Venables In Line For QPR Return?

Former England, Barcelona and Tottenham manager Terry Venables has been without a job since he was sacked as assistant manager to then-England boss Steve McLaren 10 months ago. But Venables might have a position lined up for him already, at Queens Park Rangers.  

Venables is a popular figure at Loftus Road. He has already enjoyed two spells with the R’s, once as a player between 1969 and 1974, and later as a manager between 1980 and 1984. He left the R’s in 1984 to team up with Spanish giants Barcelona having guided the Hoops to a fifth placed finish in the old First Division.

It has already been reported that, should current QPR manager Iain Dowie guide the club to the Premier League, the owners will replace him with a more high profile figure. Now it is thought that Venables will be that man following some words of praise from co-owner Flavio Briatore.

“I like the guy,” Briatore told the Sunday Mirror. “I rate him 100 per cent.”

“He has got a lot of experience. He knows about international football.”

“He is the kind of guy we need when we are bigger. He is a bit big for us now.”

It appears that Dowie’s job is safe for now though, as Briatore insisted: “Maybe when we make the next step. I like the management team we have at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Dowie was pleased with the team’s 2-0 home win over Doncaster yesterday having seen his side crumble away at Sheffield United last week. He told a local daily: “The attitude, application and desire of the players to embrace what we are trying to do has been terrific.”

“Doncaster are a very good side, one of the best passing sides in the division, and we nullified that and we had a creativity.”

“The defeat at Sheffield United hurt and we spoke openly and brutally about that in the week and put it to bed. The response was a clean sheet today.”

Ricky Brooks