Editing Terry Venables (section)

===England===
Venables was appointed manager of the [[England national football team|England national team]] on 28 January 1994, having been recommended to [[The Football Association|the FA]] by [[Jimmy Armfield]].<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=10}}</ref> He came under intense scrutiny and censure in the media for his business dealings, which led MP [[Kate Hoey]] to state in Parliament that Venables was unfit for the post of national team manager.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=9}}</ref> He appointed [[Bryan Robson]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tntsports.co.uk/football/world-cup/2018/redemption-song-gareth-southgate-semi-finals-and-football-coming-home_sto6839357/story.shtml |title=Redemption Song? Gareth Southgate, semi-finals and football coming home |first=Mike |last=Gibbons |publisher=[[TNT Sports (United Kingdom)|TNT Sports]] |date=9 July 2018 |access-date=3 July 2024}}</ref> [[Don Howe]] and [[Mike Kelly (footballer, born 1942)|Mike Kelly]] as coaches, and put [[Dave Sexton]] in charge of the [[England national under-21 football team|England under-21]] team.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=21}}</ref> He took England to a second-place finish in the [[Umbro Cup]] in June 1995, but temporarily froze [[Paul Ince]] out of the international set-up after Ince declined to play in the tournament.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=37}}</ref>

As England automatically qualified for [[UEFA Euro 1996]] as hosts, he organised friendlies to allow him to experiment and find his best squad for the tournament, and particularly to find the best tactical system to suit the players.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=39}}</ref> Venables decided to stand down at the end of Euro 1996 after the FA's International Committee chairman [[Noel White]] refused to grant Venables a contract extension in December 1995; the FA insisted on evaluating England's performances in competitive fixtures before deciding on his future.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=40}}</ref> In May 1996, [[Glenn Hoddle]] was announced as his successor, meaning that Venables would have no choice but to stand down as manager no matter how well England performed at the tournament.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=79}}</ref>

Having selected [[David Platt (footballer)|David Platt]] as captain during the friendly matches, Venables decided to appoint [[Tony Adams]] as captain for Euro 1996.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=55}}</ref> He stood by his players in the face of media criticism before and during the tournament, which grew particularly intense after [[Paul Gascoigne]] and several others were photographed drunk in a nightclub during a team stay in [[Hong Kong]]; Venables went so far as to accuse some reporters as being "traitors" for what he described as a "witch-hunt" against England players.<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=58}}</ref> England drew with [[Switzerland national football team|Switzerland]] in the opening group game before beating [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]] 2–0 and the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands]] 4–1. After his retirement, Venables described the win over the Netherlands as "perfection – my most thrilling experience in football".<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=5}}</ref> England advanced past [[Spain national football team|Spain]] in the quarter-finals with a victory on penalties, before being eliminated by [[Germany national football team|Germany]] on penalties at the semi-finals following a 1–1 draw and a missed penalty by [[Gareth Southgate]].<ref>{{harvnb|Venables|2014|p=78}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5HL1003fqxn9krxj0gfMpD6/euro-96-gazza-asked-me-what-are-you-doing-moller |title=Euro 96: "Gazza asked me 'what are you doing" – Moller |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 July 2021 |archive-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409142755/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5HL1003fqxn9krxj0gfMpD6/euro-96-gazza-asked-me-what-are-you-doing-moller |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to [[Alan Shearer]], who played for Venables at Euro '96, "Terry's knowledge and tactical know-how were spot-on and he knew how to get the best out of us too. We responded to him, believed in him and played some outstanding football in that tournament."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2890/world-cup-2010/2010/06/29/2000788/alan-shearer-fabio-capello-to-blame-for-englands-world-cup | title=Alan Shearer: Fabio Capello to blame for England's World Cup failure, not players | work=Goal | access-date=23 June 2018 | first=Zack | last=Wilson | archive-date=24 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624041246/http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2890/world-cup-2010/2010/06/29/2000788/alan-shearer-fabio-capello-to-blame-for-englands-world-cup | url-status=live }}</ref> Southgate said, "Terry opened my eyes to things that no one else has. He has fantastic tactical awareness. Every senior player in the group went away having learnt a lot from him, which is an achievement."<ref name="williams"/> On the Euro '96 team, Rob Smyth wrote in ''[[The Guardian]]'', "Under the managership of Terry Venables, this was an admirably enlightened, flexible and relaxed England side, one for the modern age; they even played a genuine 3–5–2... against Scotland and Germany. But they still weren't actually that good." Smyth argued there were "only two decent performances" by England in the tournament, against the Netherlands and Germany.<ref name="Euro 96">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/jul/04/1 |title=On Second Thoughts: Euro 96 |work=The Guardian |date=4 July 2007 |access-date=29 March 2019 |location=London |first=Rob |last=Smyth |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329000751/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/jul/04/1 |url-status=live}}</ref>