FA backing for Venables
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If Terry Venables was in charge of a Premiership club, he would be emptying his desk. One vote of confidence is usually enough to see off a manager but yesterday the England coach received his second in two weeks.
This came from the chairman of the Football Association's international committee, Noel White, who reaffirmed his faith in Venables even though fellow committee members had implied the FA had less than overwhelming faith in its man.
Ian Stott, the chairman of Oldham Athletic, reacted to news that Venables faced possible disqualification from being a director of any company by the Department of Trade and Industry by saying that was why the former Tottenham manager had been named coach rather than manager in January 1994.
Stott, speaking to the Daily Mirror, said: "No one is helped by accusations of this nature."
White, who along with Stott was on the three-man panel which chose Venables as Graham Taylor's successor, made it clear, however, that the coach retained his support. "Terry has a contract which takes him up to July 1996," he said, "and we all need to support him in his aim of doing the very best for England in next summer's European Championship."
White, a director of Liverpool, declined to comment directly on Stott's claims, although he did point out: "When we gave Terry the title we were restyling the job for what we feel ought to follow... that the man in charge of the England team should be involved in coaching rather than administration. After all, how many managers at top clubs are involved in financial affairs?"
A fortnight ago White also issued a strong statement of support for Venables after reports that an unnamed member of the international committee had said that he and his colleagues felt disquiet about recent events.
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