Venables prepared for hostile reception on return to Palace

Terry Venables is well known for his penchant for a bit of karoake singing. Yesterday, instead of the usual Frank Sinatra covers, it was pure Edith Piaf. "Je ne regrette rien" was his theme.

The Leeds United manager, having already been warned of a hostile reception for the fifth- round FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace tomorrow, said he was annoyed at the way he was being blamed for the First Division club's ills following his second ill-fated stint in charge four years ago.

"I had a particularly bad problem at that time when I left as my father had just died the week before and it didn't mean such a fantastic lot at that particular point," Venables said. "But it doesn't sour the memories of my first time there. You accept it as a bad experience, but when you get blamed as well that's what is annoying."

So when asked how much responsibility he should accept for the financial crisis which took Palace to the brink of closure, Venables replied: "None at all. I think it's fair to say he [the then chairman, Mark Goldberg] offered me a very, very good contract and I accepted it. I'm guilty of accepting a contract. I wasn't the highest-paid person at the club anyway, and they had just come down from the Premier League, so the wages were high.

"I did feel for him in lots of ways because I don't think he was guilty of too much except for being a bit naive in lots of directions, because in the end he did spend a lot of his own money. I think he meant well, but he had his problems.

"But the fans are completely misinformed and they don't know the facts. Considering I had two spells there and one particularly good one, the whole thing disappoints me."

The first time he left, of course, after the promise of the "Team of the Eighties", did not please many fans either. After guiding Palace from the Third Division to the First, Venables quit for Queen's Park Rangers and took a number of the Eagles' best players with him.

"That happens," Venables reflected yesterday. 'They had to sell and we wanted to buy. I knew what I was buying and it was a good position to be in. But they tell me I'm not in for a good reception, so the tin helmet will have to come on again.'

Still, he is used to that after the initial flak of his first few months in charge of Leeds and the recent financial turmoils which are wearing down the club. Ironically, of course, Venables is one of the few figures to come out of the débâcle with his reputation enhanced.

He will need all of his survival skills tomorrow. 'They [the fans] really don't like him,' Gordon Law, the editor of a Palace fan website, said. "They're going to give him a bad reception, a hard time. The match is much more than a cup-tie... If we win, it'll be like he got what he deserved."

Also joining in the criticism was Goldberg, who gave Venables a £1.3m-a-year salary in advance, a £500,000 interest-free loan and a £650,000 house. "Terry saw me coming and took advantage, but who can blame him," Goldberg said.

Venables stayed for little more than seven months – a period that saw Goldberg bankrupted and the club left in the hands of administrators.

Hayden Mullins, the young midfielder who will play tomorrow and who was given his first-team debut by Venables, said: "I don't know whether the fans think Terry deserted the club or whether they realise he had to go.

"We went through some very hard times after he left. We didn't have a training ground and sometimes you'd come in and the mood would be really down."

That is one thing it will not be when he returns tomorrow.