Terry Venables dies aged 80

Former England and Tottenham manager Terry Venables dies aged 80 after lengthy illness

Terry Venables, who led England to the last four of Euro 96 on home soil, also had spells in charge of Tottenham, Leeds, Barcelona and Crystal Palace.

The ex-manager led the Three Lions during Euro 96, guiding them to the semi-final, and also took charge of Barcelona, Leeds and Tottenham during his managerial career. His last role was as Steve McClaren's assistant during his ill-fated time in charge of England.

A family statement read: "We are totally devastated by the loss of a wonderful husband and father who passed away peacefully yesterday after a long illness."

Venables was on the books of Chelsea, Tottenham and QPR during his playing days. One of his highs in management was leading Tottenham to the FA Cup at the old Wembley in 1991. Current England boss Gareth Southgate, who played under Venables with the national side, has previously talked up the impact he's had on him.

He said previously: "As a player, you play for coaches who help you develop as a person and a player. He (Venables) challenged us tactically. With international players, you’re dealing with top players so they want to keep learning. He created an environment that was fun to be in. One of his sayings was 'this is not a rehearsal'.

"This wasn’t a rehearsal for us. You might only get one crack at a World Cup, so we wanted to give it as good a go as we could, and generate memories. You learn from all your coaches, from watching their teams play, watching them, from discussions.

"Any coach wants to keep finding new ways to help their players and teams. But you have to be your own person as well, marry things to your beliefs and values."

Venables landed the England job in 1994 after the disappointing reign of Graham Taylor but decided to stand down just two years later, before Euro 96, over contract demands.

But despite intense media scrutiny, he took England to the semi-finals of the competition on home soil before the heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to Germany.

It remained England's best performance in a major competition since 1966, until Southgate - who missed the decisive penalty at Wembley - led the Three Lions to the final at Euro 2020.

"It was the summer of a lifetime. People still stop me in the street to bring it up. It was magnificent, the biggest sporting occasion I have ever been involved in. The nation was behind us and we thought we had enough to win it, but that's life," Venables said back in 2021.

He later had spells in charge of the Australian national side, Crystal Palace and Leeds, while also joining up with Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough.

Daily Mirror