The dilemma in assessing the multi-faceted life and loquacious career of Terry Venables is deciding where to start. He was modern football’s renaissance man, applying an ever-inventive broad brush to the canvas of his modern sporting life, with all of its attractions but all of its distractions.
The death of Venables at 80 generated a flood of tributes from the game in general and a notable cascade from his players in particular. Venables was a football man at heart and one can only speculate how far, how high and for how long he could have ruled the domain had his inquiring and inventive mind not sought to open so many other doors.
Easy enough knowing where to start: Dagenham, East London, home to the Ford motor plant and