May 24 – El Tel Arrives | On This Football Day

May 24 – El Tel Arrives

IN RECENT years Terry Venables has done a good job of destroying all the good work he did during the early days of his managerial career. Since leaving the England job after Euro 96 he’s had unsuccessful spells at Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Leeds United and his last job saw him sitting next Steve McClaren on the England bench, looking resplendent in his snazzy waistcoat, but embarrassed to be a part of the worst ever England managerial set-up.

It’s easily to forget then, that Venables was once in charge of one of the world’s biggest clubs. Today in 1984 he got a new job and a snappy new nickname to go with it, as El Tel took charge of Barcelona.

Venables was as popular as shoulder pads and synthesisers in the ’80s, having won two promotions in his debut gig at Crystal Palace and then taken QPR to the Uefa Cup, god rest it’s soul, in the 1983/84 season.

Loftus Road to Camp Nou is not an obvious move, but Venables was recommended to the Barca by Bobby Robson who was friends with the club president and would later take the reigns himself.

Barca were witnessing somewhat of a trophy drought, having not won La Liga since 1974. El Tel immediately introduced a resolutely English 4-4-2 formation and thanks to the likes of Bernd Schuster, Gerardo and Julio Alberto he was an instant success, picking up the league title in his first season.

Following Barca’s title win El Tel guided them to the next season’s European Cup final, where they dominated Steaua Bucharest, but after a 0-0 draw, lost out on penalties when all their spot-kicks were saved. Penalty heartache, eh? You can take the manager out of England…

El Tel’s response to this was to go shopping back home, bringing Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes to the Camp Nou. Fresh from winning the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup, the Beeb’s main man loved it in Spain during his three-year spell, bagging 21 goals in his first season, including a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Real Madrid. Hughes meanwhile would only last a season before being loaned out to Bayern Munich.

By the start of the 1987/88 season Venables’ position was looking more than a bit precarious. Having failed to add to his debut title win and suffering a humiliating defeat to Dundee United in the Uefa Cup quarter-finals the season before he was on thin ice, and a poor start to the season saw him given the old heave-ho.

He soon found himself back in football though, as Alan Sugar would point his finger at him an exclaim “you’re hired!” and give him the top job at White Hart Lane.

See Linker strutting his stuff for the Catalan’s below and find out which Premier League legend was blowing his top today here.