He led the team to the European Championship at home: the former England manager is dead

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English football mourns Terry Venables. The former England coach died on Sunday at the age of 80. “We are devastated by the loss of a wonderful husband and father, who passed away peacefully yesterday after a long illness,” his family wrote in a statement this weekend.

Venables started his career as a 17-year-old teenager at Chelsea. Until his retirement in 1976, he played for Tottenham Hotspurs and Crystal Palace, where he also started his coaching career.

Venables celebrated his greatest successes at FC Barcelona from 1984 to 1987 with the Spanish championship title and victory in the League Cup. In the final of the European Cup (the current Champions League) in 1984, the Englishman and Barça failed against Steaua Bucharest.

At the height of his coaching career, he was given the honor of guiding the England national team to the European home championship in 1996. There, the “Three Lions” only failed in the semi-finals against eventual European champions Germany. Most recently, he worked with Steve McClaren as assistant coach of the England national team for a year until retiring in 2007.

Gary Lineker, who played under Venables at Tottenham, is struggling to keep his composure. To X he pours out his heart that he was devastated when he heard about Venable’s death. «The best and most innovative coach I have had the opportunity to play for. However, he was much more than just a great manager: he was lively, he was charming, he was funny, he was a friend.” (Men)

Source : Blick