Venables: The Autobiography

This autobiography of Terry Venables, one of the most charismatic and colourful characters in English football traces his life from growing up in Dagenham, Essex, the son of an English docker and a Welsh mother. Venables is among the game's most successful players and managers and was chief executive of Tottenham Hotspur FC until his controversial sacking by the chairman of the club, Amstrad boss Alan Sugar. Venables grew up in Dagenham, Essex, the son of an English docker and a Welsh mother. He began playing football professionally at the age of 17, and remains the only player to have been capped at every level from schoolboy to international. At 32 he embarked on his managing career, first at Crystal Palace, then at QPR, Barcelona and Spurs, guiding each team to victories and establishing a reputation as the sport's best coach. At Spurs he rescued the club from being bought by Robert Maxwell and later brought in fellow East Ender, Alan Sugar, as financial saviour and chairman. But the fans' dream combination of Venables and Sugar went disastrously wrong, and Sugar ousted Venables from the club, with bitter recriminations on both sides. Terry Venables' autobiography describes the enterprise of running a football club and also tells the inside story of the power struggle between Sugar and Venables. Venables, too, as one of football's most astute commentators, gives a real insight into the national game and discusses his experiences working with some of its greatest players and managers, from Gascoigne to Docherty. He also describes his many other interests outside football, including his business running nightclubs and pubs - and even his little-known singing career.