In the late 80s and early 90s, Dutch football was the envy of much of Europe. Their national side destroyed England’s dreams at Euro ‘88, then broke English hearts (and some basic rules of the game) in 1993 to deny them an opportunity to disappoint the nation at USA ‘94.
Terry Venables took over the national team that year and spent two years coaching them to play with the fluidity of the Netherlands, then hammered the tournament favourites 4-1 at Euro ‘96.
“We talk now about how Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp change systems and change players – Terry was doing that back in 1996,” explained Alan Shearer exclusively to FourFourTwo in a special Euro ‘96 look back interview.
Alan Shearer Explains How England Could Have Won The Euros | FourFourTwo Meets...
“We played three or four different systems throughout the tournament. During that game [vs Holland] we knew we were going to change formation. We knew we were going to flip into a three at the back or four at the back, or Gary Neville was going to push further upfield.
“That’s how good Terry was. But to do that against the Netherlands, given how good a team they were, and to make them look as poor as we did… we felt it was in us, but not as much as that.
“It was a perfect evening – we scored four, we won the game, then conceding one knocked Scotland out too!”
You don’t manage Barcelona without knowing your tactical onions, and Venables clearly did. But furthermore, he possessed incredible man-management skills and they were as valuable to him during Euro ‘96 as his tactical toolbox.
He famously showed faith in Shearer by telling the soon-to-be most expensive player in the world that no matter what, he would start the tournament as England’s no.1 striker. Despite the fact Shearer had only scored five in 23 appearances for his country (and none in the 21 months prior to Euro ‘96) with a dearth of talented no.9s behind him on the bench.
Likewise, he persisted with a hit and miss Paul Gascoigne, knowing there were genius moments still to be unlocked – Gazza’s goal vs Scotland proving to be the lightning rod for England’s tournament.
Prior to that, he stuck by the squad after negative press followed them back from their pre-tournament trip to China where performances off the pitch were more lively than the ones on the pitch.
“Terry was a genius. Everyone loved him and everyone respected him. He made training really difficult but really enjoyable, so much so that you didn’t want to leave the training ground. He was ahead of his time.”
Had Venables dropped Shearer prior to the tournament, the striker is unlikely to have collected the tournament’s Golden Boot, one of the biggest accolades of his career.
“I remember watching the final because I thought, ‘If there’s one thing to come out of the tournament, then maybe at least I’ll walk away with the Golden Boot’. But I was also very aware that Jurgen Klinsmann could have scored a hat-trick, and there was every chance of that because he was facing Czech Republic, who weren’t the best.
“It was pretty much a given: whoever won between us and Germany was going to win the tournament. So I sat there with my hands over my face, praying Jurgen wouldn’t get two or three, so I could at least take home the Golden Boot.”
He did, and Venables deserves a lot of credit his role in making that happen.
Alan Shearer was speaking to FourFourTwo as part of his work with Topps to promote the official UEFA EURO 2024 sticker collection, available now from Topps.com and all good retailers
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