TV work made Boro job impossible

Terry Venables insists he was "very interested" in becoming Middlesbrough's manager but realised it would have been "impossible" to juggle the job with his television commitments.  

Boro wanted the former England manager to take over as boss at the Riverside Stadium with current manager Bryan Robson working under him.

But Venables says he simply could not square increasing TV commitments with tackling the Boro job.

He is contracted for this season as an expert summariser for ITV's Champions League and FA Cup coverage.

Next season, however, ITV will also replace BBC's Match of the Day and provide Premiership highlights on Saturday evenings.

The channel is expected to screen their highlights show as early as 8pm and plans include a major role for Venables.

That left little room for manoeuvre for Venables and in the end he had to concede it wouldn't work.

"I was very interested in doing the job and if I could have done it I would have done it but I wasn't able to," Venables told ITV's On The Ball.

"I did have commitments which they (Middlesbrough) knew and once it was obvious that television commitments next season were going to be so full it was physically impossible."

Venables did offer to take on the role until the end of the season but says Middlesbrough wanted a longer term commitment.

"I could have done it until the end of the season but they (Middlesbrough) made some very good points why they felt it really wasn't practical. To be fair right from the beginning they wanted it to be longer term.

"All in all I just physically couldn't have got to the TV every Saturday night (if I was) dealing with Middlesbrough as well."

Asked where his non-involvement with Boro left under-fire boss Bryan Robson, Venables replied: "It leaves him in the position where he was a week ago. It's a tough business and all managers go through that - he's got to come out the other side."

Venables accepts that it is unlikely he will return to football management now - "TV is what I do now. Football management is the other thing" - but refuses to rule out a return completely.

Faced with the question 'is this the end of Terry Venables the football coach?', he answered: "Maybe."