Maybe El Terence can work

"It's not all about Tel," he said. But was Paul Ince right or was Paul Ince wrong?

It was around 5.45 on Saturday teatime and Ince, Middlesbrough's captain, was sitting in the Stadium of Light talking about his new manager, the estimable Mr Terence Venables. Ince was stressing teamwork, player responsibility and the fact that Boro know they are in a battle for survival - "and I do like a battle". He spoke well.

Where Terence himself was at that particular point was a matter of some conjecture, but the knowledge that the last plane to London leaves the north-east at 6.50 figured highly in conversation.

Which was a shame. It meant we had no words of wisdom from Dagenham's finest and, if there is one thing Very Tenables is good at, it is words. He could go on the telly.

As evidence of that, even though he had been in position for only 24 hours - give or take a few spent drinking with Peter Reid on Friday night, a chimps' tea party - Venables somehow managed to coax a performance from Christian Karembeu that verged on the reasonable. Given that Bryan Robson had conspicuously failed in that task, Venables could claim at least one improvement in his time on Teesside.

Karembeu was still pretty rubbish - and lapped out of a tackle with Michael Gray late on when the game needed to be retrieved - but the 40 per cent effort he put in was up 39 per cent on his previous best. In his own disgraceful way, the French World Cup winner had come to epitomise everything bad about Robson's regime. He had been bought on his reputation, clearly had few alternatives and looks about as happy at Middlesbrough as had Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Karembeu is responsible for the worst display this column has seen in years. It was at home against Newcastle United, a local derby where pride is everything. Karembeu committed the greatest sin of any professional footballer: he did just enough. No more, no less. He took the ball and passed it. Short and simple. But no more. It was shocking. This is a man who plays for France.

It is said the sheer audacity of the display caused uproar in the Boro dressing-room, where Karembeu is now about as popular as Fabrizio was before him. But El Tel must have said something to Karembeu when he came on after 13 minutes to replace Phil Stamp. Maybe Tel remembered some lingo from his time at Barcelona. "Viva Espana, Christian," something like that.

And then when you saw Karembeu weave around a couple of Sunderland players as if they were training cones, you realised what Robson was thinking about in the first place. Karembeu beat two, set up Curtis Fleming and his cross should have been buried by Hamilton Ricard. There were three minutes to go. It would have been 1-1. Middlesbrough would not be bottom of the league. And then you thought that, actually, through all the nonsense that surrounds both Vegetables and Middlesbrough, this might work. It might make sense. Middlesbrough, after all, have been trying to be a showbiz club ever since Robson started flying off to Rio to buy next season's players. At the minute they have Karembeu, Alen Boksic, Carlos Marinelli and Joseph-Desire Job in their ranks.

Now they have a celebrity manager, someone who has appeared on Stars in Their Eyes. Maybe El Terence can speak to them in a language Bryan Robson can't. Karembeu played for France in Euro 96; it could be that he recalls Venables from then. There may even be some respect for Venables' achievements with England and Barcelona, limited though they are.

"He makes everything simple," said Ince of the man who managed him for England, and it was by far the most telling statement anyone has made on the whole subject. It did make you wonder, though, if Robson did not make everything simple. But things are simple for Bryan now. As of this morning Venables takes training. Robson can only look, and it is to be hoped, learn. He seems like a man in need of a break. Standing on the sidelines for a few months could be the beginning of his regeneration. "I think to take a backward step will do him the world of good," said Robson's chairman Steve Gibson yesterday. Perhaps he meant a step backwards.

"It will make him stronger, not weaker. I think that says a lot about Bryan because, frankly, what usually happens in times of stress like this is that people immediately protect their own position. He hasn't done that." Good communicator that he is, Venables will get the message across that Middlesbrough need to protect their position. Quickly. Ince was right, it's not all about Tel.