Middlesbrough fudge on the menu

Middlesbrough, not a place previously noted for its fudge, came up with one of the most intriguing recipes for some time yesterday when Terry Venables finally joined the town's football club on a six-month contract three days after the Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson emphatically ruled him out of the job.

In the strongest possible terms Gibson had said privately on Friday that after courting the former England manager for almost three weeks Venables had no chance of becoming Bryan Robson's boss until the end of the season.

But at 4.30 p.m. yesterday, there was Venables sitting at the right hand of the Middlesbrough chairman, beaming like a child with a selection box on Christmas morning. A weekend is a long time in football. On the other side of Venables sat Robson, unshaven and not looking as relieved as he said he was. It is the task of the temporary trinity, led by the venerable Venables, to breathe fresh air into a club that has been allowed to become stagnant.

The fact that Venables was sitting in between the two men who had let it get that way was all part of Middlesbrough's losing recipe. Robson, for example, despite Sunderland being Middlesbrough's next opponents, said he was watching last night's match on television rather than seeing them in the flesh.

Venables was not much better. He was flying back to London. He will return on Friday. He, too, was going to watch the game on television. But then Venables is a television personality now, to the extent that he said yesterday: "That is what I do. People keep talking about my other things but that's my job. Football has become the other thing." He will be working for ITV tomorrow night.

Earlier he had said: "I'm going to dust the cobwebs off the tracksuit and see if it still fits." If you happen to support Middlesbrough, these were not the most reassuring words. If you happen to be Gibson, you might worry as to what exactly you were getting for an alleged £50,000 per week.

But then there were several confusing responses from all three men yesterday. Even after Venables had categorically stated that he could not work for the club beyond next May because of his television contracts, Robson continued to peddle the line that Venables might stay on: "He's come here in the short term. Hopefully we'll be so successful it'll be longer than that. I'm happy Terry's come in, it worked well for England. But we'd sooner have six months than none at all. At this moment in time this is the best we can do for Middlesbrough Football Club."

Effectively Robson has been demoted, although Venables said that his title was first team coach rather than manager. But on the crucial question of which one of the pair would pick the team, Venables said first it would be a joint decision, then that it would be him alone.

"It'll be both of us," Venables said. "It'll take me four to six weeks to learn about the players. But if I'm going to coach the team then we thought it would be better if it's me."

"It'll be mainly Terry selecting the team," Robson confirmed, "like when we worked together with England. He'll bounce things off me."

But when it comes to persuading a player to move to the Riverside Venables was realistic about the likely reaction. "They're going to say: `Well, you're only going to be here for six months.' That would not be a good selling policy. Bryan will have the last word on that, I think. It wouldn't be completely right if I have the last word on things. Bryan is the future of the club."

Gibson indicated that that remained his view of Robson's situation but the 43 year-old will surely face doubts when trying to re-establish his credibility with his players after Venables' departure.

Middlesbrough visit Tottenham, his last club in the top flight, in three weeks. Alan Sugar will be delighted. And before that, in Venables' first home game, Middlesbrough entertain his first club Chelsea. He joined them in 1958. Those were Venables' salad days. Yesterday it was only Middlesbrough fudge on the menu.