Venables has fears - but Cup will survive

Middlesbrough coach Venables, a Cup winner as a player and manager with Tottenham, last night leapt to the defence of the grand old lady of the English game.

The decision of then-holders Manchester United to withdraw from last season's competition to take part in the inaugural World Club Championship, was widely seen as an act of soccer sacrilege.

This season, for the first time in Cup history, the final will be staged outside England at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, while Wembley faces an uncertain future.

And the influence of television, which now dictates that ties are played on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays as well as Saturdays, has for many detracted from the excitement that the Cup generates.

But Venables, who leads Boro into tonight's televised third-round tie at Bradford, maintained: "I don't think the Cup has lost anything.

"It bothered me when Man. United came out last year that the competition might lose something.

"But they're back in it and that's restored it. I think other things might affect the Cup - the Champions' League, maybe a future world league. That worries you a bit.

"But I think, if any Cup is going to survive, it's ours. When I was in charge at Barcelona, the players always wanted to watch the English Cup final. It's pretty important all round the world.''

Unless he is persuaded to stay with Boro beyond the end of the season, Venables' future is as a high-profile pundit with ITV.

However, while acknowledging the big-money deals the game enjoys from the small screen, he was quick to admit that the rescheduling of Cup ties to suit television is not to his liking.

"Call me a sentimental old fool, but I like to see everyone play at the same time - on a Saturday afternoon,'' said Venables.

"But television is in control now and they've earned that right with the payments they've given the game. The way football has been driven on by TV has made the sport the size it is now.''

But Venables is in favour of breaking with one tradition, and would scrap FA Cup replays to reduce fixture congestion.

"What's always been good is the cut throat nature of the Cup - you're in or out,'' he said.

"I believe you should have a result on the day. It would cut our fixtures down. In America, they maybe can't teach us much about our game, but they can teach us what a supporter wants - and that's a result.''

Venables was a member of the Tottenham side that won the Cup against Chelsea in 1967, and he masterminded Spurs' 1991 triumph over Nottingham Forest.

"I would say it's more of a high for a manager to win the Cup than it is for a player,'' he said.

"As a player, you're only looking after yourself. As a manager, you're looking at the bigger picture and you feel ten times worse if you lose and ten times better if you win.''

The Cup clash with relegation rivals Bradford is a distraction from Boro's fight for survival.

But a run of five games unbeaten has strengthened Venables' belief that Premiership status can be preserved.

He said: "We're capable of doing it - but we've still got to work extremely hard.

"We're not playing fantasy football. We're in the hard reality of getting results and we're in a very precarious position.''

Venables refuses to discuss the possibility of extending his stay at the Riverside. "I haven't got time to indulge in my own feelings about what might be weeks or months down the road,'' he insisted.

"I enjoy working with the players and we're getting results. It may be a boring answer, but I can only concentrate on this.

"We've got to keep the run going and maintain the same attitude. We've got to go through the experience of losing at some stage, but that's exactly what I don't want.

"You can't be governed by that - you've got to govern it, otherwise you'll be pulled and pushed around by results. You've got to hold firm and say: 'This is what we're doing and this is what we believe in'.''

Skipper Paul Ince looks set to return for Boro after missing the New Year's Day draw at Leeds with knee and groin injuries. "He looks a lot better,'' said Venables.

Keith O'Neill, another absentee at Elland Road with back and hamstring trouble, is suspended.

Boro (from): Schwarzer; Fleming, Festa, Vickers, Ehiogu, Gordon, Ince, Mustoe, Okon, Karembeu, Ricard, Boksic, Whelan, Deane, Stamp, Hudson, Job, Crossley.

l Stan Collymore is again facing life in the soccer wilderness as hopes of resurrecting his troubled career outside Britain are on the brink of collapse.

Bradford striker Collymore is currently locked in talks with Stuttgart officials and lawyer Jonathan Crystal about a proposed £500,000 move.

But City chairman Geoffrey Richmond has revealed negotiations ''don't appear to be going well'' with any potential breakdown of the deal leaving Collymore out in the cold.

That is because Bradford boss Jim Jefferies has made it clear to Collymore he does not have a future at Valley Parade, despite having only been at the club for 10 weeks.

Having signed a contract until the end of the season after moving from Leicester, with the option of a one-year extension, Collymore then hit the headlines by scoring a stunning overhead kick on his debut in the 1-1 draw at home to Leeds. But Collymore has started just six of 13 matches, with the 29-year-old having missed several training sessions due to a recent wisdom tooth operation.