BRYAN ROBSON was last night in managerial limbo as Middlesbrough reopened talks with Terry Venables over his proposed move to the Riverside Stadium.

In a dramatic U-turn which seemed to even take Robson by surprise, Boro chairman Steve Gibson launched a last-ditch bid to land Venables as manager - but only until the end of the season.

The former England coach, whose commitments to ITV prompted Gibson to pull the plug on talks at the weekend, has offered to take over the reins from Robson while Boro fight for their Premiership lives.

Defeat at West Ham on Saturday left Boro second bottom with only one point from the last 24 and multi-millionaire Gibson, who has bankrolled net transfer spending of close to £35m in Robson's six-and-a-half years in charge, is growing increasingly anxious about his club's worsening plight.

Venables revealed yesterday that he had offered last week, during protracted negotiations, to fit in a six-month Boro rescue plan around his work as ITV's principal football pundit.

Robson, fearing such an arrangement would have an unsettling effect on his players, rejected the idea and after Saturday's game insisted he was ready to fight on alone.

Following news yesterday of Venables' offer to take the job on a short-term basis, Robson was less forthcoming. "I've got nothing to say. I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything,'' he said.

It seems that Robson is under pressure from Gibson to rethink his position over Venables' new proposal.

Venables, who at Robson's behest was originally offered a two-and-a-half year deal to be Boro's full-time boss, said: "I could help out for six months.

"I said to Bryan: 'I'll take it to the end of the season, you have a break for six months. I'll deal with the press and the team.

"But he wanted me there for much longer and I respect that. I would never do anything he wasn't happy with.

"Bryan wasn't convinced it was a good idea. He didn't think it was settling to his players and staff with no-one knowing what was going on.''

Immediately after Saturday's game, Robson said: "There is only one person who could help make Middlesbrough a better club at this moment in time, and that's Terry Venables.

"If it was good enough for England for me and Terry to work together, I thought it was good enough for this club.

"I haven't got the same respect for anybody else who is available. It just wouldn't happen with anyone else. I wouldn't make the offer to anyone else because I think I would be able to get on with the job myself.

"I've seen the club grow and I want to see it grow even more.

"Other candidates have been mentioned, but I don't think there is anybody better than me for this job.

"I'll try to turn things around, but I know that if I don't do that soon, the chairman will sack me. I'm not resting on my laurels.

"If anyone thinks I'm only in this job because of my friendship with the chairman, they don't understand the situation.

"There's no getting away from the fact that, if it gets towards the end of the season, there aren't too many games left and we're still in the bottom three, the chairman will probably have to look at the situation.''

But last night all the signs were that Gibson had decided to act in a bid to finally secure Venables and ease the crisis