El Tel was offered the Newcastle post just before Joe Kinnear took it. Newcastle wanted to appoint Venables on a game-by-game deal but the then 65-year-old wanted a fixed period contract, citing that there was "too much uncertainty" with what the club had offered him. In reality, he was never a viable candidate to take the club forward in the long term but would have been a much more qualified option to take the club through to the end of its most turbulent season of recent times. Surely with his track record the club would have stood a much greater chance of surviving in the Premier League. A case of 'what if' for sure.
