Venables can hold World Cup star Rio

LEEDS legend Peter Lorimer believes Terry Venables can keep World Cup star Rio Ferdinand and teammate Lee Bowyer at the club.

Speculation has been rife all summer that the Elland Road side would be forced to cash in on record signing Ferdinand to help balance the books with Manchester United reportedly ready to launch a £30m-plus bid, while Bowyer has signalled his intention to leave regardless of the new appointment.

However, Lorimer is confident that the new boss has the charisma and the pulling power to persuade both those players and the board that they should stay where they are.

''I think it's a great appointment personally,'' he said. ''He's a top coach, he has charisma, everything that you would expect a club of Leeds' stature to have, a high-profile manager.

''Everyone knows his coaching ability, he's won the title with Barcelona, coached England - you don't get a lot more experienced than that.

''I'm just hoping it will be a thing that will keep Ferdinand and Bowyer at the club. I would hope they might look at Terry Venables coming in and stay at Leeds. It could happen, and if anyone could keep them here, it would be him. I think there's a big chance. The money that Leeds have got to raise isn't a fortune - £15m - and they could sell two or three other guys who have been bit-part members of the squad and probably get that kind of money.

''Rio never said he wanted to leave and Lee wanted to leave for personal reasons, and that could change now.''

Lorimer is not concerned by the fact that Venables is arriving on a relatively short contract, and suggested that similar arrangements could be the way forward for football in general.

''Two years is long enough for any manager,'' he said. ''In football nowadays, if you tie people to too long a contract, it's a rope around your neck.

''If you need to let someone go, there have got to be big settlements. You have to tie players down because of Bosman, but clubs and people are going to have to realise that these long-term contracts can take too much money out of clubs. Terry will be happy to have two years, and if in 12 months things are going well, they'll soon extend that for him.''

Venables, 60 in January, will join a growing band of senior managers still plying their trade in the Premiership into their seventh decade with Newcastle's Sir Bobby Robson leading the way, and Lorimer admits there is no substitute for experience.

''You cannot replace the experience that these guys have got,'' he said. ''A lot of them are father figures who can pass on a lot of experience to players and handle it probably better than younger managers who haven't been through what they have been through.

''They've seen it and done it. Terry did it at Barcelona with top players, at Tottenham beforehand and with England. He'll be able to handle those guys.

''It's proved it at Newcastle with the change around at the club and the success they've had there under Bobby Robson.

''Manchester United can't replace Sir Alex Ferguson and his achievements, and you look at Arsene Wenger and Gerard Houllier - they're not young men, but they've got the experience and the coaching ability, and you can't buy that.''

Meanwhile, the club's fans welcomed Venables' appointment as manager - and then challenged him to force the club to extend his contract.

Ray Fell, chairman of the Leeds United Supporters' Club, said: ''I'm delighted actually. It's a good appointment. He's an experienced manager with a good track record and charisma both for the public and the football club.

''We have a good squad and hopefully, he's the man to take us that stage further.

''There's a lot of speculation on the contract - is it short-term to set it up for somebody else? But I don't think he's the kind of man to be used as a stop-gap. It's an opportunity to get back into football and I think it's a case of both he and the club protecting themselves.

''What I'm looking for is for him to make it an initial success over two years and then force an extension to that.''

Leeds fans have faced an anxious wait over the last 10 days or so as the machinations have gone on behind the scenes but Fell is confident that the Board has taken its time to ensure that the right man is in place. ''I know that the Leeds board have thought long and hard on this and studied all the options, and I understand that this is the first approach they have made to a manager,'' he said.

''Venables is respected both within and without the game. He's respected by players and has a good track record both at home and abroad.

''He has phenomenal experience and everyone knows all about him, and that sounds good.''

Meanwhile, Leeds fans would love to see Robbie Fowler and Robbie Keane leading the line together, say the results of the latest poll on the Leeds United official website.

No less than 46% believe a Fowler-Keane partnership upfront would yield the goals United need to push for a Champions League spot next season, whilst 18% claim Fowler with Michael Bridges, on his way back after 18 months out of action through injury, would be an exciting combination.

Current first choice striker Mark Viduka is favoured by 12% to link up with Robbie Fowler, a partnership that did yield returns last season.