Keane may be victim as Venables grasps nettle
The 59-year-old arrived in a blaze of glory to confirm his latest return to club management, but admitted that one of his early tasks would be to sell several members of his expensively assembled squad to balance the books.
However, he confirmed his determination to ensure England defender Rio Ferdinand reportedly a £30m-plus target for Premiership rivals Manchester United and Arsenal remained at Elland Road, and was hopeful of persuading midfielder Lee Bowyer, being linked with a big money move to Liverpool, that his future, too, laid with his current employers.
But Venables admitted it was inevitable that cuts would have to be made after David O'Leary's high-cost, but ultimately unsuccessful, tilt at honours.
"We know that if we could, we'd like to keep them all," he said.
"But the reality is that we have to deal with a certain situation. It's no secret, Peter (Ridsdale) has mentioned the fact that there's £15million to be found, and that's what we've got to do.
"I knew that, I took the job on that understanding, and we will do whatever we can to satisfy that side of the club.
"But I still feel we've got a very, very strong squad and in the future, once we solve a few problems, we might be able to move on."
Bowyer and Frenchman Olivier Dacourt, as well as Keane and Kelly , have all been touted as possible victims of the cull, but Venables insisted he would do all he could to keep Ferdinand, to whom he was yet to speak, at the club.
"Like anyone, you would try to point out why he should stay and I will be emphatic in that statement to him.
"He'll have to understand the situation, and I think basically, where we can reach him is the fact that he loves to play football.
"You can see that by the way he plays. He's come on in leaps and bounds and he's an outstanding player.
"I think there's got to be an awful lot of credit to Leeds United for laying out the money that they did at the time when a lot of people frowned on it."
Venables admitted the offer to return to the Premiership had come out of the blue, but it had not taken him long to make up his mind that the time was right to pull on the tracksuit again.
"I always say 'you never say never', so I left the door open a little bit and of course, when I got the call from Peter on Friday, it was very exciting and I just felt it was too much to resist," he said.
"I didn't want to do the job for doing the job's sake because I've done it before for many years, and as much as I've loved it, I need to feel it's where I had a chance and I think that we could actually do well and go right to the top.
"I think this is definitely a club that's got that potential. Now potential is one thing and making it reality is another, but we have that possibility, and I also think we have that drive within the squad and in the club to go right to the top."
Venables insisted the length of his contract an initial two years was not significant amid suggestions that he was keeping the seat warm for Martin O'Neill, and vowed to fight to make sure it was extended. "The situation as such is that I hope to prove that I'm worthwhile to do this job longer," he said.
His latest deal will take him into his seventh decade and any extension well into his 60s. However, he admitted he still could not see himself collecting his bus pass while still working.
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