Why Venables is a credible candidate

IT IS CUSTOMARY in these parts to wait until a new Irish manager is installed before we fall to tearing him and each other apart.

In the case of Terry Venables, you could say that folk are busy getting their retaliation in first.

Since he initially emerged as the hot favourite for the job, Venables has found himself subject to intense cross examination with, in the case of prosecutor-in-chief Eamon Dunphy, the emphasis most definitely on cross.