Howe defends comments

DON HOWE last night rejected claims that he advocated Terry Venables, the favourite to be the next Ireland manager, as a potential assistant to new England boss Fabio Capello.

Howe, who is on the FAI three-man committee headhunting Steve Staunton’s successor, was responding to claims that he had compromised this role by recommending Venables to the FA as someone with the “knowledge of the English game (which is) missing from Capello’s otherwise impressive cv”.

Formerly a coach himself during Venables’ stint in charge of the English side in the mid-90s, Howe claimed he was misquoted in his Daily Telegraph column when he expressed the “hope” that Capello would make Venables his assistant.