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With the unsavoury dismissal of O'Leary, the Leeds board, headed by Ridsdale opted to look for experience.
It was on July 8th 2002 when Ridsdale announced that Terry Venables would be taking over, as the new Leeds
United manager. Venables had limited success under his belt, taking QPR to the FA Cup final and winning a
Spanish league title with Barcelona.
Although, Venables was currently working as a telly pundit, when approached by Leeds and
he also had a reputation as the cockney wide boy. There was a lot of dubious Leeds fans around,
who argued if he was the right man for Leeds. But no doubt he got their support once he was in charge.
He had limited money available and by this time the financial situation at Leeds was bleak. Star
players in the team were gradually been off loaded and Venables felt he'd been lied to. Ridsdale
had spun Venables in his web, with his 'crown jewels going nowhere' spiel.
Despite the sales though he still had more than enough talent availabe to do a lot better.
His term started well enough with a 3-0 win over Man City and things were positively looking up
with a 1-0 win over Man United, six games in. Leeds after that win were at the top of the league,
but by Christmas had dropped to 14th in the league. The final straw came after the defeat at
home to Middlesborough. Venables resigns after a disastrous 8 months, leaving Leeds in a desperate
15th place.
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