Barry Venison (born 16 August 1964) is an English football coach, former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...
and sports television pundit.
As a player was a defender from 1981 to 1997. He played for
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
,
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...
,
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
and
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
. He was capped twice by
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
.
Following retirement, he became a television pundit and most notably worked on
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.The Premiership'' between 2001 and 2004 whilst the network held the rights to show
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
highlights. In 2016, he was given his first head coaching role at
Orange County Blues
Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship.
The team plays its home game ...
, succeeding
Oliver Wyss
Oliver Wyss (born August 29, 1974) is the President of Soccer Operations and General Manager for the Orange County SC.
Biography
Wyss was born in Solothurn
, neighboring_municipalities = Bellach, Biberist, Feldbrunnen-Sankt Niklaus, Langendo ...
.
Club career
Sunderland
Venison was born in
Consett
Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019.
History
Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...
, County Durham. He played for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
at youth and under-21 level in his early days. He started his club career in his native
North East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
with
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
and set a record when he became the youngest captain at a
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
cup final when, aged 20 years and 220 days, he skippered Sunderland against
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
in the 1985
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
final in place of the suspended
Shaun Elliott
Shaun Elliott (born 26 January 1957) is an English former professional footballer.
Career
Elliott was a central defender who began his career with Sunderland before playing for Norwich City, Blackpool and Colchester United. He also played with ...
. Unfortunately for both Venison and Sunderland they lost 1–0.
Venison had originally made his debut for the Black Cats, aged just 17, on 10 October 1981 in the 2–0 league defeat to
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
at
Meadow Lane
Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 until 2017.
It currently h ...
. He went on to play in 20 league games that season scoring one goal in the process. The steady and reliable right full-back settled into first team football well at
Roker Park
Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated ...
and became a firm favourite in 1983–84, when he missed just one league game.
At the end of the 1984–85 season, the same season in which they had reached the League Cup final, Sunderland were relegated to the Second Division. After Sunderland's failure to win promotion in 1985–86, Venison asked for a transfer as his Sunderland contract neared expiry in 1986, so he wrote Liverpool as that was the only team he wanted to play for.
By the end of the 1985–86 season he had made a total of 205 appearances for the Wearsiders; 173 of them in the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
. He had managed two goals.
Liverpool
It was
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
manager
Kenny Dalglish
Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for th ...
who acted quickest and duly offered him a deal. The recent Double winners paid Sunderland £200,000 for Venison's services on 31 July 1986, with a view to him becoming a long term successor to the ageing right-back
Mark Lawrenson
Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After a short career as a manager, he then became a radio, television and internet pun ...
.
Venison made his Liverpool debut on 16 August 1986 in the traditional curtain raiser at Wembley, the Charity Shield, Liverpool faced
derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
rivals Everton, who had lost out to the Reds in both the previous season's League and
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...
campaigns. The usual high tempo game ended in a 1–1 draw with both clubs sharing the shield. He featured in 33 out of 42 league games that season.
Venison was a League Cup final loser again in his first season at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 ...
, when Liverpool were defeated by
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...
in the 1987 final. He was also denied the chance of league title glory as the Reds were beaten into second place in the league by their neighbours Everton.
He played 18 times for Liverpool when they secured League championship in
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
, losing just two out of 40 league games. Unfortunately, the emergence of fellow young defender Gary Ablett forced Dalglish into reshaping his defence and Venison was the player who lost his place in the team as a result. He was also hampered by injury and was unavailable for that season's
FA Cup final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...
, which Liverpool unexpectedly lost to Wimbledon.
The next season would see Venison's first goal for the club, it came on 29 August 1988 in the 4–1 thrashing of Nottingham Forest in the quarter finals of the Centenary trophy. Venison featured in more games but with fewer starts, often named as one of the two permitted substitutes.
Venison, along with his teammates, rallied round the bereaved families of the
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in ...
in April 1989, attending a number of the funerals, he then played his role as Liverpool reached the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
of the FA Cup again. Dalglish brought him on as an extra-time substitute as Liverpool defeated
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...
Michael Thomas Michael or Mike Thomas may refer to:
Entertainment
* Michael M. Thomas (born 1936), American novelist of financial thrillers
* Michael Tilson Thomas (born 1944), American conductor, pianist, and composer
* Michael Thomas (actor) (1952–2019), B ...
scored the winner with virtually the last kick of the whole season. Venison was on the bench again.
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
saw Venison play 25 times in the league and earn another championship medal as Liverpool secured their 18th top division title.
The following campaign was a non-event for Venison as he only managed a total of 14 appearances in all competitions, however, this did include another Wembley appearance as the Reds faced bitter rivals
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
in the Charity Shield, again, the Reds had to share the trophy as they drew 1–1 with their North West rivals.
Venison scored what would be his only league goal for the Reds on 31 March 1992, netting the side's final goal in a 4–0 win over
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
. He played 13 times in the league that season, as Liverpool finished sixth – the first time since 1981 that they had not been league champions or runners-up. They did win the FA Cup by defeating Venison's old club Sunderland 2–0 at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
. However, he was not included in the squad, and with Liverpool now managed by Graeme Souness, who had succeeded Dalglish a year earlier, it appeared that Venison's future now lay away from Anfield, particularly after the form of new signing Rob Jones at right-back.
Newcastle United
On 31 July 1992, exactly six years after joining Liverpool, he departed from Merseyside and returned to the North East to play for Sunderland's rivals
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...
, who were preparing for a promotion push in the new Division One (as the old Second Division was now named following the creation of the
FA Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
) under the management of former Liverpool, Newcastle United and England striker
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 a ...
.
Venison made his debut of the Magpies on 15 August 1992 in the 3–2 league win over
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
at
St James' Park
St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England.
St James' Pa ...
, Venison enjoyed a tremendous beginning to his Newcastle career as they won their first eleven league games in a row, leaving them runaway leaders of Division One and looking uncatchable in the promotion race by October. The run came to an end when they lost to a last minute goal at home against
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...
; they fell just 2 games short of the record 13 straight victories that had been set seven years earlier by
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
in the old Third Division. Keegan got his team to play in an exciting, attacking way with them becoming a talking point within the game for their exuberant style of play along with their mean defence which included a revitalised Venison as well as the likes of John Beresford and Steve Howey. Newcastle went on to become Division One champions, winning the title with a 2–0 away win, coincidentally at Grimsby, thus gaining promotion to the Premier League.
Venison only scored one goal for the Magpies but he regards it as being the best goal he's ever scored; it was, in his words, "a 20-yard screamer" against
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...
at a packed St James' Park.
Venison remained a crucial part of the Newcastle defence as they returned to the top flight in 1993–94, and helped them hit the ground running as they secured a third-place finish (though they never really looked like catching up with the leading pair that consisted of champions Manchester United and runners-up
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
). This gave the Magpies a place in Europe (the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
) for the first time since the 1970s.
Keegan also successfully converted Venison into a midfield player following the arrival of right-back
Marc Hottiger
Marc Hottiger (born 7 November 1967) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defender.
He notably had two separate spells with both Lausanne Sports and Sion, amassing over 300 appearances in the Nationalliga A. He also play ...
at the start of the 1994–95 season, though he lost the club captaincy when he was spotted in a wine bar outside of the club's curfew.
He played 28 times for the Magpies in the 1994–95 season, scoring his only league goal for them, and for a while it looked as though he might be gaining another championship medal to add to the two he earned at Liverpool. The Magpies achieved the best start to a top division campaign in their history as they won their first six games in the Premier League and entered October still top of the league. However, the excellent form was not maintained as the season went on, and a sixth-place finish wasn't even enough for another UEFA Cup campaign.
Galatasaray
At the end of the 1994–95 season, after 130 appearances for Newcastle, Venison was on the move. As his career reached its twilight years, Venison decided to try his luck abroad signing for
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
in Turkey on 31 May 1995 for £750,000. He was one of many British footballers recruited by coach Graeme Souness, who had been his manager during his final year at Liverpool earlier in the decade.
Southampton
Venison spent just under 5 months with the Turkish side, playing eight games, before he was on the move once more. He joined
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
for £850,000 on 25 October 1995. He played 22 Premier League games that season as Southampton avoided relegation on goal difference and reached the FA Cup quarter finals.
He played two more games for the Saints in the 1996–97 season (by which time Souness was manager of Southampton, the third club Venison had played under him at), before he suffered a back injury which led to him announcing his retirement from playing on 20 October 1996 at the age of 32.
International career
Venison had been selected to represent England at under-21 level on 10 occasions from 1982 until 1986.
In 1994, aged 30, Venison was picked to represent his country by new coach
Terry Venables
Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...
. The call-up came as a surprise, not least to Venison, but he played well in both of his full international appearances. His debut came on 7 September 1994 in the 2–0 friendly victory over the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
; his only other appearance for his country came on 29 March 1995 in a 0–0 friendly draw with
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. Both games were played at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
.
Retirement and coaching roles
After retirement, Venison took up punditry; firstly for
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
, and then, from 1997 to 2002, for ITV.
In the early 2000s, Venison launched an on-line sports memorabilia auction site. The company "bid4sport.com" was a not-for-profit company and raised money for charities. Julie Venison was also involved in Bid4sport providing business support and book-keeping for the venture. The company was initially based on the outskirts of Romsey before expanding and moving to premises to the west of Fareham. The venture was created with the help of friend and co-professional
Brad Friedel
Bradley Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper.
Friedel played 84 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country ...
. Venison sold Bid4sport shortly before his family relocated to the United States.
Venison also made an appearance as himself in the 2001 comedy film, '' Mike Bassett: England Manager''.
Venison moved to the United States in 2003, firstly to
Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and ...
, and then
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
. He worked in property development for a short time, before his friend
Oliver Wyss
Oliver Wyss (born August 29, 1974) is the President of Soccer Operations and General Manager for the Orange County SC.
Biography
Wyss was born in Solothurn
, neighboring_municipalities = Bellach, Biberist, Feldbrunnen-Sankt Niklaus, Langendo ...
, convinced him to return to football. Venison became Technical Director of
Orange County Blues
Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship.
The team plays its home game ...
, before succeeding Wyss as head coach to see out the 2016 USL Pro season.
Honours
;Liverpool
*
Football League First Division
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...
FA Charity Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...
:
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal en ...
(shared),
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
,
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...