Walker sets stall out to entice Venables

Football

Blackburn Rovers will ask Terry Venables if he wants to be their new manager this week - with a pounds 20m transfer budget.

The Ewood Park club's owner, Jack Walker, has put the former England coach firmly at the top of his wanted list to replace Ray Harford as the ideal man to guide his club out of crisis.

Walker will tell his board to make an approach for Venables, who is Director of Football at Portsmouth, and find out if he can take up the challenge.

Venables still has various legal battles to fight, a dilemma that cost him the England job despite his relative success in the European Championship.

However, multi-millionaire Walker hopes his cash could change Venables' mind about spending his career in the obscurity of the south coast and in the First Division.

The Jersey-based Walker wants only the best and will not consider any other options until Venables rules himself out of the running.

The others in the frame - Howard Kendall, Bruce Rioch and Howard Wilkinson - all know that they will not get the call until the Venables question is answered. Kendall has an escape clause at Sheffield United, while Rioch works without a contract as No 2 at Queen's Park Rangers and Wilkinson is a free agent after the sack at Leeds - but they are down the list as Walker seeks a saviour.