Sky Sports forced to apologise after Terry Venables appears to make homophobic joke about holding Brian Clough's hand: 'We looked like a pair of woofters'

Incident happened when Venables was a guest on the station yesterday

Brian Clough and Terry Venables hold hands as they walk on the Wembley pitch before Nottingham Forest played Tottenham in the 1991 FA Cup final (GETTY IMAGES)

Sky Sports presenter Ben Shephard was forced to apologise live on air yesterday after the former England manager Terry Venables appeared to make a homophobic joke on Goals on Sunday, saying that he and Brian Clough looked like a "pair of woofters".

Venables was a guest on the show and spoke about the 1991 FA Cup final at Wembley, when his Tottenham Hotspur side took on Clough's Nottingham Forest, and told a story about how the opposing manager held his hand as the teams walked onto the pitch.

The 71-year-old said about the hand holding: "As I come out he grips my right hand with his left hand and I'm clamped, I'm clamped."

Venables then appeared to say that the two looked like a "pair of woofers", which prompted Shephard, who was co-hosting with Chris Kamara, to apologise for any offence caused.

In the final in 1991, Venables' Spurs ran out 2-1 winners thanks to Des Walkers' 94th-minute own goal.

Venables was England manager from 1994 to 1996, and guided the team to the semi-final at Euro '96, when they went out on penalties to Germany.