LET that be a lesson to anyone who fails to take Middlesbrough Football Club seriously.

On the brink of a disastrous drop into the Premiership, chairman Steve Gibson chose the only dignified route available.

While the knee-jerkers were advocating the axe for the lightweight managerial talent of Bryan Robson, Gibson pulled off an outrageous coup by persuading Terry Venables back onto the domestic scene as Robson's right (and left) hand man.

Who could have predicted that Venables would eventually succumb to as unappetising a carrot as £1.5 million for six months work?

Having brought Portsmouth and Crystal Palace to their knees, Venables bided his time in the hope that the FA would return on bended knee.

Instead they had the gall to appoint Sven Goran Eriksson, a man who in Venables' words belongs to their 'designer' blueprint. I sense that both Venables and Eriksson have both always shared a design on a fat wage packet.

The difference is that Eriksson has proved that he possesses the potential to take this country's game forward.

The reshuffle at the Riverside does, however, make a mockery of the fact that Robson was once installed as a favourite for the vacant England position. He has proved a consistently poor judge of talent and as prudent with Gibson's cash as a shopaholic at the January sales.

Robson is the only real loser in this farce.

If Venables succeeds, Robson does not have a leg to stand on. If Venables fails, Robson will be found guilty by association.

Not every great player is destined to be a great manager.

It's time for Robson to accept this fact and not degrade himself further by throwing himself at the mercy of Venables.