“That’s another thing that sticks in the craw, to be eliminated from the World Cup qualifying undefeated – that has only happened to one other country - Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

“Afterwards at that Confederations Cup we got to the final. It’s the highest we’ve ever reached in international football and to do that the week after the crushing elimination from the World Cup was again the measure of Venable’s greatness.”

So how did Australia even mange to sign Venables as coach? In the book, Hill reveals a chance conversation with an admin temp at Soccer Australia, who was on a working holiday knew El Tel from her time at England’s Football Association.

“I didn’t put it in the book but I had to lend her my mobile overnight, because she was an English back packer she didn’t have any money,” he said.

“She was staying in a backpacker’s hostel in Redfern and I dropped her off that night with my mobile phone. That’s how she tracked Venables for me.”

Before Venables came on board, Eddie Thompson had left the national team to coach in Japan and Hill said he was surprised there had been little discussion about who would be his replacement.

“I didn’t know the established process,” he said. “I didn’t tell the board of Soccer Australia. Because soccer was so riddled with cronyism and nepotism and it was usually the strength of personalities pushing their favoured candidates,

“It was only when I was on the plane to England that I told Deputy Chair Basil Scarcela and swore him to secrecy. I said, ‘Can you wait till we get to London and then you phone them and just tell them to shut up about this’. Because it would’ve leaked of course and they wouldn’t have kept that secret. But I knew that if I delivered Venables that the board would love it.”

For the first leg of the qualifier the Socceroos travelled to Iran and Hill recalled a moment before the first leg in Tehran that highlighted Venables’ unique coaching methods.

“We were based in Dubai because we didn’t want to spend too long in Iran,” he said.