Middlesbrough are hopeful that Terry Venables could be persuaded to extend his spell as coach at the Riverside beyond the end of the season.

Chief executive Keith Lamb said yesterday that the former England coach might find it ''difficult'' to walk away should he succeed on Teesside, but Bryan Robson would resume his role as No 1 otherwise.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light left Boro rock-bottom in the Premiership but Lamb believes Venables' ''quality coaching'' will turn the club around.

''In the short-term he will bring a bit of pleasure to people and put smiles on faces.

''We have an arrangement to the end of the season. He has a commitment to several people for next year which will be difficult to get out of.

''I think there is a chance he could be persuaded to stay longer. He's a football man, so it will be difficult for him to walk away. He is giving it 100 per cent.

''But he is contracted to ITV and a contract is a contract. The Champions League now stops for three months and so we will see him every day at the training ground.''

Questions were raised about the 57-year-old's ability to combine his media work with day-to-day management again.

But Lamb hopes the reworking of the relationship Venables had with Robson during Euro 96 will benefit the club in the long run.

''We still think that Bryan Robson is the best man for the job. Let's hope he learns from being close to Terry for another six to nine months.

''It has been difficult for Bryan but we have had a fantastic time under him.''

Former Middlesbrough manager Jack Charlton believes that Robson's days on Teesside are numbered.

''Bryan cannot stay at Middlesbrough,'' said Charlton. ''No matter what Terry does, Bryan will be affected.

''If Terry gets them relegated, Bryan has got to leave. If Terry keeps them in the division, are they going to give the job back to Bryan?

''I wouldn't have moved aside to be someone's number two, as he has.

"But then, if I was Bryan, I would have left in the summer, when I was a success.'