Chelsea hero John Terry is set to land a role as part of Dean Smith’s coaching team as the former Aston Villa boss prepares to take over as Leicester City’s interim manager. Terry was linked with taking a job to join up with Frank Lampard after the 44-year-old returned to Stamford Bridge for a second spell as manager, but it now looks as if he will head back to the Midlands for his new role.
Smith is in line to succeed Brendan Rodgers at the King Power Stadium after doubts reportedly emerged over the potential arrival of ex-Leeds coach Jesse Marsch, who was previously listed as the bookmakers’ favourite to take the job.
Terry worked with Smith at Villa Park in 2021 before leaving to try and land a manager’s job of his own, but his efforts have so far proved fruitless and he is set to reunite with Smith at relegation-threatened Leicester, according to The Sun.
He will be working alongside Craig Shakespeare, the former Foxes boss who replaced Claudio Ranieri at the club in 2019, as an assistant coach to Smith after Lampard seemingly decided against bringing in Terry to form part of his own backroom team at Chelsea.
Lampard has been appointed as interim boss until the end of the season after Todd Boehly brutally sacked Graham Potter just six months into his reign.
The club’s all-time record goalscorer has brought back Ashley Cole, Joe Edwards and Chris Jones as assistant coaches for his temporary spell, leading some fans to call for iconic former captain Terry to return to the club and help Lampard steady the ship after a turbulent campaign at Stamford Bridge.
Others took exception to such an idea, with one fan making clear their opposition to Terry coming back as a coach. But the 42-year-old responded on Twitter and hit out at the ‘nonsense’ suggestion.
“Also unbelievable news for everyone at Chelsea to have Lamps back,” he said via his official Twitter account. “I know how this works, Frank has his team and if I went into a job I would have mine. I won’t have people talk nonsense.”
The former centre-back – who had been working in a part-time role with Chelsea’s academy – has revealed he has all but ended his dream of becoming a first-team boss and would only come out of managerial ‘retirement’ if his former club came calling.
That would suggest he would have been keen to take the role before Lampard was chosen by Boehly to take charge until the end of the season, but his close friend has managerial experience with Derby and Everton as well as his 18-month spell at Stamford Bridge, while Terry is yet to take a first-team manager job.
And now it seems his path back to his boyhood club, where he spent 22 years after coming through the club’s academy, will have to wait again as he embarks on a new challenge with Leicester, who are 19th in the Premier League.
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