Yahoo News John Terry reveals why Aston Villa player 'broke down' and the job offer he rejected
John Terry has revealed the learning curve at a human level he experienced while working under Dean Smith at Aston Villa after being instructed to share a coffee and a conversation with an overseas player who was struggling without his family during Covid. Terry enjoyed plenty of success in a decorated playing career, during which he spent years as the captain of Chelsea.
Following retirement from playing, Terry - after a single year as a centre half for Villa - moved into coaching. What it didn't take him too long to realise, however, was that the managing of people and leading players on the pitch required particularly different skill-sets. Having pondered why Smith was considering fielding the player, who Terry didn't identify, he was advised to speak with him away from the training pitch.
That, in Terry's own words, opened his eyes into how to deal with and understand footballers as people as much as professionals.
"The big learning curve was when I went into Villa," Terry told Simon Jordan on William Hill's Up Front podcast. "I went into Villa as a coach thinking everyone has to have the same mindset as me - turn up early, be the last to leave, do extras during and after training. What I didn't take into account, as a captain as well but certainly as a coach, was that there's a lot more that goes on in today's world, with players and their families - and this was during Covid.
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"We had one player at the time who hadn't seen his wife or kids. He'd just had a newborn back home, in a foreign country. He was here for six, seven, eight months without his family. I said to the gaffer 'how can we pick him? He's been s*** in training'. Dean Smith said have you spoken to him and I said 'no, why would I speak to him? He's been s***.
"He told me to go and have a coffee with him. I messaged him the night before to tell him to come in and have a coffee at the training ground. He came in and just broke down, he hadn't seen his family. I'm thinking f****** hell, how as a coach did I not see that and recognise that from the captain or whatever that was before?
"We ended up giving him a couple of days off, he managed to get home and see his family - during Covid, which was tough for him - and he came back like a new player. It definitely opened my eyes and showed me there are a million ways to skin a cat."
Terry left Villa in the summer of 2021, after almost three years working under Smith and with fellow coaches Richard O'Kelly and Craig Shakespeare. At the time it was described that he had stepped away for what were deemed to be 'family reasons', but the former England international has now revealed that there was more to it than that - but that only a select few people in his life and career are aware of the full details.
"When I left Villa, it was said for family [reasons], but I had to leave for what was probably the most difficult time in my career that I'll never speak about and I'll never go into," he said. "At the time we had to say I was leaving Villa for those reasons. Dean and Christian Purslow are the only two people that know, as well as my wife and two kids."
Managing remains on Terry's to-do list. He is back at Chelsea, where he is a legend of the club, and is working in the academy with the club's young prospects. It's something which he is enjoying, but managing at senior level is still his long-term aim. Working under Smith at Villa, as well as playing for the likes of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti has stood him in good stead, he feels.
Terry has also revealed that he came close to leaving Villa for a Championship job during his stint as a coach at Bodymoor Heath, but that he declined the offer as he was enjoying working under Smith and he was comfortable in the Villa environment.
"I spent four years at Villa, one playing, three managing," he added. "I effectively lived in The Belfry four or five days a week to be at Aston Villa. Did I need to do that? No, I didn't. I was quite happy after retirement to say no, I'm done, but I'm so driven. I see myself as a manager. I think a lot of people see themselves as coaches, or that they'd be good coaches.
"I'm not sitting here saying I'm the best coach. As a manager, that's what I feel I've done for the last 22 years. Manage people, manage the dressing room. Never more than today it's about managing people and that's what I think I'm best at. I lived away from London for four years, effectively."
"When I was at Villa I did my badges. Dean used to get us in at 6:30 in the morning. Finish the day's work at 6, 7 o'clock. Do my coaching badges from 8 till 10. I'd sleep in the training ground at the manager's office sometimes. I'm giving everything and waiting for the opportunities. I had an opportunity to leave Villa when I was there to go and manage and I opted against it.
"I'm not going to say where, but it was a Championship club, lower down the league. It's one where maybe I should've jumped, but I was loving my experience and I didn't feel like I was ready. I look at the managers of my generation. Look at Lamps [Frank Lampard]. I know Lamps inside out. He's articulate, very intelligent, unbelievable footballer, got a great football brain.
"Could I have gone into Derby and done what Frank did? No. That's why I needed to go in with a Dean Smith at Aston Villa and learn my trade. I needed to be educated from that side of it. I learned so much from that time. Accumulate that with John Terry the player, the managers I've played under, that turns into something I think is pretty special."
