John Terry has joined Dean Smith's backroom staff at Leicester - despite playing down talk of a coaching career earlier this month.
Smith was confirmed as Leicester's new manager on Monday night, with Craig Shakespeare and Terry joining him in the dugout. Terry was Smith's assistant at Villa between October 2018 and July 2021, winning promotion to the Premier League in May 2019.
Chelsea legend Terry returned to Stamford Bridge in a coaching consultancy role in December 2021 and was tipped to join Frank Lampard's backroom staff for a Champions League campaign, but is now heading to the King Power for a relegation scrap instead.
Terry revealed his coaching plans during an appearance on Stephen Hendry's Cue Tips earlier this month. He said, "Yeah I'm done from a managerial point of view. The only job I'd kind of come out of retirement for would be the Chelsea job.
"To be involved in some sort of capacity in a first-team role. I love my role at the minute. I've got a bit of work with the younger players and I think as well because I've been through that process as a kid myself I'm passing on loads of knowledge to them.
"But I enjoy my golf as well, I want to play a bit of golf and have family time. The reason I left Villa, which I've not really said anywhere, was a family reason. Coming back home and being with my family."
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Yet Terry has backtracked on his plan to reunite with Smith, the manager who gave him his big break in coaching. Former Villa boss Smith has been appointed on an interim basis, four months after he was dismissed by Championship hopefuls Norwich.
Shakespeare has returned to the King Power five-and-a-half years after he was sacked as Leicester manager. The experienced coach knows the Foxes well after helping them win the Premier League title in May 2016 as assistant boss under Claudio Ranieri.
Smith, Terry and Shakespeare will need to use all their coaching nous to keep Leicester in the big time. The Foxes, who won the FA Cup and finished one-point outside of the Premier League's top four just two years ago, are in serious danger of relegation.
Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Bournemouth leaves Leicester 19th in the table, two points from safety. The bad news doesn't stop there for the strugglers, as they travel to title candidates Manchester City in their next game in five days' time.
Leicester will need to win their upcoming games against relegation rivals Wolves, Leicester and Everton in the coming weeks to have any chance of staying up. The good news for Leicester fans is they do have a decent squad for Smith to get a tune out of.
The likes of James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Jamie Vardy all have big reputations and will desperate to avoid an embarrassing relegation on their respective CVs. That is the challenge that awaits Terry and his colleagues in the East Midlands.
