Chelsea legend John Terry has admitted he was “frustrated” after the club decided not to include him in their interim coaching team for the game against Manchester City in January.
John Terry has admitted he was “frustrated” to be ignored when Callum MacFarlane was drafted in as Chelsea’s interim head coach at the start of the season, and wondered why the club’s higher-ups looked down on him.
Terry, 45, spent almost 20 years at Chelsea, rising from the academy to club captain and becoming a Chelsea legend. He made more than 700 appearances for the Blues, winning five Premier League titles and the Champions League before leaving in 2017 and now takes up a consultant role within the club’s academy.
Despite starring alongside MacFarlane in the Under-21s and Under-18s, Terry was not part of the group brought in when Enzo Maresca left the club in early January.
Macfarlane led his team in an important match against Manchester City and earned much praise after they drew the match 1-1. Terry was also in charge of Liam Rosenior’s loss to Fulham before he was appointed as the Blues’ new head coach, but Terry was disappointed to see he had no involvement in the interim team.
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“(I wasn’t) frustrated,” Terry told Jimmy Bullard as a guest on his Golf Life YouTube channel.
“It was probably more frustrating because certainly I was part of the under-21 group that was eliminated, so even though I couldn’t lead the team. Obviously Callum led the team and did a really good job. He got results in the game.”
“I feel like I should have been one of them, too. Now, listen, people have to make decisions. I love it when people make decisions and it’s yes or no. And obviously regardless of ownership or who made that decision, the athletic director chose ‘no’ and didn’t let me in for whatever reason. I don’t know why. ”
Terry played briefly for the Midlands side before retiring, before moving on to coach Aston Villa and serving as Dean Smith’s assistant at both Villa Park and Leicester.
He was linked with a move to Oxford United earlier this season, but those talks have been discontinued, and although he would like to manage Chelsea in the future, he admits that is unlikely to happen unless he gains further managerial experience.
Terry added: “I have recently been rumored to be linked to the Oxford job, but there is no truth to that.
“I never talked to them. I wasn’t going to put myself out there. And I have no intention of[doing]. You know, I’m just like in the academy. I work with 18-year-olds and 21-year-olds. I love my role there. It’s part-time.”
“I’ve always said that if Chelsea came up, I’d love to take over, but realistically, would I be able to get Chelsea without doing anything else? Probably not.”
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