Aston Villa hired Dean Smith on the back of his fine job at Brentford, with John Terry back at Villa Park as his number two.
How will Dean Smith and John Terry work as a partnership at Aston Villa? At the moment, this is anyone’s guess.
Smith has arrived at Villa Park after three fine years at Brentford, during which he established himself as one of the most promising and attack-minded managers in the Football League.
Terry has since returned to the Midlands as an assistant coach, having recently retired after captaining Aston Villa to the play-off final last season.
But Stan Collymore, the former Villa favourite, has used his Mirror column (16 October, page 49) to express concern about how well Smith and Terry will fit together at one of English football’s fallen giants.
“My concern is that he has as his number two John Terry – a grade A star in English football working behind a number one who is the polar opposite in terms of reputation and CV,” Collymore said.
“Getting that relationship right is going to take a monumental effort because Smith will be painfully aware that he has a football legend, and someone who is the players’ friend, alongside him.
“Terry needs to prove that his loyalty to Smith is unquestionable. If he can, Villa have a chance. If he can’t, it will end in tears.”
Terry’s close relationship with Smith’s predecessor Steve Bruce is well established, the experienced manager having tempted the former Chelsea captain to continue his career at Villa Park in the summer of 2017.
Terry and Smith, however, have not worked together before so they will need to hit it off straight away.
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