Former England and Chelsea captain John Terry admits he held talks with Newcastle United back in 2021 before the Premier League outfit replaced Steve Bruce with Eddie Howe.
And, with all due respect to a five-time Premier League champion and one of the finest centre-halves of the modern era, you won’t find a single person on Tyneside wishing that John Terry had been handed the keys to St James’ Park following that long-awaited Saudi Arabian takeover two years back.
Eddie Howe, the man who got the nod instead, has taken Newcastle United from the relegation zone to the Champions League, that 4-1 hammering of Paris Saint-Germain a performance not even the most optimistic of supporters would not have dreamed off when Bruce was being serenaded by a chorus of jeers not so long ago.
Terry, meanwhile, is still working at former employers Chelsea, taking on an academy role under Mauricio Pochettino after struggling to secure a top-level job on the Premier League stage.
Newcastle United interviewed Chelsea legend John Terry
‘When I left (Aston) Villa, I applied for two or three jobs. I interviewed for Newcastle, and I interviewed for a couple before that I didn’t get,” Terry now tells John Obi Mikel’s Obi Wan podcast.
“It was a really good process for me because you sit in those meetings and you go ‘actually, I’m way off this. I’m glad I didn’t get it’.”
Terry recently held talks over a sporting director role at Saudi Arabian outfit Al Shabab (The Sun). The Barking-born 42-year-old no longer appears to be in the conversation for a Premier League job – his name is conspicuous by it’s absence amid reports of a change in the dugout at Sheffield United – with Terry now accepting that he is unlikely to fulfil his ‘dream’ of getting the big job at his beloved Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea dream is dead
“Now I’ve realised it’s not going to happen,” Terry adds. “My one dream I had when I left Chelsea is that I was going to come back as manager. But now I know it won’t happen. It hurts me and it’ll constantly be niggling away at the back of my mind.”
Terry had a brief spell as an assistant coach at Leicester City last season, his time at the King Power ending after The Foxes were relegated.
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