Terry and Shakespeare named as Smith's assistants at Leicester City
Written by Training Ground Guru — April 11, 2023
JOHN TERRY has been named as one of Dean Smith’s assistants at Leicester City alongside Craig Shakespeare, who has returned to the club four-and-a-half years after being sacked as their manager.
Smith was yesterday named Leicester boss to the end of the season and will take charge of his first training session with them today ahead of Saturday’s Premier League visit to Manchester City. The Foxes are currently 19th in the Premier League table, two points adrift of safety.
Chelsea legend Terry was also Smith’s assistant at Aston Villa. Since December 2021 he has been working as a consultant at Chelsea’s Academy, “coaching and mentoring the next generation”.
At the time of the appointment, Chelsea explained: “As well as delivering on-field coaching, our former club captain will contribute to coaching discussions with colleagues, mentor Academy players and support parent dialogue. He will begin the role in a part-time capacity at the start of next month.
“This flexibility is beneficial for both John and the Academy, as it allows him to continue to develop his own coaching skills alongside other commitments, while being used optimally within our development programme.”
In a recent interview with former snooker world champion Stephen Hendry, Terry said: “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.”
Shakespeare was assistant to both Nigel Pearson and Claudio Ranieri in previous spells with the Foxes, helping them to their famous Premier League title win in 2015/16. He went on to become manager himself in February 2017, but was sacked eight months later following a poor start to the 2017/18 season.
The other members of Smith’s staff will be first-team coach Adam Sadler and first-team coach/ goalkeeper coach Mike Stowell, who took charge for their defeat by Bournemouh at the weekend.
Assistant Chris Davies and Head of Performance Glen Driscoll departed along with Brendan Rodgers eight days ago.