‘Frustrated’—Chelsea Legend Hits Out at Manager Snub From Club

John Terry isn’t the only club icon to come out and question the current regime in west London.

John Terry (left) is part of the club’s youth team setup. | Crystal Pix/MB Media/James Gill-Danehouse/Getty Images

The legendary former Chelsea captain John Terry has revealed that he was pointedly denied any chance of stepping into the senior dugout at Stamford Bridge when the Blues went in search of an interim replacement between Enzo Maresca’s sacking and Liam Rosenior’s appointment.

Terry has been part of Chelsea’s academy setup since the summer of 2023 after previous senior roles as Dean Smith’s assistant manager at Leicester City and Aston Villa. The retired center back has been coy about his individual managerial ambitions but recently revealed that he was “frustrated” to have missed out on the chance to take over his boyhood club, even on a temporary basis.

Chelsea turned to the club’s Under-21 coach Calum McFarlane in the immediate aftermath of Maresca’s exit on New Year’s Day. The former Manchester City and Southampton coach took several members of his backroom staff from the youth setup with him. Terry was conspicuous by his absence.

“For me, being in the building and being part of the 21s group recently when they took the Man City game, I didn’t get the call or didn’t get included in that,” Terry told Jimmy Bullard in an episode on GOLF LIFE. “I wasn’t annoyed, but probably more frustrated because I was certainly part of that 21s group that went over.

“So, even if I didn’t take the team—Calum took the team, did really well and got a result out of the game—I feel like I should have been part of that.”

Calum McFarlane took charge of Chelsea for two games. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

McFarlane’s first-ever experience of senior management came against a Manchester City side led by Pep Guardiola, a coach with 12 top-flight titles and more than 450 wins at that level on his résumé. Yet, such are the fickle fates of this beautiful game, McFarlane and Guardiola walked away as equals at the end of a 1–1 draw.

“I’m feeling good, feeling calm,” the 40-year-old reflected after the match. Terry tried to adopt a similar veneer after his initial vent.

“Now, listen, people have got to make decisions,” he added, “I love when people make decisions and go: ‘Yes or no.’ Clearly, the ownership, sporting directors, whoever makes that decision, go, ‘No,’ not to include me for whatever reason, I don’t know.”

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John Terry Not Swayed by Frank Lampard Warning

Terry and Lampard are Chelsea legends. | Getty/Ben Radford

Terry would not have been the first legendary player turned to under Chelsea’s BlueCo ownership. The last time the Blues were in need of a short-term replacement, Frank Lampard got the call.

The club’s all-time top scorer had a far longer track record of coaching than his former teammate—including 18 months in charge at Stamford Bridge under Roman Abramovich’s prior ownership—and steered the club to 12th in 2022–23.

There was no question of Lampard staying on permanently and it appears as though that was mutual. “I saw things that I know cannot be right at elite football and that’s the truth,” the current Coventry City boss told Sky Sports News last March.

“I didn’t love working in that short period because it’s hard to lay down an idea when you’re going to be leaving, but Chelsea will always be a massive club in my life.

“But when I understand the standards of Chelsea—in that period of time a lot of players were in transition of maybe leaving and some problems and motivation were a problem—in an interim period you can’t really affect that.

“When you see the results of it, I’m experienced enough to know what’s right and what’s wrong and basic things in a training ground on a pitch.

“I didn’t learn anything tactical but it did reinforce my beliefs of all my experiences of when you know what a group is really fighting in the same direction—how strong that can be and when it’s not, it can be really challenging.”

Terry clearly hadn’t heeded Lampard’s warning.

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‘Something Missing’—Liam Rosenior’s Reign Undermined by Blues Icon

Liam Rosenior is unbeaten in the Premier League. | Andrew Kearns/CameraSport/Getty Images

Rosenior was belatedly selected as Maresca’s permanent replacement, watching McFarlane’s second and final match at the helm from the stands as Chelsea lost 2–1 to Fulham. The youth team coach impressed enough during his temporary spell to earn a spot on Rosenior’s backroom staff, another aspect which no doubt needles Terry.

John Obi Mikel, a former Chelsea teammate of Terry and Lampard who won every available trophy during his 11 years in west London, is emphatically not convinced by Rosenior’s brief tenure.

“Liam has come in, and he has won games, but there is absolutely something that is missing,” he declared on his The Obi One Podcast. “Something is not quite right.”

It’s not quite clear what Mikel believes to have been lacking from Rosenior’s 12 games—which have only produced two defeats, both at the hands of league-leading Arsenal. This firm stance no doubt has something to do with the midfielder’s fierce insistence that Maresca should never have been allowed to leave.

“We had Enzo Maresca. I have said it, I think it was a massive mistake to sack him. I mean, it is ridiculous,” Mikel fumed. “Yeah, a manager that won us the Club World Cup, won us the Conference League, we had some sort of identity the way we played. We took a step forward, and we have gone five steps backwards.”

It appears as though BlueCo were not willing to take enough steps back down memory lane to appoint Terry.

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