Chelsea already have an U23 Development Team manager and his name isn’t John Terry

You shouldn’t be shocked to learn that The Sun, a publication we almost always ignore by rule, printed a story riddled with factual errors (and probably just as many leaps of tabloidian logic) this past weekend, then removed it due to “legal reasons” by Monday morning, but not before collecting plenty of hits, clicks, and attention.

The story concerned former Chelsea captain John Terry, still unattached but not officially retired, and his return to Cobham as the head coach of the U23 team. The move was supposedly contingent on JT completing his coaching badges, which he’s been working on in his spare time for a couple years now and has even come back to the club to help him complete the on-pitch practical portions of those qualifications (just like Lampard used to do).

It was claimed that JT agreed an £800k per week (!) contract before that was corrected to the £800k per year.

But that was just beginning of the fake news fashion show.

The report claimed that JT would replace Jody Morris as the U23 head coach, but of course Morris was in charge of the U18s and he had left some time ago already to join Lampard at Derby. His successor was former U23s assistant, Andy Myers (assisted by another former full back, Jon Harley). Meanwhile, Joe Edwards has been in charge of the U23s (Development Squad) since last summer (2017), with Ed Brand, Morris’s former assistant at the U18s moving up to fill that same role under Edwards. That slightly confusing shuffle means that Chelsea have all youth coaching positions filled at the moment. Sorry, JT!

Will Terry return to Chelsea one day as a coach? Probably. Will he start as the head coach of the Development Squad? Unlikely, if previous patterns are followed — Chelsea prefer new coaches to work their way up alongside a group of youngsters, which leads to a sort of coaching rotation every 2-3 years. JT might jump the queue owing to his status as club legend, but if the process is to remain fair, that probably shouldn’t happen either.

If and when it does happen, it will be big news. But not yet, not yet.