John Terry reveals the real reason why he left Aston Villa

John Terry has revealed that family time was the biggest reason for deciding to leave his role as assistant head coach of Aston Villa.

Terry, then working as part of former boss Dean Smith’s coaching team, departed Villa Park in July last year.

Over the weekend, Terry took to Instagram to host a question and answer session with, among others, Villa fans and was asked ‘Real reason for leaving Villa?’.

The Chelsea legend and former England centre-back said: “I wanted to spend some time with my family. My kids are 15 and going into their GCSEs and I was never here for them.”

“I travelled up and down the motorway or (was) staying in hotels away from my family giving everything I had to Villa.”

Regardless, though, Terry does admit that it was his intention to leave B6 at some point in the near future regardless to become a manager.

He added: “I’m ready to go into management and had been approached while I was at Villa, but those jobs weren’t right for me. I was always honest with the gaffer, I didn’t want to start the season and leave if a job came up.

“I loved my time at Villa and (am) so thankful to the gaffer (Dean Smith) and Christian (Purslow, chief executive) for giving me my opportunity.”

When told by a fan that he was an “absolute baller” whilst playing for Villa, Terry replied: “Thank you – I loved my time at Villa. I still hate (the fact) we didn’t get promoted when I played, but so happy to be part of the gaffer’s team to get us back in the Premier League.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.