John Terry lifts the lid on Newcastle United interview prior to Eddie Howe’s appointment

Chelsea legend John Terry claims he was interviewed by Newcastle United after leaving Aston Villa in 2021. The former Villains assistant manager applied for the vacant managerial position at St. James’ Park following Steve Bruce’s departure at the club.

The ex-Blues defender says he’s taken huge positives from the setback of not getting the job and admits he was way off landing the role, which Eddie Howe has succeeded in. The 42-year-old told his former team-mate Jon Obi Mikel’s Obi One podcast: ‘When I left Villa, I applied for two or three jobs; I interviewed for Newcastle, and I interviewed for a couple before that I didn’t get.

“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,’ and you learn how to present in those meetings. Initially I didn’t go to League One because I didn’t know a lot about it, I’d never played there.

READ MORE: Newcastle offer huge eight-figure budgets as club start retail rebuild to ‘delight’ crowd

READ MORE: The under-the-radar concern for Eddie Howe to address at Newcastle United

“That’s why I ended up in the Championship because I’d played a season there, I’d coached a couple of years and I fully understood the schedule. I applied for two jobs in League One and didn’t get either of them.

“Interestingly enough, the owners for the teams I applied for told me they wanted to play like Man City. It was interesting, but nobody can play like Man City – Chelsea can’t play like Man City!’

“I came away broken from that. What I’ve achieved, if we talk about some of the managers we’ve had at Chelsea, effectively I’m taking a small bit of credit.

“I’ve managed players, people above me, staff when they’ve not been happy – I’ve done this job for the last 20 years and it’s something that I know I’d be really good at – so it really hurts that I’ve not been given the opportunity in the game.”

Terry says he’d promised himself to return to Stamford Bridge as Chelsea boss, but has come to the realisation that won’t happen. “Now I’ve realised it’s not going to happen,” he said.

“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.”