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The former Aston Villa defender ranks just below an ex-Birmingham City boss for the vacant U’s job.
Former Aston Villa defender John Terry has emerged as one of the bookies favourites to take over the manager's job at Oxford United.
The U's parted company with Des Buckingham on Sunday, and are on the search for his replacement. Buckingham guided the club to promotion via the play-offs last season, taking them to the second tier for the first time in 25-years
According to the Oxford Mail, a replacement should be in place for their next game against Leeds United which is on Saturday, December 21. Craig Short and Chris Hackett, plus goalkeeping coach Lewis Price will oversee first-team affairs for the time being, and the markets have given a potential insight as to who could take over.
Former Birmingham City and Derby County boss Gary Rowett is the current favourite for the job. He's been out of work since May, having been unable to prevent Blues from being relegated from the Championship.
John Terry went from playing for Aston Villa to coaching them. He's now an academy coach at Chelsea, but ranks highly in the list to become the next Oxford United manager. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)John Terry went from playing for Aston Villa to coaching them. He's now an academy coach at Chelsea, but ranks highly in the list to become the next Oxford United manager. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
John Terry went from playing for Aston Villa to coaching them. He's now an academy coach at Chelsea, but ranks highly in the list to become the next Oxford United manager. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Second to Rowett is John Terry, who has yet to dip his toes in to football management. He's currently an academy coach at Chelsea, and has been in that position for over a year.
Terry played for and coached Villa. He joined in 2017 and made 36 appearances, but was unable to win promotion as a player. He hung his boots up and returned to the club as assistant head coach to Dean Smith, and later followed him to Leicester City.
In April 2023, Terry admitted that he didn't see himself as a manager anymore. When he left Villa, he applied for several manager jobs but was rejected.
He said in an interview with The Sun: I always see myself as a coach in the long term.
"I enjoyed the coaching side of it but I have to say there were better coaches than me.
"We had Craig Shakespeare and Richard O'Kelly at Villa, they were better coaches than me.
"I always saw myself as a manager, but I went for a couple of jobs when I left [Villa], didn't get those jobs and got a bit deflated with it.
"So I've just decided against it."
Next Oxford United manager
The full list of favourites, as per BO:
Gary Rowett - 1/2
John Terry - 2/1
Mark Robins - 6/1
Paddy McCarthy - 14/1
Steven Schumacher - 16/1
Neil Harris - 33/1
Matt Bloomfield - 33/1
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