Express & Star

John Terry: Aston Villa’s new set-up is heavenly

John Terry wants to help create a winning mentality at Villa after claiming the club’s new coaching team are a ‘marriage made in heaven’.

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The 37-year-old has returned to Villa Park as part of new head coach Dean Smith’s backroom staff.

Richard O’Kelly, Smith’s long-time No.2, is also part of the new-look set-up.

Terry said: “The quality has always been here and I got an insight into that last season playing here.

“With the intensity the gaffer and Richard will bring as well as the philosophy, it will be a marriage made in heaven.”

Terry was captain when Villa narrowly missed out on promotion under Steve Bruce last term, losing to Fulham in the play-off final.

A run of just one win in ten games this term saw Bruce dismissed, with Smith replacing him. Villa, who sit 15th in the Championship, host Swansea on Saturday and Terry said: “First and foremost, I love to watch teams that win.

“Coming into it you want to see that from the group of players day in, day out. They need to represent what we are as a coaching team. The gaffer is a winner. Richard is a winner.”

O’Kelly, who has worked with Smith at both Walsall and Brentford, is eager to grasp the opportunity to revive the club’s fortunes.

“It’s an ambition to work at a big club, a big club in the Midlands,” he said.

“They probably don’t come any bigger than this place.

“How happy am I? I’m ecstatic, the facilities and the people here, the potential. it is everything you want as a coach.”