Chelsea legend John Terry has spoken about a key lesson he learned from Dean Smith.
The two were together at Aston Villa, while Smith is now in charge at Norwich City.
Terry, who was Smith's assistant at the Villa Park club, spoke about Smith's man management and what he learned from his then boss.
"I won't name the player but [it was] working as an assistant at Aston Villa under Dean, who thinks about the players constantly, the lads love him and it's obviously a shame he lost his job," said Terry during an appearance on beIN TV.
"We were training and I wasn't happy with one particular player. I kind of dug him out and had a one-on-one.
"I said to the gaffer 'I'm not happy'. He said 'OK, explain it to him'. I sat him down and basically went mad at him. I said 'not good enough, you're not in the team, that's not going to get you in the team performing like that'.
"He came back, we had a little debate. I told the manager and he said 'have you asked him about his family life?'
"It didn't even enter my head, not at all. The next morning, I texted [him] and said 'get in early, we'll have a bit of breakfast'.
"It was during Covid, his family were away, he'd not seen his mum and dad, he'd just had a baby and I was like 'wow'. I learnt so much working under Dean for those little bits.
"We ended up giving him a day off so he could spend time with his family.
"He was incredible after that, like a new player, fighting to get back in the team. Again, it's man-management.
"You need a touch nowadays, a soft side."
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