IF IT’S ALL ABOUT JT, VILLA MAY END UP IN BOTHER...

CALL me a cynic, but how long until Aston Villa becomes the John Terry show? Whether he means it or not, the former Chelsea skipper is box office.

When the pair are officially unveiled at Villa Park tomorrow, who will field the bulk of the questions?

Not chief executive Christian Purslow. Not even Dean Smith, the man lured from Brentford to revive his boyhood club.

It will be Terry, a man normally so averse to interviews that I once saw him sneak out of Hillsborough through a fire exit.

Jokes will be cracked, of course.

After last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Leeds United, then Brentford manager Smith asked the press at Elland Road if we were “alright with Brummie” after seeing Marcelo Bielsa speak through a translator.

He is a laid-back character who will make light of the situation.

But for how long? Even the most amenable manager will tire of being asked about his deputy, of the cameras peering over his shoulder like a tactless networker at a company function.

It is all reminiscent of Edgar Davids’ appointment as joint-manager of Barnet alongside the incumbent Mark Robson in 2012.

The Englishman was ignored, and eventually sacked.

That is not to say Smith is doomed. He is too talented for that.

But it is vital that Villa keep their assistant out of the limelight and stymie all talk of possible succession.

Because if Smith feels sidelined, undermined or – worse – suspects that Terry is being groomed for his role, Villa risk losing a very good manager.