A record maker and history breaker in his own right, John Terry is nearing the end of his 22nd year at Chelsea with just the FA Cup final left for him to win. The proverbial banner of ‘Captain, Leader, Legend’ stands out on the Matthew Harding Stand at Stamford Bridge, and how insightful those three words are.
They symbolise the most successful and decorated player in the history of the club and lest we forget, one of the toughest men they have ever or will ever produce.
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After 717 appearances, 67 goals, 15 major trophies – 14 as captain including five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, one UEFA Champions League trophy and one Europa League trophy – Terry was as vital to Chelsea as Leonidas was to the Spartans. Terry fought in the trenches of the Blues defence alongside numerous able partners over the years and inspired his troops on the pitch, leading them to glory consistently.
Throwing his body in the way of nearly everything in those 717 games, Terry has cemented himself as a Stamford Bridge legend. It’s not easy for a player to transition through 22 years at a football club, given the number of managers, players and staff coming in and going out the door. However, Terry has stuck with his boyhood club through thick and thin, becoming one of the finest products the academy has ever produced.
Humble beginnings
A Chelsea academy product since the age of 14, Terry was handed his debut at the age of 17 in 1998 under Gianluca Vialli and racked up seven appearances in his first season with the Blues.
The following season saw him rack up eight more appearances as an 18-year-old, a season in which he opened his goalscoring account with a goal in the FA Cup.
Terry was always destined for greatness, given the potential he had, but he had to rough it out as a young boy in the game. In 2000, he spent a brief spell on loan at Nottingham Forest to get more first-team experience. He then became a highly sought after player after that particular loan spell, with the likes of Forest manager David Platt and Huddersfield Town manager Steve Bruce looking to sign him permanently. However, Terry stayed on at Chelsea and the rest, as they say, is history.
Captain
Claudio Ranieri handed Terry the armband in December 2001 for the first time, which then became permanent in the 2003-04 season. It stayed on his arm for 14 years until the 2016/17 when it was handed to Gary Cahill.
Terry was the captain of Chelsea when they won some of the most memorable trophies in history. The two consecutive Premier League titles in 2004/05 and 2005/06 with Terry captaining and marshalling the defence – setting new Premier League records for clean sheets and points accrued – sounded his arrival as a world-class defender.
He wore that Chelsea shirt with passion every single game and the time he decided to take up the goalkeeping gloves in October 2006 after both Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini got injured against Reading will remain in the hearts and minds of Chelsea fans forever. Terry was that much of a true Blue. He was willing to sacrifice everything for the team.
While his slip against Manchester United in the Champions League final penalty shoot-out in the 2007-08 season gutted him and millions of fans around the globe, he would bounce back to win the league and FA Cup double under Carlo Ancelotti in the 2009-10 season.
He would be vindicated in the Champions League as well. Terry would go on to lift the trophy in Munich in 2012. He missed the final through suspension but scored a vital goal in the Blues’ historic comeback against Napoli. Didier Drogba’s heroics in Munich guaranteed that Terry lifted the ‘Cup with the Big Ears’ along with Frank Lampard as the two team-mates finally came a full circle, picking up the holy grail that they had chased for years.
Leader
Turn the clocks back. Back in 2004, under Jose Mourinho, when Barcelona, at the pinnacle of the Frank Rijkaard era, came to Stamford Bridge without knowing what to expect, a Champions League last 16 tie of epic proportions ensued with the Blues going 3-0 up after a blitzkrieg siege on the Barcelona goal in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
But Ronaldinho pegged them back with a penalty and ‘that’ excellent toe-poke goal before half time. It was 3-2 and the game ebbed and flowed. Both sides hit the post but Terry would stand up and be counted right at the death.
During a corner, Terry was positioned a little behind the penalty spot and when the ball was floated in, he rose above the Barcelona defence to nod in the winner to make it 4-2 on the night. That was the final goal and the Blues captain won the game for his side, knocking out the mighty Barcelona and sparking wild celebrations at Stamford Bridge.
Legend
Terry’s transition to a legend was now complete. However, if there was a season that exemplified just how much of a real legend this man was, it would have to be Chelsea’s Premier League triumph in 2014/15 under Mourinho.
Terry sat deep at the heart of the Blues defence, starting every single Premier League game under the special one. Mourinho tweaked his tactics to allow Terry’s lack of pace at that age to go unnoticed by shifting his defensive line deeper.
The result – the least goals conceded and a title in the bag.
Terry played the most minutes in the league amongst all the defenders, scored 5 goals and averaged 1.1 tackles, 0.9 interceptions, 5.7 clearances and 0.8 blocks per game. At the age of 34, Terry had what was possibly his best season in history, completing the words on the banner and forever making him a legend.
Will there ever be another English centre-half like Terry?
The simple answer is no. There won’t. Terry was one of a kind. He could throw his body on the line, ping a 50-yard pass with his left foot and pop up with vital goals. He contributed with tons of goals, 67 of them to be exact.
While his peers in Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand were also great defenders in their own right, Terry stood out as the outlier among them. With Terry at the heart of the Blues defence, they conceded only 15 goals in 2004-05 as he led them to the Premier League title. It also began a run of five consecutive seasons that JT was named in the FIFPro World XI. He has, till date, kept 214 Premier League clean sheets as captain.
He is perhaps the best defender to have ever played in the Premier League.
Perseverance
Terry made headlines off the pitch, his name popping up in various scathing reports in the press over the years but that didn’t dent his spirit as he always managed to perform on the pitch.
The latest controversy involving the Englishman is the guard-of-honour he received in his final – 717th - game for the club against Sunderland.
Now, he is even more determined to prove his doubters wrong and wants a fresh challenge because he feels his body can still take it. While people hail Zlatan Ibrahimovic for his fitness and strength, they forget that Terry is not too far behind.
His legacy will live on forever and Terry now leaves Chelsea as not only a great captain, leader and legend, but a persevering human being.
