John Terry is widely regarded as being one of the greatest players ever to don the jersey of Chelsea. He spent 19 years on the roster of the Blues first team as a player and went on to win virtually everything that there was to win in English football during that time.

Not only did Terry establish himself as arguably the best English defender of the past generation but he also established himself as one of the best English leaders of the past generation, which has been proved off the pitch with his assistant coaching at Aston Villa. The West Midlands side are now 40/1 to be relegated in the football betting odds when you refer a friend with bet365, a testament to the 40-year-old’s impact at Villa Park.

“I had the option between Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United and to be fair all of them went above and beyond. The moment I walked into Chelsea, it just felt right. I know that’s going to sound really bizarre.

“Again, my dad never wanted me to sign for Chelsea. Actually, on the pitch of me signing my schoolboy form at the club, my dad refused to go on the pitch with me. I’m in the tunnel, the players are coming off the pitch and I’m waiting in the tunnel, Glenn Hoddle goes past and my dad’s going, ‘You’re not signing for this football club, we should sign for Manchester United’.

“I just knew and loved Chelsea from the moment I walked in and never looked back, I still love the club and look out for every result now. It’s great to see Lamps and Jody in there now doing their thing, excellent.”

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Terry was a West Ham player as a youth

What is surprising is that Terry was actually a West Ham player as a youth between 1991-1995 before moving to West London to join Chelsea.

In addition to all his achievements at club level, Terry also went on to make 76 appearances for England, scoring six goals between 2003-2012. He failed to help the England national team win a major trophy despite playing alongside the likes of Michael Owen, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand. To date, the England team has not won a major piece of silverware since 1966 when they won the World Cup on home soil.

Terry spent the final season of his time with Chelsea as a squad rotation player and he subsequently left the club upon the expiration of his contract during the summer of 2017. After leaving Chelsea, he surprisingly linked up with Aston Villa, who were then managed by Steve Bruce. After one season as a player for the Villains, he opted to hang up his boots and take up the assistant manager’s job to Dean Smith.

It remains to be seen what will happen to Terry in the future but he is destined to manage at the highest level at some point. It will be fitting for him to one day return to Stamford Bridge in a coaching/managerial role.

Former Chelsea skipper John Terry has revealed that he actually desired to be left out of the Chelsea squad during his last season at the club in order to try and ensure that Nathan Ake received first-team opportunities.