Tales of the Faithful: John Terry is a Chelsea and England icon

John Terry was one of the best stoppers in the world in his day. He stood out among the rest not only for his precise defending but also for his unprecedented loyalty to the club. He devoted his entire career to his beloved Chelsea.

Tales of the Loyalists is a series on Ruik that follows players who have dedicated all or most of their careers to one club. In today’s edition, we take a look at Chelsea defender John Terry.

At Chelsea since the youth ranks

John Terry started his footballing career at a small club called Senrab, where he first moved to West Ham before moving to Chelsea. This was when the young Terry was only 14 years old and already then his emotional attachment to the team began to form.

In the end, the English defender spent an incredible 19 years at the London club, in which he appeared in 492 games. During this time, he was still briefly a guest at Nottingham, where he played 6 games.

John Terry’s career ended in 2018 and surprisingly it was not at Chelsea but as a free agent after an engagement at Aston Villa, where he transferred a year earlier. He then went on to spend three years at Aston Villa as an assistant coach.

Defender with many awards

It is not usual for defenders, however, John Terry was a highly regarded player in his time. He was voted the best player in the Premier League in 2005, the best defender in Europe three times and the best defender in the Champions League in 2009.

Chelsea held him in high regard, and it was in 2009 that they offered him a new contract, which made Terry the second highest paid player in the Premier League. That’s quite a feat for a stopper.

The only shame is that Terry failed to end his career at Chelsea with the fans there. Due to the reluctance of the club’s management to extend the English defender’s contract, he had to move to second-tier Aston Villa in the summer of 2017, where he played his last games.

With Terry, one must also pause to reflect on his national team career. He was a member of the national team for nine years and wore the captain’s armband for most of them. It was stripped from him twice after incidents. In total, however, he managed to play 78 national matches, in which he scored 6 goals.

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