The many oddities of the former Chelsea captain's unveiling at Villa.
Tag: John Terry
John Terry gets fittingly controversial send-off before lifting Premier League trophy
A perfect end to the Chelsea captain’s time with the club
(Chelsea FC)
Chelsea’s final match of the Premier League season meant absolutely nothing. They had already wrapped up the title for the second time in three years, rebounding from a shocking 10th-place finish last season, and their opponents, Sunderland, were bottom of the table and couldn’t have been more relegated.
So, in the 26th minute of this completely meaningless preamble to Chelsea being presented with the trophy, Sunderland played the ball out and №26 John Terry, the most successful captain in Chelsea’s history, exited his final match with the club as his teammates lined up to give him a guard of honor before he was replaced by new captain Gary Cahill.
It was later revealed that Terry himself came up with this choreography and Sunderland manager David Moyes agreed to it before the match, but a little more planning probably should’ve gone into it since it took until the 28th minute for the substitution to actually take place. Chelsea went on to win 5–1 and, for them, the day couldn’t have been more perfect. They became the first top-flight club to get 30 wins in a 38-game season, Spurs finished with a club record 86 points and still finished seven points behind the Blues with Hugo Lloris conceding a goal in a 7–1 win to give the Golden Glove award to Thibaut Courtois, and Arsenal finished fifth—outside of Champions League qualification for the first time in 19 years.
But the Terry moment was what everyone fixated on. To Chelsea fans, it was a deserved and emotional send-off, and to everyone else, it was an insult to the game and an affront on common decency.
TIMES THE GAME: Terry’s farewell farce #tomorrowspaperstoday
This made it the perfect way for John Terry to end his Chelsea career, over which he has endeared himself to supporters and repulsed everyone else in equal measure. An understated and conventional farewell would’ve been totally wrong for someone who has lifted more trophies over his 19 seasons than his club had in 93 years of existence before he joined the team and been stripped of the England captaincy not once, but twice.
To fixate on whether it was right or wrong is to miss the transcendence of this ending to one of the Premier League’s most enduring one-man morality plays. In John Terry’s final moments on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, he reminded supporters why they love him and everyone else why they hate him. He even managed to squeeze in one last FA investigation. Incredible.
John Terry is living life to its fullest
With a miserable season behind him and one last hard fought Chelsea contract extension now signed, John Terry is enjoying life and sharing this enjoyment with his Instagram followers. Above is video of a smiling Terry ziplining with his wife in Dubai, set to R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly.” If this doesn’t inspire Chelsea to a treble next season, I don’t know what will.
John Terry, Wojciech Szczesny, Lukas Podolski all mock Spurs on their day of embarrassment
Only Spurs could find a way to finish third behind Arsenal in a two-horse race that did not involve Arsenal. They went winless in their last four matches of the season, starting with a 1-1 draw against West Brom, then squandering a two-goal lead to Chelsea for a 3-3 draw that sealed the title for Leicester, then they lost 2-1 to Southampton, but they saved their most incredible embarrassment for last.
John Terry makes Chelsea executives bend to his will once again
Back in February I wrote a post about the clear strategy in John Terry’s dramatic announcement that Chelsea were refusing to offer him one more contract extension. “It’s not going to be a fairytale ending, I’m not going to retire at Chelsea,” he said, presciently. Well, fast forward two and a half months and Terry has been offered the contract extension he wanted.
John Terry attempts one last power move to extend his Chelsea career
Immediately after Chelsea’s 5-1 win against MK Dons in the FA Cup, arguably the team’s finest performance of the season and one that further broke down the intense anger that followed the sacking of Jose Mourinho in December, John Terry opted to make a major announcement.
John Terry scores late offside backheel equalizer against Everton
John Terry has once again done what he does best: infuriate large swathes of humanity.
If you throw ice cream at Frank Lampard, he will catch it in a cup
In an effort to entertain his family during the MLS offseason, NYCFC midfielder Frank Lampard stepped behind the counter at an ice cream shop and caught a scoop of the frozen treat in a cup after it was flung at him by a clerk.
In which Roman Abramovich turns John Terry into a centaurback
John Terry, like many Chelsea players, has lost his legs this season. So in this animated short from the always excellent FitbaThatba, Roman Abramovich attempts to solve Jose Mourinho’s problems with a bit of creative engineering. I think this might be the key to turning Chelsea’s season around.
DTotD: Zlatan elbows John Terry in the head during friendly
Apparently Daring to Zlatan means elbow opponents in the back of the head during preseason friendlies in Charlotte, North Carolina. Though, to be fair, John Terry didn’t seem bothered.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.