Blues captain Terry mulls future
Print Edition
SCRAMBLING in his first Chelsea goal in 485 days.
Blundering to gift an equalizer less than two minutes later.
If this is how John Terry’s 22-year association with Chelsea ends, it was a memorable sign-off against Watford on Monday. Not perfection, but that wouldn’t be in keeping with the 36-year-old defender’s career of dizzying highs and notorious lows.
And by next week, this stalwart of English soccer could be hanging up his boots for good, rather than searching for one final challenge away from Chelsea.
“I know I said I wanted to play regular football,” Terry said after the newly crowned English champion’s 4-3 victory over Watford, “but I have not ruled out Sunday being my last game and retiring.
“It depends if the right offer comes along. I will sit and consider it with my family, whether it’s here or abroad. But, genuinely, I haven’t made any decisions yet.”
He’s had much time to think about his next steps from the bench this season.
“I never wanted to be that player just hanging about that people can’t wait to get rid of or stopping the progress of a younger player coming through.”
Only with the English Premier League title already sealed was Terry restored to the heart of a defense he commanded for so many seasons, before age finally proved his greatest opponent. He was back on the field wearing the captain’s armband from kickoff for the first time in the league in eight months.
Terry wasn’t going to waste his moment back in the Stamford Bridge spotlight and he wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to make it 17 consecutive top-flight seasons with a goal.
Not when it could be his last appearance, unless he keeps his place for Sunday’s league finale against Sunderland, when Terry will lift the EPL trophy for the fifth time.
After 22 minutes against Watford, the defender showed he hasn’t lost his instinct for goal. As Willian floated a corner into the penalty area, the ball fell to Terry and he nudged it over the line with a scuffed shot for his 67th Chelsea goal.
Manager Antonio Conte, whose decision to jettison Terry from the team has been justified by the title triumph, shared in his delight on the touchline — mouthing his captain’s name to his coaching staff.
On the field, Terry celebrated wildly, but perhaps too much. The game had barely restarted when Watford drew level within two minutes. The culprit: Terry. A defensive header looped backward into the path of Etienne Capoue who slotted past goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
“If in doubt kick it out is a simple rule,” he said. “So I’m disappointed with that.”
And yet nothing was going to dampen the adulation of the fans whose banner proclaims Terry as their “Captain. Leader. Legend.”
It will take some shifting if any supporter thinks of removing the stadium tribute to the man who has been the bedrock of the west London club’s resurgence since the injection of cash since 2003 from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Aptly, Terry’s goal on Monday was the 1,000th of the Abramovich era that has seen Chelsea become a superpower of soccer. “If I could have written my story as a 14-year-old, when I signed on the pitch, this would have been it,” Terry told fans in Monday’s matchday magazine. “Thank you to everyone from the bottom of my heart. I have received so many messages and letters of support thanking me for what I have done at Chelsea, but I’m the lucky one and without you all my dreams wouldn’t have been possible.”
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