- Mourinho sends message to Terry
- Ex-Chelsea boss full of praise
- New Hall of Fame inductee tearful
WHAT HAPPENED?
To mark his induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame this week, Terry received a video message from Mourinho, who spoke about the “privilege” of working with him. In the video, clip, Terry’s eyes filled with tears as he took in the kind words, trying to compose himself to explain what it meant to hear.
WATCH THE CLIP
“That’s quite emotional.” 🥹
A message from John Terry’s former @ChelseaFC manager Jose Mourinho almost reduced the new #PLHallOfFame inductee to tears 💙 pic.twitter.com/YyJk9VknIC
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 22, 2024
WHAT MOURINHO SAID ABOUT TERRY
Mourinho said: “Premier League Hall of Fame, John Terry, [it] has to be. And now it is. I believe that for your kids, it is something really fantastic. For me, as one of the guys that had the privilege to work with you for about six seasons, I’m very happy, I’m very proud. You deserve [it], your career was amazing. I’m so, so happy for you and so proud of this achievement. Kisses, mate.”
WHAT TERRY SAID UPON SEEING MESSAGE
“Wow. That’s quite emotional. Sorry,” a tearful Terry said as the video finished playing. “I think I owe him a huge amount for my career and the kind of direction it went in. He still frightens me to death, when I see a video of him or he FaceTimes me out of the blue and stuff like that. But I’ve just got so much respect for him and what he’s done for me and Chelsea. Chelsea means everything to me. So, yeah, very emotional.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Terry was added to the Hall of Fame along with ex-Newcastle and Manchester United striker Andy Cole, a nod to his impact and influence at Chelsea, where he won five Premier League titles. Overall, he spent 19 years as a first-team player after coming through the youth ranks at Stamford Bridge and made 717 appearances for the club. It was under Mourinho’s guidance from 2004 that he truly flourished into a world class defender, winning the first of his two league titles, before reuniting almost a decade later to win another in 2014-15. Terry also won the Premier League under Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte.
WHAT NEXT?
Having been an assistant manager at Aston Villa and Leicester, both under Dean Smith, Terry is currently an Academy level coach at Chelsea. He also served as a consultant for the club in between those two spells elsewhere. But, despite previously set on becoming a manager himself, the youth role is one he he is likely to keep in the long-term, openly discussing in the past his deflation at being overlooked for manager’s jobs and acknowledging that his position at Chelsea provides a good work/life balance.