Chelsea and England hero John Terry was in the talkSPORT studio on Wednesday morning to tackle a wide range of topics in football.
The 44-year-old talked all things Club World Cup, the current crop at Chelsea, tales about his former Blues teammates, Jack Grealish‘s situation at Manchester City and much more.
Here’s everything the Chelsea legend had to say on talkSPORT Breakfast alongside Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ally McCoist.
Club World Cup
Terry was in town to promote the revamped FIFA Club World Cup, which begins on June 14 and will be held across the United States.
A new-look trophy as well as an increase to a 32-team field are among the biggest changes to the tournament.
However, more teams means more games at a time when there are already worries over player welfare in terms of too much football.
Terry completely understood the concerns and proposed a solution but also pointed out that since his retirement, he dearly misses playing.
If anything, he wished he played more.
“This is an opportunity that financially is mega for every club involved, let alone if you go on and win it,” Terry said.
“To participate, it’s big financials.
“I think we have to be careful in terms of player welfare and stuff like that because being ex-players, we have to support that.
“Can there be a break mid-season, I think there should be. You played two, three games a week around the Christmas period and it’s really busy.
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“Then in February, March, April, you play Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. You could easily just throw a couple of games in there as well.
“But I think in terms of players, like for me, six years retired, I’d love to still be playing. I’d love to go back and say, ‘I wish I had 60, 65 games a season.’”
Terry also felt managers can play more of a role when it comes to easing the workload of their players.
However, the Chelsea great believed the onus should always be on the players to keep their bodies in tip-top shape, especially at the top level.
“I think the most I ever get off after a season was probably three weeks,” Terry said.
“Now, because Chelsea was in the finals of Champions Leagues or later stages, FA Cup, which is the last game of the season, you’re kind of getting two-and-a-half, three weeks off at a maximum. At the top level, that’s what you’re used to. So we’re not asking anything different of what our generation have done or what the top sides have done.
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“I think that when you’re a top player, you’re expected to be able to be robust, you’ve got to look after yourself.
“I could quite still easily play three games a week. Ninety minutes at the top, top level. Maybe not at the top level, but if I’m in my prime like these guys are, you can go and churn out those games.
“I think the struggle for me is, when you play Saturday to Saturday and the manager says, ‘No days off, we’re in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,’ because maybe you’re under a bit of pressure from the owners, you can’t give players days off, I think the players and managers at the football clubs have a responsibility to really look at the winter break or give players days off throughout the season.”
Current Chelsea side
After two seasons away from the Champions League, Chelsea are firmly in the hunt to return to Europe’s premier club competition.
Enzo Maresca‘s side sit fourth in the Premier League, although just five points separate the Blues from 10th-placed Bournemouth.
A large part of Chelsea’s success this season is down to superstar midfielder Cole Palmer, who has 14 goals and six assists in the league this season.
But Terry, who is often in the building at Cobham as a part-time coach with Chelsea’s academy, revealed Palmer offers far more than just his ability with the ball.
“He’s quite quick,” Terry said.
“I was at Chelsea the other day, and they were doing a bleep test.
“He won it by a mile. He was cruising, like people were dropping out. He was there right to the end.
“In terms of fitness levels and the power, he looks quite skinny, but very strong.
“Takes the ball on the half-turn really quick as well. Like, impossible to play against.”
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Terry added the game ‘seems to be too easy’ for Palmer at times and hailed his partnership with Blues striker Nicolas Jackson.
“He strolls through games a little bit, but he’s so far ahead of everyone else in terms of the way he sees the game,” Terry said.
“He always plays that forward pass.
“He’s never looking for the simple one. I think him and [Nicolas] Jackson have a really good relationship as well.
“Nico likes to play on people’s shoulders, which a lot of strikers don’t do nowadays as well. But he’s just been phenomenal.
“When you go to these games at the Bridge you can’t help but just watch and follow him. The ball’s at the other end of the pitch, and you’re just watching his movement.
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“He’s always on the half-turn, getting in little pockets.
“(Gianfranco) Zola used to find himself in areas that he didn’t even know existed. He’s the same as well, but he turns and wants to drive at people and play forward, which I think is the key to it.”
Former teammates and managers
Having enjoyed a playing career that spanned two decades, Terry has shared the pitch with some incredible teammates.
The majority of them have since hung up the boots, some of which have allowed themselves to, deservedly, enjoy retirement after years of keeping themselves in peak physical condition.
There are also others who have remained in top shape, one of which is former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.
In fact, Terry believes Obi Mikel, now 37, is in such good nick he could easily still play at the top level.
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“He was brilliant,” Terry said.
“To have him in front of me playing was brilliant. He covered so much ground.
“I still play in ex-Legends games now and stuff and he can still play. He could still play in the Premier League today. He had it all didn’t he?
“Those holding midfielders like Makelele get recognised. There’s certain players in that role that don’t get the credit they deserve. And Obi was one of them.”
Mikel was brought to Chelsea in 2006 when Jose Mourinho was in charge at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho, who famously declared himself ‘The Special One’ when he first moved to Chelsea in 2004, arrived with plenty of hype having just won the Champions League with Porto.
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It didn’t take long for Mourinho to leave Terry with a lasting impression.
Commenting on what it was like to work under the Portuguese boss, Terry said: “To get a first impression when he first arrived, the detail and the level of training.
“I used to pride myself for getting in very early, I went in at 8:15am and he’s already out there putting the cones on the pitches, setting up the pitch, that was his standards every day.
“His standards were incredible and every had to abide by it, but seeing him work, on the pitch it was incredible, his detail in the pre-match games and the tactics of the opposition and how we were going to break teams down…
“And also a lot of the time, he focused on us, which I’d not really had as a player, so he understood, we had a really good bunch of players.
“But a phenomenal manager, a phenomenal person and man to work with and certainly was never scared to say what he thought that’s for sure.”
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Terry continued: “He was the best I ever worked with, in terms of management, his tactics, the whole package.”
Under Mourinho, Chelsea won six trophies in the space of just three years before he departed in September 2007.
Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge in June 2013 and helped the Blues to another Premier League title and a League Cup.
However, his exit in December 2015 came amid an alarming form slump.
As for what went wrong in his second stint, Terry felt there was simply too big of a disconnect with Mourinho’s methods and the changing demands of the new generation of players at the squad.
“A lot of people said he was different the second time,” Mourinho said.
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“I think the big difference when he came back was players were different. In that first era, 2004/05, he could have said to me, Lamps, Didier or anyone who was in the squad, ‘You’re being rubbish, you need to be better.’
“That second time around, players were different. That generation, the players were starting to go the other way where they didn’t like being told what they were bad at, they wanted a pat on the back all the time.
“So in terms of him, I don’t think he was different. I think the group was different, and I think he was very much still, ‘This is how I coach, this is how I manage, I’ve been very successful this way, why would I change.’ And also, I agree with him.”
What’s he doing now?
When Terry stepped away from his role as an assistant manager at Aston Villa in July 2021, he did so with the hopes of taking up a managerial role elsewhere, but it has not eventuated
Terry did make a brief return to a Premier League dugout when Dean Smith brought him on as an assistant at Leicester City in April 2023.
But since then, Terry hasn’t been an overly visible presence in Premier League circles.
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However, the Blues great wouldn’t have it any other way as he gets more time to play golf, padel and be with his family.
He still harbours aspirations of being the Chelsea manager, but has accepted that ‘dream’ is unlikely to transpire.
“I had to leave Aston Villa for personal reasons, for family reasons and stuff. But I loved my time there,” Terry said.
“I love coaching and after three years, I was ready to be a manager, so I came away and reset with the family.
“Then I had a couple of interviews and it was quite disappointing. In every interview I came away from they said ‘you have no experience as a number one’.
“I’m like, okay, how do I get that? I’m keen to get in, I want to go in and it needs to be the right team, but didn’t get my opportunity.
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“I’ve stepped back and I’m part-time in the Academy at Chelsea. I love doing it and I love being around the boys and supporting them.
“In terms of my life at the minute, I’m playing a load of golf and summer’s just about to come now. I’m playing padel. I’m fit, I’m healthy, I’m with my wife, with my family, enjoying life a little bit.
“We make big sacrifices as players, you don’t see the kids on their birthdays and all things like that.
“Picking the kids up from school and dropping them off or dropping them to their friend’s house and stuff like that means everything to me.
“I think the longer I leave it, the less likely it is to happen.
“I still have a dream, I’d love to go in at Chelsea one day. Does that happen without me doing the other levels? No, it probably doesn’t. So, realistically, it’s not going to happen for me.
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“I’m comfortable with that, I’m happy, I’ve done all my badges, I’m ready. So if anything does ever come up and it’s the right opportunity, I’ll go in.”
Jack Grealish
Terry was fortunate enough to have a front row seat to the rise of Villa’s most successful academy product, Jack Grealish.
The pair played together during the 2017/18 Championship season before Terry helped coach Grealish when he returned the following campaign as part of Smith’s coaching staff.
Under Smith, Grealish blossomed into one of the best attacking talents in the Premier League.
Grealish would terrorise defenders with his mazy dribbles across the park and defence-splitting passes.
His rise culminated in a £100million move to Manchester City in August 2021 as he sought to win trophies.
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Although he’s done just that, it’s come at the cost of valuable playing time.
Now 29, Grealish is struggling to break into Pep Guardiola’s starting line-up and is at real risk of missing out on making the England squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It’s why Terry believes Grealish must contemplate a summer exit if he is to feature at the World Cup and needs to play for a manager who will give him the licence to roam across the park.
“Knowing Jack, he’s not the type of player that wants to be sitting on the bench, I don’t think it’s good for him.
“I think he’s at his best when he’s playing week in, week out, when he’s dominating – he’s one of those players that kind of takes it on the back foot.
“Gets at defenders, drives the the team up the pitch, drives the team forward, so I think for him, he needs to start playing.
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“He needs to look at his options, because Man City have not been great this year and he’s still not getting a look-in.
“So from his side, I’d be a little bit worried and go, ‘I need to get out,’ because England means the world to him.
“And I have to say, all eyes are on Jack always, it’s difficult, he’s a young boy with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
“I’ve never seen anyone work so hard at a football club when I was at Villa, I’ve got a real insight into that as well and how much football means to him in general.”
Terry added: “I think it will be good for him to weigh up his options. I’m not saying to leave Man City, because they’re one of the top teams in the world.
“But I think he needs to ask questions, ‘Am I going to be part of this in the future?,’ but Jack is an unbelievable talent, and I think he’s at his best when he’s got the freedom, and I think he needs a manager to give him the license to go and be Jack Grealish.”
John Terry was speaking on Chelsea and the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup. Watch every game from the FIFA Club World Cup on DAZN for free. Sign up today.
