‘The last man standing’: Chelsea’s John Terry a model of consistency in a golden age of centre-backs

Chelsea defender John Terry controls the ball in an August, 2016 Premier League match against Burnley. Glyn Kirk / EPA file

So now the "end' has finally been put into "Captain, Leader, Legend". John Terry had said he would leave Chelsea last summer. His career at Stamford Bridge went into extra time, but now the minutes are ticking away. A second statement had more finality, its timing choreographed with the club. Tributes were prepared for a man who made history preparing to take his place in it.

The numbers speak of the colossal contribution an indomitable figure made: in 19 years since his debut, Terry played 713 games, 578 as captain, scoring 66 goals and winning 14 medals, 13 as skipper. The story of the modern Chelsea — the trophy-winning machine loved by some, hated by many, powered by Roman Abramovich’s money and where managers came and went but a core of players remained — is the tale of Terry.

He was a constant: cause of controversy, scourge of strikers, the most solid of centre-backs. He was a defining figure in a way few defenders are. Perhaps it was a product of a persona that endeared him to some and irritated others. Terry had aerial ability, a midfielder’s passing game, positional discipline, a willingness to lead but, above all, copious quantities of self-belief.

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Much like Steven Gerrard, a very different character, he was noted for his pratfalls as well as his triumphs. There were times he seemed an indefensible defender. He lost the England captaincy twice and was banned for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, a charge he denied. Chelsea’s two Uefa Champions League finals were notable for Terry’s input — the famous slip as he skewed his penalty in Moscow wide to permit Manchester United’s 2008 victory and his determination to wear his full kit to lead the celebrations when, while suspended for a stupid sending off against Barcelona, he was not permitted to play in 2012’s improbable win.

Often parodied, he was nonetheless inimitable. Frank Lampard deemed him the greatest centre-back in Premier League history. The statistics may support his case. Terry was the cornerstone of Jose Mourinho's record-breaking rearguard, the 2004-05 champions who were only breached 15 times. He was named PFA Player of the Year that season, the only defender to earn that accolade since 1993.

He was named in the FIFPro World XI for five consecutive years from 2005 to 2009, the years when he was at his peak. Consider some of his teammates in those hypothetical sides — Rio Ferdinand, Carles Puyol, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Lilian Thuram, Nemanja Vidic — and, in a golden generation of centre-backs, Terry attracted his peers’ approval in unrivalled fashion.

Even in the autumn of his career, he showed he could defy age as well as opponents. He played all 3,420 minutes of the 2014-15 title-winning season. The subsequent two campaigns have represented an anticlimax and, even if Terry could depart a double winner, Antonio Conte made a decisive break with the past, constructing a new defence. Now Terry’s influence is only exercised off the field.

So an era is coming to a definitive, delayed end. The 2000s were a decade dominated by long-serving figures, some one-club men, some forming an indelible association with an adopted home. Recent summers have been notable for farewells: Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech left Chelsea, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Ferdinand Manchester United, Steven and Jamie Carragher Liverpool. Terry became the lone throwback. “The last man standing,” Lampard called him, the 20th-century debutant still around in 2017.

A personal view is that the title of Chelsea’s greatest player should be contested by Lampard, Drogba and Gianfranco Zola, rather than Terry. An earlier candidate, Peter Osgood, was nicknamed the “King of Stamford Bridge.” That became Terry’s role. Now, finally, a remarkable reign is ending.

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