Terry joins Villa

It has been announced today John Terry has joined Aston Villa after becoming a free agent on 1 July following his wonderful Chelsea career.

By moving to the Championship side, Terry will play under Steve Bruce who was appointed manager at Villa Park during last season.

Terry, who played in the Championship (known as Division One at the time) earlier on in his career when on loan from Chelsea to Nottingham Forest, departs Stamford Bridge as the most successful player in our history having won 15 major honors.

After coming through our youth system, Terry was handed his Chelsea debut in 1998 and went on to make 717 appearances. Only Ron Harris and Peter Bonetti played more times for the Blues.

During his time at Chelsea, Terry won five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, one Champions League and one Europa League, a truly magnificent achievement. His last appearance for the Blues came on the final day of the league season, at home to Sunderland, when he said an emotional farewell to supporters after lifting the Premier League trophy for the fifth time.

John is a true Chelsea legend, one of our all-time greatest players and he will always be welcome back at Stamford Bridge. We wish him the very best of luck for this new chapter in his magnificent career.

JOHN TERRY'S DEFINING MOMENTS AT THE BRIDGE.

Many players, over the course of their careers, will experience a defining moment.

A victory, a goal, a tackle or a save which they will always be remembered for.

At Chelsea, Frank Lampard is the club’s all-time highest scorer but it is his two goals at Bolton that secured our first Premier League title which most stick in the mind for many. For Didier Drogba and Petr Cech, nothing will ever top that famous night in Munich four years ago when their performances played a pivotal role in ensuring the Blues were crowned champions of Europe.

John Terry has made more than 700 Chelsea appearances yet it is hard to select one such moment for him, and that says it all. Quite simply, there have been so many.

Being appointed club captain, his first trophy, lifting the Premier League title for the first time in 2005, winning the Champions League in 2012, his 500th game as skipper - all have been memorable milestones in a truly outstanding Blues career, but Terry’s contribution to the Chelsea cause down the years has been about so much more.

JT is prominent in any debate about the club’s greatest player and is unarguably one of the finest defenders England has ever produced.

A product of the Chelsea youth system, he has been the heartbeat of the team during the most successful period in the club’s history. Consistent, determined and skilful, Terry is blessed with a win-at-all-personal-costs approach to the game which endeared him to the Stamford Bridge faithful from day one.

A natural leader, he has marshalled the defence impeccably for such a long period it is difficult to remember a time when he was not offering instructions and encouragement to those around him.

An intelligent defender, his positional sense and ability to read the game are immense strengths and technically he has been outstanding: Two-footed and with a fantastic range of passing, Terry has orchestrated attacks from the back, taken control of possession in pressurised situations and his distribution with his head and chest, which could be overlooked or taken for granted, have been an important part of the way Chelsea have played. 

Captains lead by example as well as through organising and Terry’s influence at the club after he became full-time skipper in 2004 has not been restricted to matches alone. He is always on hand to assist, whether helping players from abroad to settle or taking a keen interest in the development of youngsters attempting to follow his path into the first team. 

His Chelsea story began when he joined the club as a 14-year-old and he was handed his first team debut in a League Cup win over Aston Villa in 1998.

His first Premier League appearance came a few months later, away at Southampton on Boxing Day, and the following month he was handed his full debut in an FA Cup win at Oldham. It was in that competition against Gillingham the following season he scored his first Chelsea goal and another major first came in December 2001 at home to Charlton when he played his first game as captain.

In 2003, at the end of a campaign in which we secured Champions League qualification, Terry was rewarded for his brilliant form with a first England cap, playing the second half of a friendly against Serbia and Montenegro. He would go on to captain his country too and represent the Three Lions at two World Cups and two European Championships.

Jose Mourinho’s arrival in the summer of 2004 heralded Terry as captain on a permanent basis and he lifted his first trophy – the League Cup – midway through the campaign. Much more was to come a few months later when we were crowned Premier League champions. Terry, who had been instrumental in our success, a rock at the heart of a defence which conceded just 15 goals on our way to a first title in 50 years, was deservedly named PFA Player of the Year, as well as being selected in both the PFA and UEFA Teams of the Year.  

A consecutive Premier League triumph was recorded a year later with Terry having produced top-quality performances on a regular basis once more. He was named Chelsea Player of the Year for the second time at the end of the season and a year later he lifted the first of four FA Cups following a 1-0 win against Manchester United, in the first final to be played at the new Wembley.

The second of back-to-back FA Cups won, in 2010, came a week after we had won a third Premier League title, ensuring he became the only captain in our history to lift both trophies in the same season. Only Roy Bentley is a previous league-winning Chelsea skipper.

Individual accolades have come Terry’s way throughout his career. He was named UEFA’s Most Valuable Defender in 2005, 2008 and 2009, as well as being selected in UEFA’s best team three years in a row – 2007, 2008 and 2009. The fact he was also named in the FIFA World XI five consecutive times - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 – spoke volumes about his ability to perform consistently at the highest level week in, week out.

The 2011/12 campaign will go down as one of the most memorable in the club’s illustrious history, and Terry ended it by lifting a fourth FA Cup and becoming a Champions League winner, following a dramatic night in Munich when we finally brought an end to what had become an agonising wait. Terry, who missed the final through suspension, had done as much as anybody throughout an eventful European campaign, scoring a vital goal against Napoli as we overturned a 3-1 first-leg deficit and then producing a brilliant defensive display against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in the face of intense pressure from the Spanish side.

Terry’s relationships in the middle of the rearguard with Marcel Desailly, William Gallas, Ricardo Carvalho and Gary Cahill have been particularly strong, but in total he has had 25 central-defensive partners during his time at the club and each will probably say they felt a better player alongside him.

For a long time, he formed part of a famous formidable spine of the team, along with Cech, Lampard and Drogba. With Ashley Cole so often a regular to his left in that team, all five were men for the most important occasions and our record in matches against direct rivals was very impressive.

By the 2014/15 season, Lampard and Cole had departed and Cech and Drogba no longer automatic starters, but Terry led the team to success in two more competitions.   

In the League Cup against fierce rivals Tottenham he opened the scoring with a goal that meant so much to him, his first cup-final strike, but it was his all-round display which really impressed. Harry Kane had scored twice as we were beaten at White Hart Lane a couple of months earlier. At Wembley, however, the young striker barely had a sight of goal having been totally dominated by Terry, who picked up the Man of the Match award to cap a wonderful day.

By the end of the season the skipper had become only the second outfield player to complete every minute of every league game in a title-winning campaign. In an early-season encounter at Crystal Palace he had captained the Blues for the 500th time. His goal against Liverpool, after we had been crowned champions, ensured he became the Premier League’s all-time highest-scoring defender.

As well as being named in the PFA Team of the Season for the fourth time, he also came third in the vote for the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year.

Terry reached another rare and significant milestone in March 2016 - only the third player in our history to reach 700 Chelsea appearances.

In the modern game, a long career at one club, particularly one which is continually expected to challenge for the big prizes, is a huge challenge. That Terry has been such a key player for such a long period of time is testament to his quality, attitude and desire to be the best.

A banner draped across the Matthew Harding Stand at Stamford Bridge and created in his honour famously describes Terry as ‘Captain, Leader, Legend.’

Four Premier Leagues, one Champions League, five FA Cups, three League Cups, one Europa League, 713 appearances and 66 goals so far, with the possibility of yet more honours to come before, in May, the curtain finally comes down on a monumental Chelsea career and one which may never be surpassed.