John Terry

Captain Fearless

John Terry is a modern football colossus. A Terry Butcher-esque warlord who’d have to be battered and broken in two before he’d stop fighting for his team. Finally putting that penalty miss behind him, the Chelsea centre-half is now thriving under both Fabio Capello and Phil Scolari, and looks poised to captain both club and country to great things in the near future. We caught up with football’s Mr Unbreakable to get his thoughts on the most topical things in football.

On FABIO CAPELLO

Russell Brand described Capello as a 'Hasslehoff-grandma'. How do you think he would respond to this if he knew?

I am not even really sure what that means myself! I don’t think he would mind that much though. My guess is that he probably has one or two more important things on his mind!

Like what? Cheese? The ironing? Oh, right, England. How’s that going?

Great. We have had a fantastic start to the World Cup qualifiers and everybody in the England camp is enjoying being there at the moment.

Is Capello a scary man in the dressing room? 

No, he is very calm and his authority just commands respect. We all know what he has done and we listen. There is a reason he has managed at Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Juventus and it’s because he is a part of that small group of managers in the world that are amongst the best.

But, admit it, you are a bit scared of him…

Like I said, we all respect him and we know the rules but we are not scared – that is the wrong word.

Has he ever cracked a joke? Did you laugh because you were scared rather than because it was funny?

You are obsessed with him being scary! He is a very charismatic man and he shares a joke with us and can have a bit of a laugh in training.

Has he offered to babysit your kids?

No.

On THE PREMIERSHIP

Chelsea used to be boring. How has Scolari got you playing such lovely football?

When you have managed Brazil you are going to know how to get teams to play lovely football. I mean, if you look at some of the attacking players he has worked with – Kaka, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Ronaldo, Figo, the list just goes on and on. The gaffer obviously brought Deco in the summer had his football has obviously added to the team. We’re really happy with the football we are playing at the moment and hope it is exciting for the fans as well.

Do the players hang off his every word? 

Well, basically, when someone likes Scolari speaks you should listen because they probably have something to say that is going to help you.

He has a great moustache. Have the Chelsea players got a nickname for him?

I am sorry to tell you, it’s nothing more exciting than gaffer!

Now teams like Manchester City are on a financial par with Chelsea, do you feel under more or less pressure to perform?

To be honest we never felt under pressure to perform because of our finances. We were under pressure to perform because it is what expected of a top club and we want to win things for us and for the fans. The Premiership is a very attractive league and of course it is going to attract big investment.

What was your reaction to Joe Kinnear's rant?

People do lose their rag in football I am not saying it’s right, but I would much rather have a player or manager who showed he cared about the game than one who never shows any emotion.

On THE CHELSEA STEREO

What music do you have on in the dressing room before games?

You get a few of the chaps that just sit there quietly with their iPods on and get themselves prepared for games, but the music in the dressing before a game has to be something that gets you pumped up.

Which player should never be in charge of the Chelsea stereo?

Last season it was definitely Shevchenko – he loves Queen. Now don’t get me wrong they’ve done some great stuff, but he is obsessed with them. There wouldn’t be anything other than Queen if he had his way.

We hear that Chelsea are also quite the fans of team karaoke. Who’s a Will Young in the making and who has given the most god-awful renditions to date?

Oh dear. The best I am not sure, but there have been some right shocking performances I can tell you that much! Shaun Wright Phillips liked to think of himself as a bit of a pop star with all the dance moves to go with it. He isn’t.

On THEO WALCOTT

As a defender, how would you deal with his pace? Would you boot him up in the air?

I wouldn’t but there will be defenders who, because of his pace, do that to him and he knows that. When you are a skilful or quick player you know some defenders are going to do that to you, and you just have to hope that the refs protect you well. If he gets in around the area the defenders can’t touch him because they will be giving free kicks and penalties away all the time.

Is he better than when Michael Owen burst onto England scene?

Apart from pace they are very different players. Michael has always been about goals where perhaps Theo is more creative and wants to create more than score. They were both very special from a young age though.

What are his other qualities besides speed?

I think he has shown that he has a goal in him, but you could name a lot of fast players who get near the box and have no end product, but the great thing about Theo is that he knows how to deliver that final ball as well.

When you go out on an England team night out, does he get ID’d?

[Laughs] You would think so, but I think people probably know his face by now!

On FANTASY FOOTBALL

Are you a PES or FIFA man?

I am a pro evo man all they way, there are a fair few tournaments that happen at Chelsea and everybody will tell you they are the best.

What do you think of the John Terry likeness?

Yeah my likeness is fantastic, very real.

Our production editor spent £20million (a fifth of his budget) to get you in his fantasy team. When you finally going to score some goals?

Really? What fantasy team was this where a central defender costs 20 million I have never heard of that before.

It was an auction one…

You can tell him that he brought me to keep clean sheets not to score goals!

That was the problem. You only get points for goals scored in this one…

Oh, in that case I will try and get my head on the end of one to help him score a few more points of course.