Carlo Ancelotti has hailed John Terry as the man most responsible for driving Chelsea towards greatness.
The Blues celebrated a memorable League and Cup double last season, their first under the guidance of Ancelotti.
The Italian has rightly been praised for the fine work he has overseen at Stamford Bridge, especially as things have not always gone as smoothly as he would have liked.
His talismanic skipper fell under the microscope at times last term, with revelations about his private life and the subsequent decision to strip him of the England captaincy firing Chelsea into the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Ancelotti, though, insists Terry has never allowed his focus to waver and admits he is full of admiration for the way in which the combative centre-half demands universal respect within the dressing room.
"John Terry is the captain of all team captains, he was born with the captain's armband on his arm," Ancelotti writes in his new autobiography: The Beautiful Games of an Ordinary Genius.
"Even without the band, it's as if he wears it anyway, and that's how it ought to be. He's different from all the others, Chelsea is his home, it always has been, ever since the youth squad.
"One word from him, and the locker room holds its breath. He's the first one to sit down at meals, the first one to stand up.
"Being part of this club is his mission, that's how he was made. He pays close attention to the performances of the youth team, he keeps up, he knows all the scores, he misses nothing (although he often loses at ping-pong in the dining room - and when that happens, watch out).
"He works twice as hard as everyone else, he has the sense of responsibility of someone who runs a company, a people, a philosophy that above all has to win.
"There is no room for second place; there can only be room for us."
No comments:
Post a Comment