On Saturday, after the end of the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley, John Terry is hoping to do what he likes to call a ”Wisey”.
Seven years ago the Chelsea captain was 19 and, having just returned from a six-game loan spell at Nottingham Forest, watched from the bench as the last final to be decided in north-west London was won by a 73rd-minute Roberto Di Matteo goal against Aston Villa. The Blues captain then was Dennis Wise.
He walked up the Wembley steps and lifted the trophy while carrying his son, Henry. Terry has twins who, the day before he leads Chelsea out against Manchester United for the showpiece, will celebrate their first birthday. Summer and Georgie, whose names are sewn into the tongues of their father’s boots, can expect to be the centre of attention if Chelsea win.
”Yeah,” Terry grins. ”Wisey did that there. Somebody will have to lift the Cup, won’t they?”
There is, though, little chance of the 26-year-old allowing Frank Lampard to accept the trophy, as happened at the Carling Cup final earlier this year. Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1, but Terry missed the ceremony because of a horrific head injury sustained when he was kicked, accidentally, by Abou Diaby. Can he be too brave sometimes? ”No. If it was there again I would do the same. There was an opportunity to score.”
Last May, Terry would not have anticipated a year of disappointment ahead of him. Yet after winning a Premiership title under Jose Mourinho, he had a summer of reflection after England’s penalty shoot-out defeat against Portugal in the World Cup quarterfinals.
Then his club were beaten in another shoot-out in the Champions League semifinal at Liverpool, before losing all chance of emulating Manchester United’s hat-trick of Premiership titles [1999 to 2001] with a draw at Arsenal a fortnight ago that confirmed Sir Alex Ferguson’s men as champions.
Terry has no doubt which hurt the most. ”The Premiership. I’d love to be lifting that trophy this weekend. There’s going to be something missing.”
And the second European Cup defeat at Anfield, following the 2005 semifinal exit? ”I took it hard that first time. It was a little bit easier this time because we knew we still had the chance to win the league. Having then drawn at Arsenal, well, with the FA Cup to play for and two Premiership games it’s been OK actually, because the manager’s stressed he wants to break this record.”
Liverpool’s mark of 63 matches undefeated at home was equalled when Chelsea drew one-all against Everton last week. But records do not win medals and Terry cannot hide his disappointment for long. ”It’s not just the need to win things, it’s the need to win,” he says, making what is, for him, obviously a vital clarification.
”I’ve not been too happy recently but it’s the same with the lads. The last thing I’d have wanted was for us to get knocked out of the Champions League and lose the league and everyone be happy.”
Terry had to lead the guard of honour at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday to congratulate the new champions. Asked what had been going through his head, he laughs. ”We had to pay them respect same as they did [for Chelsea at Old Trafford in 2005], but what was going through my mind isn’t important.”
Did United win or Chelsea lose it? ”They won the title because they were very good. You can pick six of their players who’ve been different class — Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes, Vidic and Ferdinand. We had chances throughout the season where we could really have put on pressure — the Newcastle game [0-0, April 22] sticks out. We also had the opportunity to beat them at Old Trafford [1-1, November 26].
”If we weren’t in the FA Cup we would have played Man United a few weeks ago and things could have been different. But I don’t want to start going into those things. Man United were brilliant this year.”
This season, of course, has also featured generous doses of intrigue at the club. Spats between Mourinho and Roman Abramovich have left the future of the Portuguese still uncertain.
Has the captain received assurance from his manager that he will be around next season? ”No. I certainly hope so, that’s one of the things that before we go away we need to talk about. As far as I’m aware things have all been sorted, there’s no problem, it’s all been done. Hopefully he’s going to stay.”
Terry’s own future is still being negotiated (it may be tied to Mourinho’s) and a Chelsea press officer said the subject was off-limits, yet Terry still hints that it is a concern.
”There are a couple more things to be sorted out and everyone will be here,” he says, before fielding the inevitable question about the apparent dressing room unrest over new arrivals Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko.
”For myself and Lampsey [Lampard], we like to get everyone together for go-karting and things like that, making sure that everybody turns up,” he says, the last comment hinting that not everyone buys into the team ethic.
What is clear, he says, will be the need for an inquest into what went wrong this season.
”Myself and Lamps will have chats with the manager. Not too in-depth because we go away with England [to play Estonia next month]. Maybe it’s a good opportunity to have whatever time we have off and then discuss our feelings on the way to America [for the pre-season tour].
We’ve got a lot of time then among ourselves, so discussions will be made — little changes and little things to be done to improve ourselves and everything around the place. Credit to the manager because he’s willing to listen to his players as well.”
What has Terry, specifically, put his finger on?
”The season’s not over, so I don’t really want to talk about how to improve and change things. It would be nice to have a few weeks to myself, to take things in, write stuff down and come back and maybe discuss them.”
First comes the Cup. Terry has a gong from the 2000 final that he does not count because he did not play. Win on Saturday and he will have his medal, the trophy, and his twins to carry back down the Wembley steps. – Â