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John Terry has shared a remarkable story from his years at Chelsea, leading a revolt of players who objected to sitting in financial elegance on a pre-season tour. The incident occurred during the brief tenure of Andre Villas-Boas, who had taken the reins at Stamford Bridge with the aim of imposing his authority on an all-star team.
The Blues were about to fly to Hong Kong and Villas-Boas, keen to turn things around, to put their veteran players, adding Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba, into economic class, while Chelsea’s emerging talents enjoyed the comfort of the top spot. class.
Speaking on Simon Jordan’s Up Front podcast with William Hill, Terry recounted the episode: “When Andre Villas-Boas first arrived, we were going to Hong Kong for a pre-season tour. They put us on the plane and put me in Economy Class, but young players like Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah were in First Class. “
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Terry explained that Villas-Boas is looking to assert his dominance. However, the rule didn’t sit well with Terry and the club’s other legends.
“It’s part of Villas-Boas that seeks to make it clear that no player is bigger than him,” Terry said, reports the Daily Star. “They put me on the plane and I insisted that we wouldn’t go anywhere until the young players were back in the economy and the first-team players, who built the club where itArray had entered the first flight.
“Then Villas-Boas took over and asked me what was going on, so I told him we wouldn’t go anywhere until the young players were moved. To be fair to the young players, they were happy to go back, but I made sure it wasn’t their decision. It had to come from the manager.
“We ended up talking and they brought all the first-team players forward, leaving the younger ones in the background and that’s how it is. They’re trying to be where we deserved to be. “
Speaking of his defiant stance, Terry added: “He tried to make a plane from day one and it failed instantly. This plane wasn’t going anywhere, and if it had, it would have been without me, Lampard and Drogba. “
Villas-Boas took charge of Les Bleus in 2011 after leading Porto to a treble last season. The Portuguese coach had worked with Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, but his reign would only last until March 2012. At the time there were indications that the strength of the players within the Chelsea squad, combined with Villas-Boas’ relative inexperience, had led to the manager’s sacking. However, Terry denied that this was the case.
“There are all these rumours that the strength of the Chelsea players was too strong at the time, but that’s not the case,” he insisted. “The coach, Jose Mourinho, for example, is guilty and everything above that, Roman Abramovich is guilty. The dressing room is run by players like me, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, but the design up front is very clear. “