After joining the club at the age of 14, Terry went on to win 15 major trophies: 5 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, the Champions League and the Europa League. All but one of those honours were achieved as captain of the club and he departed Stamford Bridge with 717 Chelsea appearances and 67 goals to his name.

Before he left in 2017, our matchday programme team asked JT to take us through his Blues career, trophy by trophy, so as part of our 120 anniversary celebrations, we thought we would take a trip down memory lane with our most successful player of all time.

1999/2000

FA Cup

That was really early in my career and when I look back now, I went on loan to Nottingham Forest in March 2000 and I thought that was it for me with the FA Cup that season. Even so, we had every Wednesday off at Forest, so every Tuesday night after training I would drive all the way back from Nottingham and go in to train with Chelsea on Wednesdays.

I remember the first time I did that, Gianluca Vialli was like, 'What are you doing here?' and I just said, 'Well, we’ve got a day off.'

I just kept my face in the loop with the first team, trained with them, and I think it set a great example of what I was all about, but it also kept me in his mind. It’s one of those “out of sight, out of mind” situations, so I made sure I stayed in his thoughts and when I came back at the end of Forest’s season, he put me on the bench for the FA Cup final. It was a nice thing that he did for all the young players he put on the bench that day – me, Jody Morris and Jon Harley. It was a nice touch.

It was a big, major trophy to win, in the last FA Cup final at the old Wembley, which was an unbelievable stadium. To even have that on my CV, that I was there, is great. To then go on and become a player who was in the last squad to win it at the old Wembley and in the first to win it at the new Wembley, in 2007, was amazing really.

It was five years between my first trophy celebration and my second and it did feel like a long time. Of course, you want trophies every season but realistically I think we all understood that we were in a transitional period as a football club in that time. Year after year you could see things improving as big players came in and made a big difference.

The way we were eating, the way we were training, looking after ourselves before and after training. That old mentality within the dressing room – that drinking mentality, if you like – completely went out of the game, and it became more professional. That was all down to the players we were bringing in. So it was a massive change for the club, a big transition, but well worth it in the end.

2004/05

League Cup

That League Cup win in 2005 felt really significant, and José Mourinho made that his thing all the way through the competition – that halfway through the season we had an opportunity to win a cup. It would set a tone that Chelsea are here to win trophies, year after year. And we did it.

After conceding 45 seconds into the game to John Arne Riise it didn’t look too good, and they were a strong side as well. Even though, in the league, we were way clear of them, it was always a big game between the two sides and on those occasions you never know. But fighting back to win that game 3-2 after extra time was a big turning point for us. Once we got that first taste of success, there was no way back for the players in that dressing room.

Premier League

It felt like we were on a different level that season, like we were looking to win things and being at the forefront of that, leading the side in my first season as club captain, was a big thing for me.

I remember pre-season in the summer of 2004, when we were about to play Celtic in LA, Mourinho said to me, 'You’ve got to get all the players together and give a speech before the game'. It was sprung on me two or three minutes before we went out to play, but it was something I loved – giving a big, powerful speech before the game.

We went on to win the game and it set me up, I felt like I was leading, but that came from Mourinho. He didn’t have to do that, he gave me the responsibility and I thrived on it. He was a big part in me believing that I was up there with the very best, with the things that he was saying publicly and personally, texting me, pushing me, motivating me. He pressed every single button of mine and got the very best out of me.

2005/06

Premier League

Winning back-to-back league titles having not won it as a club for 50 years prior to 2005 was a massive deal. I had obviously seen the highs and lows as a fan and a young player at the club in the 1990s, when I attended an awful lot of games at the Bridge, and winning those titles was a relief, more than anything.

As a young player, you want to come through, break into the first team and make an impact, but more importantly, you want to win trophies and give something back to the supporters. You work so hard, year after year, and there comes a point where you need to have silverware to show for that. The belief around the whole place at that time was excellent. The big personalities we had within the dressing room pushed and motivated everyone and it was just a brilliant time. For those two years, we absolutely dominated the Premier League and no one could get anywhere near us.

2006/07

League Cup

I was knocked out in the goalmouth during this final and I don’t remember too much at all about that game, actually. I remember the build-up because we played Porto away in the week and I had a bad ankle, so I was 50-50 for the game anyway. I probably shouldn’t have played, to be honest.

I just remember the corner coming in and thinking I was going to score, so I threw myself to get on the end of it, like you do, and the next thing I knew I had woken up in the ambulance on the way to hospital. As soon as I realised where I was, I asked them to turn on the radio and check the score.

I got to hospital and asked what the procedure was and they told me they needed to check my head and do a scan, etc. Then, as soon as they had done that, I just demanded that we go back to the stadium. I wanted to get back as soon as possible. I knew we had gone on to win the game and I just wanted to get back and celebrate with my team-mates.

FA Cup

Man United came back at us in the league that season and, after we had dominated for two years, it was a big statement from them. They had big characters in their dressing room at that time as well, but I just looked at that final and felt we had too many good players not to go on and win it.

Look at the combination for Didier’s winning goal late on in extra time, the flick round the corner from Lamps and Dids’ finish – what a time to do it as well. I just remember it being really hot and really tense, both sides giving nothing away and then Dids popped up with another important goal to win it.

It was a big statement from the group and really fitting that we should become the first team to win the FA Cup at the beautiful new Wembley, having won the last one at the original.

2008/09

FA Cup

It was two years since we had last won a major trophy and it was brilliant to win the FA Cup again in 2009, especially after the type of season we’d had. Guus Hiddink came in February and we picked things up in the league, which was good because it gave us a bit of momentum going into that FA Cup final as well. We had been a little bit deflated at points during the season, but the final gave us something to aim for right at the end.

Louis Saha scored really early in that game to give them the lead, but that was a wake-up call, which probably served us well. It’s obviously not something you want to happen but if it does it can have a positive effect and we ended up coming back, first through Dids, with another goal in another big final, and then Lamps, who scored the winner and then did the celebration running around the corner flag, like his dad did all those years ago. It is always really, really nice to finish on a high at the end of the season.

2009/10

Premier League and FA Cup Double

Firstly, to get the Premier League title back that year was a massive thing for us, because Man United had come on a lot in the years since we had dominated it in those back-to-back title years, and Arsenal were still pushing as well. In general, Premier League squads were a lot bigger and better than they had been previously and, to be honest, we didn’t get too close for a couple of years, so to get it back was great.

Carlo Ancelotti was great that year, and his man management with individuals was excellent – probably the best I’ve had in my career at managing a group of players and me personally. He was a great guy and the way we did it that year – scoring 103 goals to break the Premier League record – was brilliant. Going into the final game of the season we needed to beat Wigan at home and we went and won the game 8-0!

We were just really free, everyone felt really relaxed and free to go and play their football. The manager trusted us, but again we had the hunger within the group to keep winning trophies and keep pushing, keep fighting. Even in those years where we didn’t get to lift a trophy at the end of it, we knew that we were pushing towards something, whether it was a year or two years away. Then, once you get your hands on those trophies, it makes it all so worthwhile.

We followed it up with the FA Cup to make it a Double and we were dominating the cup at that time. It was a good trophy for me personally and that was a really hot day, again, when we played Portsmouth. They had a penalty at 0-0 in the second half, which Petr Cech saved, but the game could have gone a completely different way otherwise. I hit the post with a header as well, and it didn’t seem to be our day at all. League-wise they were nowhere near us, they were way off, and we had battered them 5-0 away two months earlier. But anything can happen in the cup final and it was a strange feeling, because as a group we probably all half-thought that things weren’t going our way, but with the characters in the team we kept pushing and pushing and finally we broke the deadlock with Didier’s free-kick.

2011/12

FA Cup

That was another season when the manager had changed mid-season – with Robbie Di Matteo stepping up – and things hadn’t been going so well for us, but the FA Cup was still there and in years like that it gives you something to hold on for.

Even when you’re completely out of the league, which we were, it can be there for you to finish the season on a high. People say it’s not what it used to be, or whatever, but that’s absolute rubbish. If you speak to the players, it’s what I was brought up on and even players from abroad know the history of the FA Cup, how important it is and the opportunity to play in a big stadium like Wembley in the last game of the season. It’s massive and it means everything to the lads, and the supporters as well.

Champions League

With all the ups and downs we’d had as a group in the Champions League – losing to Barca, losing in Moscow – and when I think about the games that we had lost and shouldn’t have over the years, I think we probably shouldn’t have won that game in Munich…but we did!

Of all the years, it was that one.

When I look back to the loss in the semi-final in 2009, we completely outplayed them at Stamford Bridge and deserved to go through. Then they got the goal late on and it was heartbreaking, as it was in Moscow a year earlier as well.

You get all that way and then you realise those big opportunities in the big competitions do not come about every year. We are lucky we had a second bite of the cherry in Munich, but as a player, or a group of players, that doesn’t happen too often. You don’t often get a second chance. When we did, again you look at the performances of the big players, like Lamps, Didier and Big Pete. Didier stepped up once again, getting the equaliser, although then giving away a penalty in extra time. Pete saved the pen in extra time and then Didier scored the winning penalty with what we thought was his last kick for the football club. What a way to go out, and then he ended up coming back afterwards as well!

2012/13

Europa League

I didn’t play too much that year and I missed out on the final with injury. Rafa Benitez came in and he preferred another defender. I was injured at times, but I was still available for a lot of the games and I just didn’t play. The Europa League was strange because it’s not a competition you want to be in, and that isn’t me being flashy or thinking we’re too good for it as a club, it was just that we had played Champions League football for all those years and that’s where we wanted to be.

But, as a group, we made the most of it and when you get to a certain point in any competition you think, 'We’ve come all this way – let’s go and win it.'

It is difficult to sustain your league form when you’re playing in the Europa League because we had a lot of Thursday night games, when we would come back late on Friday mornings and then play on Sunday, sometimes away. The travel was ridiculous. I wasn’t even playing too much, and physically I was drained, so the boys were probably feeling it more so than me. But to go and win the competition was a big statement and to add that trophy to our honours list was really important for us. It completed the set of European trophies for Chelsea.

2014/15

League Cup

That season was a little bit like 10 years earlier, when we had won the League Cup while going well in the league, but beating Spurs and scoring in the final made it even sweeter. Once again, it was important to get that psychological boost.

It’s difficult because if you go to the final of the League Cup, you obviously want to win it and give yourself that boost, but if you get knocked out early, you can say, 'Ah, we can concentrate on the league now.' Those runs can take their toll in the league, if you get drawn away, for example. There were a couple of games where we could rest some players, give other people an opportunity to keep everyone sharp and fit.

So it was a good year for us in the League Cup and to go and win it by getting a win over our London rivals in the final set us on our way and pushed us on really.

Premier League

Three days after winning the League Cup we played West Ham away in the league and won 1-0 there. I remember the message. When the manager walked into the dressing room after the final, we were all celebrating and he was like, 'No celebrating. No one go out, no one do anything. We’ve got to play West Ham in three days and we’ve got to push on.' That was it. Everyone listened, no one went out, and we saved our celebrations for later on in the season.

I played every minute of every game in the Premier League that season. That mattered to me because when I wasn’t playing, under Rafa, people were kind of writing me off and saying, 'That’s the end of his Chelsea career.' It was something that really got to me actually, because I knew that I wasn’t finished, by a long way. I was just completely out of favour with the manager.

So it was a massive statement for me to play every single minute of every single game two years later and at the time I was only the second person to do that for a title-winning team, after Gary Pallister. Throughout the year, with the medical staff, you manage to get through games, but I look back at that achievement now and feel it was huge. So I’m really proud of that fact, personally, but more importantly to win the league that year as well was really important for us as a club.

2016/17

Premier League

At the start of my career, I could never know how many trophies I would go on and win, but one thing I did know for sure was that I had the hunger. From the age of 17, when I first broke through into the first team, my aim was to keep going and keep pushing myself, year after year, and I managed to do that and stay at the top my whole career, which is something I’m extremely proud of.

Chelsea evolved over the years, and were able to go out and buy the best players in the world. Some of the best centre-backs in the game have come and gone in my time and I remained, and I’m very proud of that fact. I kept winning trophies, kept that hunger and set records and stats that will hopefully live for the next 20-50 years.

Those are the things that, when you’re in the thick of it, you don’t pay so much attention to because you just concentrate on the job in hand, but when you’re winning, the accolades come along with it. I became the first person to win five Premier League titles as captain and that comes with success. So I’m very proud.

This interview was first carried in our excellent matchday programme in 2017. You can buy previous copies and future programmes by clicking here.