“He clash with me, Frank Lampard and Didier drogba” “He got sacked” – John Terry finally reveals ‘fights’ with Chelsea manager in 2011 in the plane
John Terry has disclosed that after a row over seats, he nearly refused to board a flight for a Chelsea match.
Terry played for 19 years at Stamford Bridge, where he won the Champions League and five Premier League championships as captain.
He commanded respect in the dressing room with his no-nonsense demeanor. Additionally, it showed him at odds with a number of the managers Roman Abramovich hired when he was the owner.
In an effort to instill a long-term strategy and vision for the team, Chelsea recruited a youthful Andre Villas-Boas back in 2011.
His tactics caused annoyance to a few older players. Terry was one of those, claiming he almost cancelled their preseason flight to Hong Kong along with two other teammates.
Villas-Boas wanted academy graduates in first class – relegating Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba to economy on the 13-hour flight.
Speaking to the Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast, the former England international recalled: “When Andre Villas-Boas came in, we went to Hong Kong and I’m sitting in economy on a 13-hour flight.
“We’ve got Josh McEachran, Nathaniel Chalobah and a couple of other young players all in first class.
“This was part of AVB (Villas-Boas) going, ‘No, no, no player’s bigger than me, everyone’s the same.
“So I’m on the plane going, ‘No, I’m not going anywhere until these young players go back in economy and the first-team players, that have built this club to where we are today, go back in first.
“AVB comes up and says ‘What’s the problem?’ I’m going ‘Well, I’m not going anywhere until the young players move’.”
Terry claims the youngsters were more than happy to move at Terry’s request.
He added: “To be fair to the young players they were going, ‘Listen JT, it’s really uncomfortable we’ll go back’.”
“I’m then going, ‘No it’s not your decision it has to come from him (Villas-Boas), he has to own it’.”
“In the end, it all spins to first-team players flying first class, younger players back to economy. He tried to make a statement on day one and he failed instantly. I promise you, the plane wasn’t going. If it was going, it would’ve gone without me, Frank and Didier.”