Captain, leader, legend, leaving?

Last week, the Daily Telegraph's Jason Burt put forward the interesting theory that John Terry could end his Chelsea career immediately, rather than next season, to prevent any one manager being seen to be responsible for drawing the curtain on one of the most enduring relationships between a football club, it's fans and a player in recent times. By not offering the centre half another 12-month contract extension, Burt suggested, the club would ensure that incoming head coach Antonio Conte wouldn't have to deal with Terry's departure - after 18 years as a professional at the club - on his watch. And, with Guus Hiddink only in charge for one more game before his interim term ends tomorrow, better that Terry goes now without anyone being left to blame.

Burt's hypothesis may well prove unfounded if Terry accepts the one-year contract extension which, surprisingly, the club yesterday announced it had offered the fan-anointed "Captain, Leader, Legend". The news came after months of silence from the club (not surprising, given its shocking record of transparency) - and, of course, Terry may yet decline it. In a post on Instagram, the defender said: "The contract extension the club has offered me is a different role and I hope everyone will understand I want to take the time to consider it carefully before making a decision."

Quite what makes this role different is not yet clear, though presumably the club is not asking him to take over one of the burger concessions in the East Stand lower concourse. The Times today claims that the "different role" is simply a pay cut and no guarantees of being a first-team starter next season. Still, though, for the player to make such a personal statement like that suggests that there is froideur from a player having to consider a diminished position in exchange for remaining a professional player for a 19th year at Chelsea.

It is understood that Terry met with Chelsea executive Marina Granovskaia and chairman Bruce Buck earlier this week. The last time they all met was back in January, for Terry's "need to know" meeting, an attempt to establish if, per club policy of only offering one-year contracts to players over 30, that he would receive another extension to his. The news - Terry announced, apparently unilaterally, was that there wouldn't be a new contract and that he'd be leaving at the end of the season. "It’s not going to be a fairytale ending, I’m not going to retire at Chelsea," he emotionally announced after Chelsea's 5-1 FA Cup at MK Dons.

Holding the whip hand of his own PR, Terry added: "I’m going to be playing out my career elsewhere, which it took me a couple of days to get over", underlining that his dedication to Chelsea wouldn't change as his career there drew down: "I want to give everything and finish on a high, on 100% good terms with the club". 

However, despite making a clear point about departures, Terry did say that "things might change" though he qualified that by adding "but it’s a 'no' at the minute." Now, though, it is a 'yes...but'. In the intervening period it has seemed as if everyone connected with the club has been walking on large, pterodactyl-sized eggshells over Terry's future. Even after Terry had made his statement in January, the club's own announcement wasn't exactly convincing: "The club has the utmost respect for John and everything he has helped us achieve to date. He is a fantastic servant to Chelsea and a superb captain. As such, the club will keep the channels of dialogue open."

For many seasons that fantastic servitude has been reflected by the "JT - Captain, Leader, Legend" banner, hung on the separation of the lower and upper tiers of Stamford Bridge's Mathew Harding Stand. This screen-printed strip is, of course, wonderful footballing hyperbole - not least that it has been tolerated by the club and not replaced by lucrative advertising. But it has been a distinctive totem of the John Terry cult at Chelsea, one that has fuelled the belief that this last product of Chelsea's youth programme to become a first team regular has had some sort of invincible power at and even over the club.

He has certainly had that effect over the fans, whose devotion has become emboldened, despite the self-styled 'Mr. Chelsea's well publicised transgressions off-field and, in the case of the ugly spat with Anton Ferdinand, on-field. No one, least of all me, will deny that Terry has cultivated a far from spotless image, from the drunken japes at a Heathrow hotel after 9/11, to his relationship with former teammate Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend, to repeated parking his Range Rover in disabled bays. And when he hasn't had time to court more controversy himself, members of his family have stepped in to help out. Chelsea, to its credit, have stood by him, especially during the allegations of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand during an away fixture at QPR in October 2011.

John Terry has been with Chelsea since he was 14 years old and has played, to date, 703 senior games for the club, more than 500 as skipper since José Mourinho installed him in the role 12 years ago. His influence within the club has been immense, which makes yesterday's announcement - and Terry's somewhat muted response - all the more indicative of a relationship under strain. If Terry does reject the new offer, he will have played his last game for the club, having been suspended for Wednesday's fixture at Anfield and tomorrow's final game of the season at home to champions Leicester.

© Simon Poulter 2016

If, then, he does leave, it is believed that Chelsea will host a private sendoff for him at Stamford Bridge on Monday. Still, though, following the anti-climactic departures of Frank Lampard, Petr Čech, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba - arguably the core of Mourinho's successes at the club - the lack of any vocal commitment by Chelsea to resolving Terry's contract has been seen by fans as a slap in the face to the player who has been the hub of that core.

Hiddink, ever the pacifier, has said that the delay in taking any action over Terry hasn't been out of any malice: "People who are making the decisions want to take their time. That's up to them," the diplomatic interim coach as said. "That doesn't mean there's dramatic, bad treatment so far, but everyone has his own approach to deal with this matter," sidestepping anything more controversial by adding: "What the near future is is up to the club, it's not for me to make declarations on that."

Eggshells left untrampled upon. The heart of the matter, however, is clearly in the realm of what Jason Burt was hinting at. Antonio Conte is going to want to stamp his own signature on a team that is in desperate need of rebuilding. Deadwood, like Oscar, needs to be released, with a new group of players built around the revitalised Eden Hazard and, perhaps, Diego Costa. And while Terry himself believes that, at 35 (36 in December), he still has another couple of years left at Premier League level, there has been no shortage of evidence that age is catching up with him.

Where Chelsea do clearly need Terry still, however, is as the fearless leader he has been for more than 500 league appearances. Gary Cahill, too, has looked better playing alongside him, and Kurt Zouma, before his season-ending injury, was brought considerably by playing with him.

What Terry has lacked, clearly, in terms of pace he has always compensated for by easily being one of the best central defenders in a generation. However, as any player in the upper reaches of their careers find, the trouble is always when to quit, or at least (and this may well be the case with Terry) accept a reduced or lesser role. The question is exactly what that role will be. 

There will, no doubt be a job for Terry at Chelsea when he does retire - something, he said in January, which has been discussed ("my legacy") - but between his possible future appointment as a coach or even youth team manager and now there must still be a gap. And that will fuel the internal dialogue John Terry will now be having on whatever offer Chelsea have made. 

So if, after all, it is simply not the offer he wanted, he will be stoic. "The club will move on. No player is ever bigger than the club," he said earlier this year, believing that Chelsea was "moving in a different direction". "I want to come back as a Chelsea supporter in years to come with my kids and see the team doing really well. Unfortunately that’s not going to be with me but I want to see the team do well. It’s going to be my last year and I want to go out at the top."

Outside the Chelsea fanbase, there will be plenty of people who will be glad to see the back of John Terry. But if he does leave the club that took him on as a teenager and turned him in to one of the finest central defenders - and, indeed, skippers - of his generation, I would hope that footballing purists will allow themselves to appreciate the qualities that generated such a reputation, qualities that helped Chelsea - during his time at the club - to four Premier League titles, three League Cups; five FA Cups, a Europa League title and - although he missed the 2012 final due to suspension - the European Cup itself.

And if he has played his last game for the club - the defeat to Sunderland in which he earned a red card and a two match suspension (a "fitting end", the nasty and unwarranted comment of one Sunday Times journalist last Saturday...) - the legacy John Terry seeks from Chelsea will be immense. As will be the gaping hole he'll leave. Chelsea will no doubt add to their ranks of central defenders (yes, those panic buys in last summer's transfer window), and they may even land John Stones, identified by Mourinho as Terry's potential successor. But one thing is certain: if Terry does walk away from the club now, it is unlikely that they will find anyone to truly backfill the vacancy created. Because in the club's long history - yes, haters, that word - there will only ever be a Captain, Leader and Legend like John Terry.