One last photo opportunity for Blues legend
NOBODY wanted Chelsea to clinch the title at The Hawthorns more than John Terry.
It would mean that Antonio Conte might actually give him the chance to play in the final two home games and say a proper goodbye to Stamford Bridge.
When Terry’s great pal, Frank Lampard, left the club, there was no opportunity for an emotional farewell.
But we’ve known that Terry is on his way for weeks and as far as the fans are concerned, there’s no chance of him slipping quietly into the night.
Ironically, when he steps up alongside his replacement Gary Cahill to receive the Premier League trophy after the game against Sunderland next Sunday, it will be nine years to the day since he slipped on the soggy Moscow turf and struck his penalty against the post in the 2008 Champions League Final.
The image of Terry’s foot sliding from under him as he prepared to win the trophy in that penalty shoot-out against Manchester United ranks alongside the infamous Steven Gerrard slip that is said to have lost the Premier League title in 2015.
No one ever remembers that Terry didn’t actually lose Chelsea the European Cup – that was Nicolas Anelka, whose subsequent kick was saved – but it’s part of the JT folklore.
Like the pictures in Munich four years later when Terry, suspended for the Final against Bayern Munich, famously collected his medal in his full kit.
Those stories, along with the unremitting hunger for trophies, are what had made him Mr Chelsea.
But the reason why he has started only four League games, and none since September, is that Conte is not a manager who does sentiment.
He has found three centre-backs who do the job better. For all Terry’s unique status at the club he has helped shaped for 13 years, he has been ruthlessly sidelined by the Italian.
Conte has talked enthusiastically of how Terry has helped him off the field.
But he hasn’t trusted him on it, much as he hasn’t really trusted younger players like Rueben Loftus-Cheek, Nathaniel Chalobah, Michy Batshuayi and Nathan Ake.
The youngest player in his regular first-team XI is keeper Thibault Courtois at 25. The oldest is Cahill at 31. Titles are traditionally won by teams in that age range.
Conte is a winner and winners don’t tolerate weaknesses. It’s what has set his team apart from all the others this season.
There are no free rides, even for the “Captain, Leader, Legend”.