Captain John Terry not taking his Chelsea starting spot for granted

John Terry achieved a fairly special personal goal last season by playing every single minute of every single Premier League game.  Not many have ever accomplished that, and even fewer had done so for the league champions.  That Terry did it aged 33-34 only made it more impressive.

Despite that record, he's taking nothing for granted in the new season.

"Every summer I work more or less every day to give myself the best chance. If it comes to that point where I am left out of the side I know it's not through any fault of not trying. To look at myself in the mirror and my family, that is all I do in my career."

Family has become a big theme in recent years for the captain, and "fighting for their future" has become one of his greatest motivators.

Of course, Terry has another family to be a part of as well, his Chelsea family.

"I am not taking anything for granted. The manager has said if I can keep my form, I am in the side. But if I don't keep my form he will have no qualms about taking me out and putting someone else in."

"We have an honest relationship. I don't doubt that he trusts me. I hopefully can repay that because he has been superb to me. I will give him everything. And he has been a father figure in my career so I owe him an awful lot. I realise one day that my career will come to an end so I want to give everything these next few years."

The Captain had previously spoken of getting to 35 — that's coming up in December — and then taking stock of his options and playing situation.  His belief now apparently is that he's got "at least a couple of years" left at Chelsea, so he's using family and the one-year rolling contracts to continue motivating himself.  But he knows that eventually, the end will come.  If that end comes while he's playing in England, it will be in a Chelsea shirt and none other.

"I could handle being out of the team. No doubt, people like me and Steven [Gerrard] want to play, of course. That is our natural instinct. When you play your whole career, it's hard. Petr Cech was a model professional last year and that is why he got the move he wanted, because of how well he reacted around the place."

"I have seen other players go the other way. I certainly would go down the Petr route and continue giving everything to the squad. If I then felt Chelsea were going to release me or thought I had nothing else to give, but I thought I could, then of course I would still want to continue to play. But that would not be in the Premier League."

Even if he leaves us for a few short years to finish out his career in foreign lands, there's no doubt Terry would be back in some sort of role with Chelsea.  It is known.