Nothing Lasts Forever

CFCScience shares his view of the news that this could be JT’s last season at Stamford Bridge…

I was as shocked as everyone yesterday as news filtered out of the mix zone at Franchise FC’s concrete monstrosity of a stadium that this would be John Terry’s last season as a Chelsea player. To be honest, I’m not even sure it has sunk in yet. It may take a while.

Before I go on, let me first say what I personally think of this. If JT’s version of events is even vaguely close to the truth, then it is a massive mistake by the club. It’s a mistake from a footballing point of view because he’s clearly still our best centre half. It’s a mistake from a development point of view because young players (including Kurt Zouma and Matt Miazga) can learn so much from him at a vital stage of their careers. And it’s a mistake from the point of view of common human decency to inform the player who has literally won it all for the club, via his agent, that there is no longer a place for him at Stamford Bridge. It’s outrageous. It puts Carlo’s dismissal in the Goodison Park tunnel in the shade, and that’s saying something.

But, there are a few things in the story that I think deserve a little scrutiny. Firstly, there is the obvious get-out clause for the club, mentioned by JT himself, that the new manager might get an opportunity to reverse this decision. Whether or not the new man will do that is another matter. Think about it from his point of view: Whenever JT does leave, it is inevitable that there will be blow-back from the supporters onto the management, so why not let
Emenalo be the fall guy now, rather than fighting that battle in a year or two? And if you are a new manager who wants to impose himself on the dressing room, doing that will be much easier without JT’s commanding presence in the background. Politics.

Second, why did JT let the news out himself? And why yesterday? There have been various rumours recently about what he wants to do after retirement, but one persistent one is that he wants to pursue a career in TV punditry. In order to do that, he’s been on a charm campaign to try and reverse the near-universal hatred he experiences from everyone outside of the Chelsea fold. So he’s clearly been taking PR advice from someone. This particular move has media-guru written all over it: It’s a win-win for him. Either the outcry from the supporters makes the club back down and he gets a new deal, or they don’t and the fact that the news is out there early gives him plenty of time to court lucrative offers from other leagues around the world. It’s genius on his part. But I doubt the club will take kindly to being strong-armed like that, and I fear it will harden their opinion against a new deal.

Finally, if all of this is correct then it sucks. But the silver lining to the cloud is that at least we’ll get to give our Captain, Leader, Legend the send-off he deserves. That’s better than Frank’s departure, for instance.

So, in summary, I really fear that this is the end of an era. The final member of our great spine will leave, and Chelsea will unquestionably be the poorer for it. The media will lose their pantomime villain (how toe-curling is it to see them write such admiring eulogies today – they have no shame!), and opposition supporters will have to find someone else to boo. Nobody wins. It had to happen some time, but it didn’t have to happen now, and it didn’t have to happen like this.

But I tell you what, if you thought our defence has been a bit ropey this season, you just wait and see what it’s like next autumn without our rock leading the line!