Et tu, Terry?

By: Daryl | September 23rd, 2007

John Terry Jose Mourinho Just when we thought things were calming down at Stamford Bridge, new revelations emerge. Now it seems Jose Mourinho was battling not just Roman Abramovich, Andriy Shevchenko, Peter Kenyon and Avram Grant, but John Terry too. Yes that John Terry. His captain for the last three and a bit seasons. The one with whom Mourinho seemed to share such a deep footballing man love that you can literally take your pick of images of the pair locked in meaningful post match embraces. Seems the suggestions from the Chelsea board that Mourinho had lost the dressing room can be traced back to John Terry, and if that’s true then the England captain has basically stabbed his old boss in the back.

As published in today’s Observer, seems Mourinho has been unhappy with John Terry’s recent form. Which is understandable. By his own very high standards JT has had a patchy season so far. So Mourinho went and had a word with the medical staff to see if there could be any explanation.

Terry found out about this on the morning of the now infamous Chelsea vs Rosenborg Champions League game, and wasn’t happy. According to The Observer’s source, he told one of the assistant coaches before the game that he “had things on his mind” and had to be persuaded to join his teammates for the pre-match warm up.

As we all know, Rosenborg scored first and it was Terry’s man who scored from a set piece. Word is that when Mourinho criticized Terry at half time, the defender “refused to accept responsibility for the goal or even to respond to his manager.” Uh oh.

This bit of information wound it’s way to Peter Kenyon, who presented it to the board (which basically means Abramovich) as evidence that Mourinho had lost the confidence of key players and should be asked to resign.

Now I know this sound like a lot of rumours strung together into a story. But The Observer isn’t The Sun, they’re a pretty serious newspaper. And because Chelsea have been very miserly about sharing information related to Mourinho’s sacking/forced resignation/departure by mutual consent, there are going to be lots of little stories like this emerge in the next few days, as we all try and piece together what will surely be the biggest story of the English football season. Unless Fergie and Wenger are discovered naked together in the Emirates Stadium hot tub.