John Terry has taken a more elongated route to management in comparison to some of his peers. Whereas the likes of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have stepped straight into management, the former Chelsea and England captain has been biding his time as Aston Villa's number two.
He is likely to go down that route in the not too distant future. His qualities as a player would certainly seem to lend itself to management, although nothing is guaranteed in football.
Terry has learned from some of the top managers in the game, with Jose Mourinho chief amongst them. He had two separate spells under the Portuguese boss, winning three league titles.
In a revealing interview with The Times, the 40-year old described how Mourinho often knew the dark arts of the game better than anyone, referees included.
When José Mourinho first came to Chelsea, he’d be in at 8am, putting the cones out, putting the balls down, making sure that drinks were there, the bibs are lined out. I made notes about what he said in team meetings, what he did in training sessions. I learnt so much from him.
These are bits you pick up from top managers like Mourinho. He always said to me and Gaz [Gary Cahill], with five minutes to go, if we were winning 1-0 and the cross comes in, both go for a header, but both go down after.
If you both go down you don’t have to come off the pitch. Gaz and me didn’t know about this rule.
So this cross comes in, we go up for a header, we both go down, the ref blows the whistle and I said, ‘You all right Gaz?’. ‘Yes.’ ‘Stay down.’ The ref comes over, ‘You both have to go off the pitch’. ‘No, you don’t, this is the rule.’
The ref goes, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Mourinho was so far ahead of the game. It ran the clock down. That can win or lose you games.
We would imagine that Terry would be very much in the Mourinho camp when it comes to his style of management.
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