John Terry has spoken about his future managerial ambitions and also revealed some of the bizarre superstitions he had as a player.
In a wide-ranging interview with football funny man Tubes for his YouTube channel, the 38-year-old spoke candidly about his career.
He admitted to feeling the nerves before matches and had a variety of unusual quirks to put himself in the right frame of mind.
‘I always got nervous before every game which I think has always been a good thing. I always got little butterflies before every game but those big finals were just that little bit extra,’ he said.
‘I was terrible for superstitions, every time we won I just added something on. So like I had to wee in a certain urinal. I was counting the lamp posts from my house to Stamford Bridge.
‘It got out of hand but because we kept winning I kept adding stuff on before the game. I couldn’t touch the ball in the dressing room. Eden Hazard likes to do kick-ups and used to fire it against me and I’d be up against the wall lifting my legs up trying not to touch it.’
Terry even used to avoid the colour red, though renowned trouble maker Diego Costa used to wind him up about it.
‘You know the light switches have a little red bit at the top, our rivals over the years were Manchester United and Arsenal and I’d hate seeing red on a matchday. So I’d go down the corridor and have Diego Costa behind me turning them all back on. I’d then have to go back, switch them all off and get on the bus.
‘It was a little bit OCD. Just going into games I always knew I was right and that made me feel comfortable. Little bit weird. Nightmare with Diego and people like that around. I also had three pairs of boots, a pair to warm up, a pair for the first half and a pair for the second half,’ he added.
Currently the assistant manager to Dean Smith at Aston Villa, Terry’s ultimate goal is to take the reins at Chelsea.
‘That is the ultimate (managing Chelsea), I think Lampard has said the same as well. You obviously want to do well but I don’t see that being in the early stages.
‘Obviously if I want to come back to Chelsea, I want to do it as a more experienced, more accomplished manager. I want to make sure I’m at the pinnacle of my career, at the top of my game.
‘I don’t see that in the next five or six years unless things change. I’d love one day to come back and be manager at the Bridge, it’s a dream,’ he said.