Terry’s 10 years with Abramovich

The centre-back was 22 years old when Abramovich arrived and, having risen through the youth ranks and broken into the first team in 2000, was understandably apprehensive when the club started splashing cash on foreign imports.

But he has shrugged all contenders aside and maintained his place in the starting line-up throughout Abramovich’s tenure, bar during interim manager Rafael Benitez’s spell at the helm. “I remember being at home and seeing it (Abramovich’s takeover on July 1 2003) on the news,” Terry told the club”s official magazine.

“I didn”t really know what to make of it at the time, but it is one of those days that I look back on now and realise the significance of.
“That first pre-season we were all texting each other about what players were going to come in and stuff like that; I think that was probably the first thing the fans thought of.

“However, from our point of view, it was a case of “Who are they going to bring in and is your place in jeopardy?”
“Then we came back to training, with all the new signings there, and we realised how good they were. The standard in training went from being good to being very good on a daily basis.”

There is a well known motivational speech which best sums up the attitude taken by players like Terry, Frank Lampard and Eidur Gudjohnsen, men who fought hard to retain their place in the side amid the chaos.

The late Randy Pausch said in The Last Lecture:
“The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

Terry believes that the supporters acknowledge the hard work that he and others had to put in to stay at the top.
“For me, having come through at this club, I have definitely had a special relationship and rapport with the fans, there is no doubt about it,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter who comes in, I think they appreciate that I came through the ranks here and saw it all — cleaning boots and dressing rooms, tidying up after the senior players, painting Stamford Bridge and washing kit.” Terry believes that Abramovich”s approach has made the club more successful that it otherwise would have been.

That Roman’s drive for trophies has kept the club striving to be the best.
Terry explained: “He (Abramovich) wants to know how the club can improve and what he can do to improve it; he wants to keep pushing on.

“He doesn’t want to win it one year and then maybe three years later, go for it again — he wants to win every trophy, every single year. That is his target every season.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea have been left reeling in the battle to sign Edinson Cavani after Paris St Germain lodged an improved near-£50million bid for the Napoli striker.

Sportsmail understands PSG coach Laurent Blanc has followed up his initial £43million approach by offering £49,3m for the in-demand Uruguay frontman.
Chelsea and Man City will now have to smash the British transfer record, which is currently the £50m Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich paid Liverpool for Fernando Torres, if they want to sign the prolific striker.

Cavani is wanted by both clubs but PSG”s bid will mean they will have to up their attempts to land the striker.
It is a statement of intent from the big-spending French side that looks like eliminating Chelsea from the race and ensuring Cavani begins next season in French football, rather than the Barclays Premier League.

Manchester City were frontrunners for his signature, before conceding defeat over Napoli”s asking price, while Chelsea have maintained a strong interest, after recently-appointed manager Jose Mourinho earmarked him as a prime candidate for strengthening the Stamford Bridge side”s attack.

But the fortune at Blanc’s disposal looks like proving decisive, following a fresh bid that almost matches the £53,9million valuation placed on Cavani by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Blanc told reporters: “(Cavani) is a player that I love, like a lot of people.
“I saw him play several times with Naples and Uruguay, and should he be part of the Parisian team, I would be very happy.” — Mailonline.