Photo: Chelsea FC

John Terry may be gone from Chelsea, but he’ll continue to go down the annals of history as the biggest player we’ve ever had at Stamford Bridge.

When he announced his exit a couple of months ago, it didn’t come as a surprise to most Chelsea fans, however, a few person were still unsure as to what his next move would be. Would he retire completely from playing? Would he go abroad? Or would he pull a ‘Frank Lampard’? You’ll recall that the latter got on some nerves after he played for Manchester City, following his exit from Chelsea. It wasn’t out of place if you look at it critically, after all, football is business, but from a fan’s point of view, it was everything wrong. Frank was regarded a hero and an icon by many. So we feared if ‘captain fantastic’ would toe the same line, but he has lived up to his reputation.

Terry has always been a lover of Chelsea, so betraying the fans would never have happened with him. He may be yearning to play on, but he would never put his hunger ahead of loyalty.

Terry could easily have landed a spot in any PL team, but instead, he looked elsewhere. He has chosen Aston Villa not because he is too bad to play for a top-tier team, but simply because he won’t betray the one team he played for most of his adult life. That is how you preserve your legendary status.

What makes a great man isn’t the ability to get there, but the character to continue to stay there, even when there’s every reason to fail, and that’s who Terry is.