Mourinho: Terry is club captain

1/2
11 June 2013

New Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists John Terry will always remain the club's captain, but will not offer the defender any selection guarantees.

Mourinho, who has signed a four-year contract on his return to Stamford Bridge, is keen to re-establish Terry as a key figure in the squad after the centre-half, 32, was marginalised at times last season under interim boss Rafael Benitez.

However, the Portuguese coach - who guided Chelsea to successive Barclays Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 - maintains selection must always come down to individual form. "Last time (I was manager), John was the captain by a club decision because he was born in this club, also, his personality on the pitch," said Mourinho.

"I did a simple consultation with the players, and everyone agreed on that.

"At this moment, when you say 'my captain', it's not the real world. He is more Chelsea captain. 'My captain' is the board's captain, the fans' captain. I don't think the manager's captain is the correct word.

"John is the club captain. I am more than happy with that, so are the fans, so I think he has to be the club captain.

"With the armband? Only if he plays. If he isn't in the starting XI, he won't have the armband.

"I have not thought about that (who else would take over), but it has to be like that."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in