John Terry's Story Of What Jose Mourinho Did On The First Day Of Pre-Season Shows How Brutal He Was

Jose Mourinho once threatened to sell captain John Terry in front of the whole Chelsea squad.

On the first day of pre-season, Terry and defensive partner Gary Cahill weren't performing to their usual level in training and kept conceding possession.

Mourinho quickly let them know that he would have no problem selling them if their poor showing continued. But his comments were purely to get a reaction out of the two players and it worked.

Speaking on Instagram Live with snooker legend Stephen Hendry, Terry said: "We won the league and came back pre-season, first day, me and Gary Cahill kept giving the ball away. He stopped the session, we'd just signed Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, a couple of others.

"He said, 'You two, I'll go and spend £100m on a couple of other centre-backs if you keep giving the ball away.' We looked at each other and thought, 'Oh wow'. '

"So me and Gaz now, first day of pre-season, we've gone round started smashing everyone in training. The tempo has gone up, everyone's kicking lumps out of each other.

"After training he came and put his arm round [sic] us both and said, 'That's why you'll be starting this season.' He just knew exactly what he was doing, he was four steps ahead of everyone else."

Image credit: Alamy

This tale came during Mourinho's second stint in charge of Chelsea.

Terry had already established a great relationship with the Portuguese boss during his first spell, where they won back-to-back Premier League titles, but the aforementioned story serves as a reminder of his unpredictable management style.

"He knew when to push your buttons and when not to." Terry added.

"Even small things, you'd be sitting at home and get a text message off him going, 'Unbelievable today in training you're my main man, love you captain.' You'd sit there and go, 'That's unbelievable'.

"So a really good relationship, but also I was petrified of him, like probably most players was. You'd go in the next day and you'd get nothing from him at all.

"He'd walk past you, say nothing and blank you. You'd think you've upset him. Did I text something back? You look at your messages and think, 'No, I'm alright there.' After training he'd go, 'That's why you're my captain, you just needed that little push.'"

Image credit: Alamy

Terry won a total of five Premier League titles in his illustrious career, three of which came under Mourinho across his two spells.