Terry reaches 500-game milestone at Chelsea

In August, Frank Lampard played his 500th game for Chelsea and last month, it was the turn of Blues captain John Terry to reach the same milestone.

Half of Terry’s impressive total almost came in five of the last seven seasons at Stamford Bridge when he played 50 times or more in each campaign in addition to his appearances for England.

Terry was born on December 7, 1980 in Barking, London. The centre-back started his career with Senrab FC before joining the Blues’ youth team and reserves as a midfielder at the age of 14.

His senior debut for Chelsea came on October 28, 1998, as a late substitute in the League Cup tie against Aston Villa where the Blues won 4-1 at home.

In 1999-2000, then manager Gianluca Vialli agreed to loan Terry to Nottingham Forest for him to gain first-team experience.

He figured in six league matches for Forest.

The following season, Terry became a regular at Chelsea, soon forging a strong tandem with Marcel Desailly. The Frenchman was injured and Terry captained the side for the first time in a Premier League match against Charlton on December 5, 2001.

When in 2003-04 Claudio Ranieri was appointed manager, Terry was handed the captain’s armband which he retained even after the arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2004-05.

In Mourinho’s first season, champagne flowed freely at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea won the Premiership title with Terry leading the team to their best defensive record in Football League history and the most clean sheets and points accumulated.

Terry never looked back and was voted Player of the Year in England, scoring eight goals, including a late winner against Barcelona in the Champions League. He was voted best defender in the tournament and was part of the FIFPro World XI for 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Chelsea defended their Premier League title in 2005-06, earning 91 points and the laurels were grabbed after a 3-0 victory over Manchester United.

In 2006-07, back injuries hampered Terry. After surgery, he only returned on February 3 following three months on the sidelines.

That season Chelsea missed out on the league crown to United and finished runners-up.

After lifting the League Cup, Terry became the first Chelsea captain to win the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Manchester United, and the first player to score an international goal there, in England’s 1-1 draw with Brazil.

Chelsea again finished in second place to champions United in the league race of 2007-08.

Yet, the fans had high hopes after Chelsea reached the Champions League final in Moscow.

The showdown went Man-chester United’s way after a decisive miss by Terry in the penalty shoot-out.

Under Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who took over midway through the season, Terry led the Blues to an FA Cup success in 2009.

Italian Carlo Ancelotti brought more trophies to Stamford Bridge, including a first league and cup double. On May 9, 2010, Terry captained Chelsea as they secured their fourth league title with an 8-0 win against Wigan.

A week later on May 15, Terry captained Chelsea as he won his fourth FA Cup medal, defeating Portsmouth 1-0 in the final.

England career

Terry was handed his England debut in June 2003 against Serbia and Montenegro.

His first full cap was earned on August 20, 2003 at Portman Road, in a friendly against Croatia.

England won 3-1 as Terry became Chelsea’s first England skipper of the professional era, although the armband was taken away by Fabio Capello in February 2010 following media stories about Terry’s private life.

Later, Capello reinstated Terry as England captain. He scored six goals for England. His last was on April 1, 2009 at Wembley against Ukraine 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier. He appeared in 70 internationals.

Terry has been at the centre of controversy lately over allegations that he made a racial slur at QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.