Saturday 5 August 2017 17:27, UK
At the age of 36, John Terry is returning to the second tier of English football for the first time in 17 years. But will he be a success in the Sky Bet Championship? We take a look here...
The former Chelsea captain won it all at Stamford Bridge, and a move to Aston Villa certainly turned the heads of those anticipating a switch to the MLS or China to bring the curtain down on a fine playing career.
But Terry picked the Midlands as his destination, and has turned his attentions immediately to silverware. "I want to lift the trophy," he told Sky Sports. "There will be six or seven other clubs who will have the same ambitions.
"But we know it's not going to be easy or that we'll run away with it. But we have the mental toughness, experience, and a lot of good young players.
"Our vision is to get promoted back to the Premier League. This club belongs in the Premier League. The stadium, facilities, the squad we've got, the manager - everything's in place. But we still need to perform on the pitch.
"We have a vision, the players, myself and the manager, to get up like everyone else."
It's been almost half a decade since the first talk of Terry's apparent decline. Suggestions were made during the 2012/13 season that he couldn't play more than once a week, and he made just 14 Premier League appearances in an injury-hit season under Roberto di Matteo then Rafa Benitez.
But in typical Terry fashion he bounced back, playing 34 games the next and then featured in all 38 as they won the title in 2014/15 under Jose Mourinho.
The Championship is a different ball-game altogether at his age, though, with 46 league games to contend with. Saturday-Tuesday-Friday is not an uncommon schedule for a team like Villa. But he's not worried, despite featuring only sporadically for Chelsea last season.
"I'm ready," he said. "It shouldn't be a problem. I've had a career playing 60-65 games in a season anyway."
It's hard to imagine that Terry has dropped down a league to spend half the season on the sidelines, and the fact boss Steve Bruce immediately named him club captain proves a major role awaits.
"The club needed somebody like him to come in and lead the dressing room," he said. "We had to work very, very hard to get him and of course his leadership skills are there for everybody to see.
"He's captained his country and one of the biggest clubs in the country, so it was only fitting and right that he captained Villa. This was a big challenge for him too, and that's what got him in the end.
"For four or five years we've been on a downward spiral, we've had to lift the doom and gloom and the signing of Terry has certainly done that."
Experience and consistency is the order of the day as Bruce has planned Villa's promotion push. He has made just three other permanent signings so far this summer, with Ahmed Elmohamady, Christopher Samba and Glenn Whelan all arriving at the club. Quite a difference from the massive outlay of the last two transfer windows.
Terry typifies that experience, but the hustle and bustle of the Sky Bet Championship could be difficult to adapt to and it has broken younger men than him before. Just six outfield players appeared in the second tier last season over the age of 35, with only Bruno of Brighton featuring regularly for a side challenging at the very top.
He remains arguably the greatest centre-back of the Premier League era, but he wouldn't be the first to struggle when stripped of quality team-mates. Samba is not Ricardo Carvalho, Gary Cahill or Branislav Ivanovic. Alan Hutton is not Cesar Azpilicueta and Neil Taylor is no Ashley Cole. Defending is not a one-man job.
Strikers throughout the division will fancy a go at him to test his legs, he'll become a scalp for all-comers at a time when he's likely to be left far more isolated than at any other stage throughout his career.
Terry will lead Villa out for their first game of the season against Hull on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Football, and every early challenge, pass and header will be studied and scrutinised, to see if he has what it takes to steer the club back to the Premier League over 10 gruelling Championship months. And if he can successfully make the transition, Bruce's side will have a mighty captain, leader and Villan on their hands.
Don't miss John Terry's first game in the Sky Bet Championship as Aston Villa host Hull on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Football from 5.15pm
