Encomiums and tributes to John Terry’s playing career at Chelsea will – sadly – become more common in the coming weeks. Terry’s loyalty to the Blues is remarkable not only for the club, but across Europe’s top five leagues.
Even the most ardent John Terry fans accept that next season he will either be playing for a different club or starting a different role for Chelsea. The end of Terry’s time at Chelsea will shuffle the leaderboard for the most loyal one-club men in England and in Europe.
John Terry has been at Chelsea for 18.5 years. This is the second-longest tenure among all players in Europe’s top five leagues, based on data from CIES Football Observatory. Only Francesco Totti has spent a longer span with a single club: 24 years at AS Roma. Tied for third on the list are Juventus’s evergreen goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Caen’s Nicolas Seube, with 15.5 years each.
In the Premier League, Wayne Rooney currently occupies the #2 spot behind Terry. Rooney has spent the last 12.5 years with Manchester United. Rooney’s summer departure from Old Trafford is nearly as certain as John Terry’s exit from Stamford Bridge. This means that by the 2017/2018 kick-off, Arsenal’s Theo Walcott may be the Premier League’s longest-serving player at a single club.
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The Football Observatory’s data shows that all of the “big 5” leagues have four or five players with over 10 years of one-club service. Excepting Terry and Buffon, the longest-serving players in every league except the Premier League have either 14.5 or 15.5 years with their club.
The one-club man was never a common or frequent phenomenon in football. Despite the romantic nostalgia, players have always been on the move in search of trophies, richer contracts and better weather. The one-club man captures the fans because his loyalty and long-term dedication to the club approaches the fans’ own.
Chance, perhaps more than intention, goes into creating a one-club man. Chelsea have an advantage in producing such players given the strength and size of the academy. John Terry’s 18.5 years with the first team are only a fraction of his lifelong commitment to Chelsea.
His example is why so many people scour the ranks at Cobham looking for the next such player. The Chelsea faithful are continually hoping that Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jake Clarke-Salter or Nathaniel Chalobah becomes the next academy-to-first-team legend.
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However, Chelsea too often falter on the essential step of promoting and not alienating the academy graduates. Chelsea’s youth players likely resign themselves to a series of loans before an overdue transfer. That is a disgrace, as they should be aspiring – with realistic hope – of following in Terry’s footsteps.
As John Terry determines his next career move, Chelsea must ensure they give him the proper send-off. The club completely muffed Terry’s contract situation at the end of last season. Neither the club, the fans nor Terry himself ever really knew if and when he was saying good-bye in the final game.
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This season there is no such ambiguity with his contract. The Blues have plenty of time to prepare a farewell worthy of a man who stands out across European football for his loyalty and dedication to his club.