JOHN TERRY has revealed how Carlo Ancelotti was so popular with Chelsea players they refused to leave his side the night he was sacked.
The Italian led the Blues to the Double in his first season in charge but was dumped following a 1-0 defeat at Everton in May 2011, after Chelsea finished trophy-less in the Italian’s second season in charge.
However Terry and his teammates refused to let Ancelotti slip away from Stamford Bridge quietly and insisted on the triple European Cup winning boss to hit the town when they returned to London.
“He’d come down the back of the bus after games, sit there, talk to the lads – even when he got sacked at Chelsea,” Terry revealed.
“We played Everton away and he got sacked and we were sitting on the bus on the way home. He’s come down the bus and said: ‘I’ve just had a call – I’m sacked.’
“We were like: ‘No way, no chance. But when we get back to London we’re taking you out for a night out … sod it!
“Literally all the lads were there and he turned up. It was probably the hardest thing for him to do.
“Even now we still talk to him and he still talks about that night and how everyone turned up and showed him what he meant to us. He had a great rapport with the lads.”
Ancelotti recently revealed it was Ashley Cole who organised a minibus for the night out.
He said last month: “All the squad was there.
“I knew it was going to be the last game and I had friends from Italy over.
“On the bus home, the players knew I was sacked and Ashley Cole said we must go out. I said no because I had ten friends visiting. We are having dinner at my house.
But Ashley was, ‘ No, no, they must all come. I will send you a bus ’. So he sent a minibus to get us. It was unforgettable.”
Terry told the tale while being interviewed by former Scotland internationals Kris Boyd and Robert Snodgrass on The Lockdown Tactics, a podcast hosted by the pair to raise awareness on mental health issues.
Boyd asked the former Blues captain, leader, legend, which of his former teammates and managers he would choose to be locked-down with during the current Coronavirus crisis – with Terry preferring Ancelotti ahead of Jose Mourinho.
JT, now Dean Smith’s assistant boss at Aston Villa, revealed: “David Luiz and Diego Costa would be a bundle of fun.
“Manager-wise I’d probably say Ancelotti. Quiet leadership, with a really good way about him.”
Check out @lockdowntactics to hear the full interview.
