Chelsea old guard, Didier Drogba and John Terry, have their say on and off the pitch with crucial win over Stoke
Hours after this fractious but crucial victory, and after caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo had delivered the message that it was all about the team and not the individual — in an echo of his predecessor Andre Villas-Boas — the Chelsea players had their say.
Didier Drogba declared it would be “nice” to have Jose Mourinho back at the club while John Terry hailed the ‘Special One’ as a “fantastic manager, a very good man-manager as well”.
It’s groundhog day at Chelsea — and will be until some of those promised radical changes are made this summer. “People have got this thing about the senior players at Chelsea having a massive influence,” Terry added.
“I can assure you that’s not the case, and it hasn’t been the case since I have been at the football club. All the players care about Chelsea, and the owner certainly does.”
But where else but Chelsea would players — rather than the manager or chairman — even discuss the owner’s thoughts? No Manchester City player talks about Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, no one at Manchester United declares about the Glazer family.
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard does not comment on John W Henry and neither does Arsenal talisman Robin van Persie on Stan Kroenke.