John Terry has admitted Chelsea’s players need to “hold their hands up” over the demise of Andre Villas-Boas.
The Blues were today still coming to terms with the Sunday sacking of their manager, with captain Terry having broken his silence on the matter.
Player power was said to have been one of the factors in the downfall of Villas-Boas and captain Terry admitted Chelsea’s squad needed to look in the mirror.
He told Chelsea TV: “Sad for Andre, because unfortunately it falls on his head, when I think the players would hold their hands up and say, ‘Clearly, we’ve not been good enough and we all made mistakes together’.
“He’s the man whose head’s on the block and unfortunately goes.”
Terry made a shock recovery from knee surgery to earn a place in the squad for Tuesday night’s FA Cup fifth-round replay at Birmingham.
The defender dedicated Chelsea’s 2-0 win not only to caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo and assistant Eddie Newton, but also to Villas-Boas.
He said: “We dug deep for him, for Robbie as well taking charge, Eddie coming in as well – it’s nice to have familiar faces around who know the club.”
Terry added: “We’ve done enough talking amongst ourselves over the last three or four months.
“Robbie came in and said those exact same things as well.
“He’s been here, played here, the same as Eddie.
“We have to fight for the shirt and that was the message to the lads.”
Terry admitted the meltdown at Chelsea drove his incredible injury comeback as he revealed he was jogging again only two days after knee surgery.
The 31-year-old returned to the squad less than a fortnight after undergoing a procedure that was expected to sideline him until next month.
The Blues have badly missed Terry’s leadership and defensive skills since he was first ruled out of action at the end of January and his early comeback is a huge boost to their hopes of salvaging their season.
He said: “Once I had the operation, I was literally jogging about after two days, which was incredible.
“I said to the physios, the way things were here, I just wanted to push myself and be involved and try to get back as quickly as possible.
“I’ve done that, worked really hard in the gym, been on triple sessions going back late in the evening on my own as well – which has been tough.
“The target for myself was always to get back and hopefully be back for the Stoke game, so this is a massive boost for me.”
