John Terry BLOCKED Chelsea flight from leaving in heated row with Andre Villas-Boas over first-class seats
JOHN TERRY revealed he once BLOCKED a Chelsea flight from leaving due to a heated row with Andre Villas-Boas over first-class seats.
Villas-Boas arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2011 but lasted just eight months after enduring a rocky relationship with senior players.
And perhaps the writing was on the wall from the very start, with Terry now opening up on a clash with the manager during pre-season.
Chelsea were due to travel to Hong Kong on tour when the Blues legend took exception with younger players in first class while he flew economy.
Terry said on Up Front with Simon Jordan: “I’ll give you a little story. We went to Hong Kong, I think when he was first manager.
“We get on the plane, we get on and I’m sitting in economy on a 13-hour flight and we’ve got Josh McEachran, Nathaniel Chalobah, couple of other young players in first class.
“And this was part of AVB’s going, ‘No, no. No player’s bigger than me. Everyone’s the same.’
“So, I get on the plane and it turns out that Lamps is flying out first class and I’m flying back in first class.
“If you fly out in first, you come back business or economy, premium economy, whatever it was. But basically it wasn’t good enough.
“So I’m on the plane going, ‘No, no, we’re not going anywhere until these young players go back in economy and the first-team players that have built this club to where it is today go back in first.
John Terry's honours
Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2014–15, 2016–17
FA Cup: 1999–2000, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12
League Cup: 2004–05, 2006–07, 2014–15
Champions League: 2011–12
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“And we’re on the plane and people are up and down, AVB comes up and goes, ‘What’s the problem?’
“I’m going, ‘Well, we’re not going anywhere till the young players move.’ And to be fair to the young players they’re going, ‘JT, it’s really uncomfortable we’re going back.’
“And I’m going, ‘No, no, it’s not your decision he has to own it as AVB.’
“This was one of his first things in front of everyone, in the end it spins so all first-team players fly first, younger players go back in economy.
“That’s how it should be, these younger players are striving to be where we’ve got and he tried to make a statement on day one and he failed instantly because I promise you, the plane wasn’t going.
“And, it would have gone without myself, Frank and Didier.”
Terry ultimately got the last laugh after winning the Champions League two months after Villas-Boas’ sacking.
The former England captain ended his Chelsea career in 2017 as a five-time Premier League winner.
He joined Aston Villa for a year before hanging up his boots to move into coaching where he has since returned to Chelsea’s academy.
Meanwhile, AVB would work at Tottenham, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Shanghai SIPG and most recently Marseille in 2021.
He controversially left Marseille after criticising the club for signing Olivier Ntcham against his wishes.
Villas-Boas in January revealed plans to run for Porto president despite receiving death threats after the announcement.