Chelsea hero John Terry: captain, leader, legend - liability

Chelsea kept a clean sheet and the fans sung John Terry's name to the rafters as the Blues played their first game since it emerged he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.

News this week that the 35-year-old defender, feted as "captain, leader, legend" by supporters, has not been offered a new contract for next season and will be ending his 21-year association with the club was met with shock and there was an outpouring of support for Terry during the 0-0 draw with Watford on Wednesday.

"They sang his name relentlessly and with an intense pride," says Alyson Rudd of The Times. "It felt like his last game rather than the first of many more before he leaves west London. Had Terry written in person to every single Chelsea supporter to ask them to demonstrate against the club's madness in allowing him to leave, he could not have asked for more."

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The game will not live long in the memory and it was Watford who played the brighter football, but Terry "delivered a message at Vicarage Road with a performance much stronger than words", says John Cross of the Daily Mirror.

After speaking of his frustration and disappointment at the weekend, Terry's "typically faultless display in the heart of Chelsea's defence provided a much more compelling argument for the Stamford Bridge hierarchy", writes the journalist.

The decision not to extend the player's contract has baffled many, not least Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail. "Leaving aside that Terry remains, even now, the best defender at the club... still the first pick in any match that Chelsea have to win, how can he be considered to have nothing to offer in the way of example, or inspiration?" he asked.

But it is not any waning of Terry's abilities that has prompted the decision, says Paul Hayward of the Daily Telegraph. "Those looking for footballing reasons for the club's refusal to offer him a new contract will not find them. Politics have shaped his 21 years at Stamford Bridge and politics have brought his downfall," he says.

Owner Roman Abramovich is still smarting from being forced to sack Jose Mourinho, he argues, and has been looking for someone to blame. Terry may not have played a major role in the former manager's downfall, but he has become too much of a distraction.

Chelsea want a new coach who "will be able to choose his own back-four and promote young centre-backs without having to tip-toe round the 'legend' who continues to be seen by many fans as the club’s spiritual guardian", Hayward says. "'JT' has been on the scene of too many dismissals for the next manager to feel completely confident of his power in the dressing room."

But while Terry's absence is now "written into the job offer" for whoever takes over at Stamford Bridge, there could be a way back.

Chelsea's interim boss Guus Hiddink admitted this week that the "door is not shut" and after the Watford game, said Terry was "performing very well".

"The next manager could probably still keep him if he wished – or choose the quiet life and ‘respect’ Chelsea’s decision," says Hayward.