By Matthew Joyce
Chelsea captain John Terry has praised Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, enthusing that he always knew that the Ulsterman would be a coaching success.
The now-Reds boss took charge of the Blues’ reserve side and academy between 2004 and 2008 before departing to start his career as a first-team manager.
“I know Brendan very well,” Terry told reporters. “He is a great manager and was brilliant for me and some of the other players. I can only speak highly of him.
“There were many ways he helped me. When Jose [Mourinho] was there, he was always around. A couple of times I was left out of the side or injured and he’d pull me to one side. He did a nice little video of me scoring goals, making tackles and had a 15-20 minute chat with me.
“At the time it was something nobody had ever done and it just goes to show his man-management and how well he’s doing and how well he’ll do in the future.
“It’s little things like that which, as a player, really give you a boost when you’re down. He was a real gentleman.
“I was 100 per cent sure [he would make it as a manager]. He was around quite a lot, fed off Jose and obviously learnt a lot from him.
“You could see he had it in him to go on – his mannerisms around the players, he had a great rapport with the players at the training ground on a daily basis.”
