Today, in part one of our exclusive chat with Terry, the most successful captain in our history talks about having to prove himself early on in his Blues career and the ways in which the Premier League has changed since he first broke into the side...

Was there a point in your early Chelsea career when you came through some difficult tests and thought yes, I can compete and succeed at the very highest level?

‘I think within myself I always believed but I don’t think there was one particular game where I would look and think I have made it. That is probably why I am where I am today, because I have never sat there and thought I have made it, whether I have been there in the team of the season, won a Young Player of the Year, won Player of the Year, won trophies. That all gets forgotten and the next year you set yourself bigger and better targets. I have never thought that is me, I have cracked it. I have always been the type to think I have won one, I want two, I want three or four, and now having my fifth Premier League title, the first captain in history to do that, it is something I am really proud of.

‘That self-belief has to be there for sure. As a youngster you have to work so hard to get there and when you get there it is not only you believing, it is the manager believing in you to put you in the team in the first place. So when you get that vote of confidence, you get a feeling you can cope among first team players. You make mistakes, and I made plenty in my early games and early days at Chelsea.

'When I look back now at some of the old games I think did I really just make that pass, but that is where I am thankful to the Chelsea fans. Whether giving one ball away or making a mistake for a goal, they sing your name again because you are one of them and you came through the Academy, and they know this club means everything to me.’

What is the secret to keeping the ambition to succeed burning for so many years?

‘It is something natural from within for sure. I have always been the same and my wife even tells me off about it now. If I play table tennis or pool or go bowling with the kids I have to win. They are 11 years old so that might sound a bit harsh but my dad was very much the same when I was growing up. Whenever I had an arm wrestle with my dad he would never let me win, never, and as a kid it absolutely frustrated the life out of me but when I got to the point when I beat him at an arm wrestle at the age of 16, it meant something because I knew he was trying and I knew I was stronger. That is how I have been brought up and I think it is a good way to bring kids up, as well as giving as much confidence as I can to my kids of course. But they need to know the difference between winning and losing and when they win they need to know they have earned it, so if they want to beat dad at table tennis, they better practice.’