But it is the “six or seven” trophies he failed to land during his career that continue to drive him on.
The former Chelsea captain’s winning mentality is obvious but as he takes the skipper’s armband at new club Aston Villa he insists only one thing is acceptable this term: the title.
Terry is still incensed at missing out on the FA Cup in May and Chelsea’s poor season under Jose Mourinho the previous campaign, using those moments as motivation to push his new club back to the Premier League.
“We have enough to go up for sure,” he said. “Should we be winning the league? Yes. If not , what do you take from there? Nothing. Nothing else is really acceptable for me as an individual and how I have behaved and what I have been around in previous years.
“Having a taste of winning and then having seasons over the years when you don’t win, they burn unbelievably.
“When you play 38 games throughout the year and walk away with nothing after being the second or first best team or missing out by a few points, even now that gets me.
Should we be winning the league? Yes. If not , what do you take from there? Nothing
Aston Villa star John Terry
“That makes me boil inside still – the opportunities I have missed out over the years of not winning six or seven Leagues or FA Cups. That is just my character, I want to win.
“You have either got it or you haven’t and the ambition is very clear for me.”
Terry had a variety of options over the summer but chose to link up with Steve Bruce as he was excited by Aston Villa’s squad, a view only enhanced by the summer signings of Glenn Whelan, Ahmed Elmohamady and Chris Samba.
“I think with the squad of players we already had, the additions the manager has made already, we have a big squad more than capable of going up,” he said.
“If we put things right on the pitch there is no reason why we shouldn’t go up.
“It is exciting to be here and important to get off to a good start. The club deserves to be in the Premier League.”
John Terry shares funny moment Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink falls
After so long at Chelsea, Terry is relishing a new challenge and you can see how excited he is about the opportunity of pushing a new side on. But after years of the spotlight, the pressure of playing at a lower level may just bring out the best in him.
“I have experienced pressure at the highest level whether as England captain or Chelsea captain,” he said ahead of Saturday’s opening day fixture at Villa Park against Hull City.
“I have been scrutinised rightly or wrongly over the years but that comes with football nowadays. That doesn’t bother me at all.
“Clearly I am not going to perform well every game, I know that going into every season.
“But what I will give is everything and I am pretty sure over the 46 games there are going to be a lot more better games than there is the other way.”
Villa have suffered a tremendous blow on the eve of the new campaign though. Jack Grealish’s bad luck with injuries has continued with the England Under-21 winger now set to miss the next six months following a freak blow to the kidneys from Watford midfielder Tom Cleverley at the weekend.
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Grealish has been in hospital for the past three days and Bruce is not optimistic that he will return to his side over Christmas.
“It will be at least three months and it could be much longer than that,” he said. “He’s poorly at the moment, I went to see him in hospital.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the injury. He’s still in hospital and things aren’t great.
“We hope that he has a speedy recovery, of course. Losing him is a blow to us.”
