Garry Hayes, who covers Chelsea for Bleacher Report UK among other sites, will be releasing a book on 15th August titled John Terry: Fifty Defining Fixtures.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this book isn’t an autobiography. Neither Terry nor Chelsea Football Club were involved or provided input on this book, which was published by Amberley Publishing. The book can be pre-ordered on Amazon. It will also be available on Kindle and iBooks for Chelsea fans in corners of the world that face high shipping costs. Now, onto the book.
As someone who has been following the club since early on in Terry’s career, I knew that this book would be a thoroughly enjoyable read. I’ve followed Garry’s work for quite some time now, and he was featured on an episode of Carefree Blues Podcast shortly after last season. Hayes was kind enough to provide ReadChelsea with an advance copy of the book.
The first thing that caught my attention was the way the book was laid out. I went into it under the assumption that Terry’s 50 defining fixtures would be ranked through the eyes of Hayes. Instead, Hayes picked 50 matches throughout Terry’s career – for both club and country – and discussed them in chronological order. I was a bit skeptical about the layout to start, but it played out beautifully.
After the foreword from Ron Harris, Hayes’ introductory chapter delves into Terry’s youth career at Chelsea, where he spent part of his time cleaning boots. You can read that chapter below:
The book has it all. Any massive performance from Terry? It’s covered. The Nottingham Forest days? Those too. The Blues’ 1-0 win over Manchester United in 2004 en route to arguably the greatest season in Premier League history? It’s in the book. The clean sheet against Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup? Accounted for. That night in Munich? Terry didn’t even play, but, of course, it’s covered.
All in all, it’s a must-read for any Chelsea fan – new or old. When you think Chelsea, you think Terry. He’s blue, through and through. Not only is this book a good look back on Terry’s career — it’s also a fantastic read through Chelsea’s history over the previous two decades.
