JT's Superstitions

John Terry has said he has around 50 pre-match superstitions, including wearing the same lucky shin-pads for over a decade. But he lost them before a Champions League game in Barcelona in 2004 – and Chelsea lost the game. “Those shin-pads had got me to where I was in the game,” Terry said at the time. “I was thinking, f***ing hell, I’ve had those shin-pads for so long and now this is it, all over.”

Terry had the opportunity to wear Chelsea’s number 5 shirt in 2003 but preferred to stick with the number 26. I do have loads of rituals before every game,” he said in 2004. “Stupid things like always rotating tape round my shin-pads three times and never going to the two toilets on the left of the dressing room. I also don't have anything to drink - not even a cup of tea - once I wake up on the morning of a game. And I always count the number of lamp-posts on the journey between home and Stamford Bridge. I know they are all ridiculous things and I don't know why I do them - other than it is something I have always done and always will.”

John Terry has said that he feels compelled to park in the same spot in Chelsea’s car park and always takes the same seat on the team bus.