Should John Terry get a contract extension?

John Terry,  ‘Captain, Leader, Legend’, has been the centre of controversy for many things during his years at the Bridge, most recently for his alleged  ‘racist’ attack on Anton Ferdinand but has always been one of our most consistent and strongest players.  But after everything including a pretty significant injury last year that saw him out for a few months, does Mr. Chelsea deserve a contract extension?

As the new season gets underway, much of this season’s chatter and debate will no doubt be about John Terry who has just one  year left on his contract. And as the days wind down, you cant help but ask – could this year be the end of his career at Chelsea? With the arrival of Jose Mourinho, it seems one of the first problems he will have to tackle is what to do with John Terry. Will he play him and extend his contract, or make way for players who are younger, fitter and less controversial?  Let’s take a deeper look…
John Terry has been involved in controversy after controversy at the Bridge. In recent years, his two biggest and most popular scandals are the Bridge and the Ferdinand sagas. The first he brought on himself really by ‘cheating with Wayne Bridge’s EX-girlfriend’ – seems like a pretty daft thing to get so much hate over  considering  Ryan Giggs had been cheating with his brothers wife – which seems a much crime and betrayal than Terry’s tryst does it not?  But Giggsy wears a red shirt and Terry wears blue and is the guy you love to hate, so John Terry bore the brunt of the public’s ire while Giggsy skated on by, reputation in tact.
Following that incident, Terry was then embroiled in another scandal having been accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand during a match by calling him a ‘f***ing black cu*t’. Allegedly.  And even though he was found innocent by a court of law, the  Football Association (Fergie Association) was still not satisfied. They continued on with their own proceedings , a circus of proceedings. When they had humiliated everyone sufficiently by the end of it all, they handed JT a heavy fine and a 4 match ban after finding him guilty. The media didn’t seem bothered by the fact he was found not guilty by the Court and continued to portray him as the villain of football and SW6 for a while after and then we got on with the football.
These were two pretty big incidents for not only JT but the Club. Despite all the negative press, the Club and supporters stuck by JT. The madness died down, he served his ban and then, back only a match, he received a pretty devastating injury from Luis Suarez and was stretchered off the pitch in agony. And that was the pretty much the end of Terry’s year. That knock saw him sidelined for about three months. His leadership and experience was sorely missed, especially in Japan.   Rafa brought him back into the rotation slowly and sparingly.  Rafa said he was managing Terry’s fitness and injury, reports said otherwise. That there was a rift between the two men. Regardless, Terry is now 32 years old, which isnt terribly old. But Terry is an old 32. He’s fully put his body on the line for club and country over the years and the age on him is starting to show –  in  his legs and in his pace. As we learned with Lampard this year, being a club legend isn’t enough anymore. You have to fight for your place. With younger, fitter and less controversial players able to play in his position he will have to prove he belongs in the starting line up. I hope he’s been working on his fitness this summer in between holidaying in the Med.
Also, dont forget his hefty wages. With FFP around the corner, will the Club continue to pay the wages of an aging captain used less frequently?
Now, there are  several positives to extending John Terry’s contract. The most obvious being that John Terry possess all of the leadership qualities needed to be captain of the squad. Also, he is still arguably one 0f the best leaders on the field, a player who would die for his team, put his life on the line, whatever it takes.  When John Terry plays for the squad, you know  the squad will be full of belief, passion and organization, something that was sorely lacking within the squad when he was missing last season. If we do not want to extend John Terry’s contract, it may be a good idea to have him take his FA Coaching Badges and  become a coach for Chelsea one day. He’s said before this is where he wants to see his career out, so I imagine he’ll take this route one day. Even if he’s not on the pitch, who better to motivate the squad from the sidelines. He could also teach youngsters such as Ake, Chalobah and Kalas and groom them to be the type of defender he is/was (on the pitch though, not off).
There are a few plus and negative sides in extending John Terry’s contract. Personally, I think that extending his contract will be the right thing to do right now. He deserves the chance to have another year after last year which he has to see as a personal failure especially because he missed yet another European final. Also, having him there under Jose will undoubtedly  improve the defensive side of our game which has not been good enough the past few seasons.
But if we keep him, does it mean more controversy in the future or has he learned from his mistakes? With Jose back, is he guaranteed a starting position and will Jose rely on him to steer the ship as he had in the past? What do you guys think, should we give Terry a contract extension or not?