Standing up for his team is heart of Terry plan

The England captain believes in defending his players at all costs - a trait he learnt from Jose Mourinho, writes Sam Wallace

The first instruction that Jose Mourinho gave John Terry when he made him captain of Chelsea was, the new England captain said yesterday, to confront his manager on behalf of the players. Coming from a club that thrives on confrontation, Terry's new role with England has required of him greater diplomacy than the occasional post-match row with the boss.

The first changes post-David Beckham were revealed yesterday by Terry, who has petitioned for the end of the rule that required players to wear suits rather than tracksuits on flights and now allows them soft drinks in their hotel-room minibars. It is not quite the revolution yet, but for a player whose confidence seems to be growing it is the first sign that he is stepping outside the shadow of his famous predecessor.

The prospect of an inquisition yesterday on the William Gallas affair would have been a far more daunting task for Terry than the reception he is likely to get from the home fans in Skopje tonight, but he gave an insight into life for the England players under Steve McClaren. The comedy masseur notwithstanding, Bill Beswick, the team's sports psychologist, appears to have caught Terry's imagination.

As one of Mourinho's players, Terry could have been forgiven for thinking he had seen it all when it came to big-match preparation. The England captain, however, said that Beswick's presentation of footage of inspirational sportsmen and sporting moments - as well as quotations from men like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods - had made him think. Even if he could not recall a single specific quote.

"Bill's had a couple of meetings with the lads and he has said his door is always open if anybody wants to speak to him," Terry said. "He has showed us a few video clips about teams coming together. He's not gone too deeply into things but it's been great and it's certainly opened the lads' eyes up. I think everybody outside thinks he locks you in a room, one on one, for a couple of hours. That's not the case. The meetings we've had have been for five or 10 minutes, with video clips and quotes from people like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. We've seen clips on basketball teams, how they came together when things weren't going too well and somebody did something to change things. That's been encouraging."

It was hearing the forces that shaped Terry as a captain that made you wonder whether McClaren would quite have the same confidence to give him the same free rein with England. Mourinho encouraged Terry to argue back in the dressing-room and, to make a point, would often pick on his captain in particular when he was lambasting his players for a poor performance. "I've learnt many things [from Mourinho], but to always express my feelings and not be scared," Terry said. "One thing he said to me when he made me captain of Chelsea was, 'Don't be scared to stand up and have a go at me in front of the players. That's the one thing you've got to do. Even if the players are in the wrong, it's your job to stand up for the players. They're your team-mates.'

"There have been a couple of times when I've had to step in. There have been times I've had to stick up for myself when he's had a go at me, so I've had to do it for myself and other players. When the chips are down I'm there as the captain of the lads and it's important that we stick together as a team of players."

Whether standing up for the errant Gallas was also part of the job description, Terry would not say. However, one month into the England role Terry said that, although changing a few of the minor rules about dress code and minibars might "seem like little things" he regarded them as important. Off the field, Terry is not quite the fearless warrior he is on it when it comes to the intricacies of Football Association politics, but he is revealing more of his character and his hopes for England.

"I want to win and play games for England and win trophies. It was the same at Chelsea. I had that hunger. There had been so many years without winning anything at Chelsea and that hunger burnt inside of me. I looked at other teams, parading around with their trophies at the end of the season, and I felt this burning pain inside me that I didn't want to feel any more.

"This is the ultimate stage for a player. It's time we did it. It's pointless me coming here and saying we're going to win this or that. It's important we get out there and keep winning games. Euro 2008 is two years away but we need to build things up so we go there on a high."

McClaren's secret weapon comes with a book full of bad jokes

He is Scottish and, by reputation, one of the worst joke-tellers around, but the England team masseur Billy McCulloch was identified yesterday by John Terry as his side's new secret weapon.

A Chelsea masseur, McCulloch was recruited to the England set-up by Terry after impressing at Stamford Bridge with a comedy routine so bad the players found it riotously funny. A regular butt of Terry's jokes in his Chelsea matchday programme notes, McCulloch was "poached", Terry said, from Walter Smith's Scotland staff where he had previously worked.

"The lads love him", Terry said. "The Liverpool and Man United boys want to buy him off us - but we told them the transfer window is closed now."

As well as being a "genius" masseur, Terry said, he has performed his routine for Roman Abramovich and did a turn when the England players visited a comedy club recently on a team-bonding evening.

"He only had a handful of jokes when he came to Chelsea but he's now gone out and bought joke books and goes through them, telling us a different one every time. Every day he gets up in front of us. It was the same on the bus to the airport yesterday. Everyone was in stitches."

Although no one contacted yesterday who had seen him perform could remember a single joke, a few recalled an embarrassing gaffe at a charity dinner. That does not seem to have diminished the popularity of the England team's new court jester. His next gig? Terry promised to bring him to a press conference.

Sam Wallace