Mourinho seems happy to lay off Terry's gambling

In an intriguing insight into the way Mourinho treats his players, the Chelsea manager said that it did not worry him to see his English players in betting shops as gambling was an ingrained "part of the culture" in this country. He gives his team talks in the form of Power Point presentations, his club's medical department has been overhauled and Chelsea's new training ground, when finished, will be the most progressive in Europe but there are some things, Mourinho admitted, that he will never change.

The pictures in yesterday's Sun showed Terry in his local bookies in Surrey and alleged that the England defender betted £5,000 a week on a pastime that Mourinho shrugged was simply what the English "love to do". It is a reality that he has had to get used to coming from a country where, he said, most of the natives would rather bury their money in the back garden that take a punt.

"Every street here there is a minimum of three bookmakers' shops. That is this country. It is what you love to do and it is what you do," said Mourinho, whose team play Middlesbrough today.

While Eidur Gudjohnsen was pictured with Terry in the betting shops there is no suggestion that that Icelandic striker was placing any bets. He has admitted in the past that he regretted gambling large amounts in casinos. Mourinho said that he would not try to change his captain - "You can't, he's English" - but he did defend the amounts that were bet by Premiership footballers. "I can guess £1,000 for John Terry is £20 to anyone else," he said.

There were, however, limits, Mourinho said, to his players' behaviour which were laid down very clearly. He wasted no time in getting rid of Adrian Mutu after the Romanian international tested positive for cocaine last year and "drinking properly" was the first requirement of his players that Mourinho named.

"They should not be getting home very late, going to nightclubs, pubs and bars during the week when they have to train the next day," he said. "The next morning I know what they did the night before. It is easy for me to see in training because I can see their concentration."

Although Chelsea have been offered the services of the Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Ballack, Mourinho did not envisage buying, or selling, anyone in January. Hernan Crespo is out of today's game with a rib injury, although Didier Drogba is back.