John Terry: My pure hatred for Tottenham, Eden Hazard vs Jose Mourinho and why I don't enjoy football anymore

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John Terry is one of English football's most legendary players and an undoubted Chelsea icon.

The heroic defender spent 19 years at Stamford Bridge before retiring in 2018 after a spell at Aston Villa.

This week, Terry spoke to talkSPORT about his glittering career, as well as his everlasting hatred for Tottenham and a training ground spat, while also giving his thoughts on modern football.

He chatted to tennis star Nick Kyrgios and talkSPORT's Gordon Smart on Wimbledon Unfiltered on Wednesday night.

Here are all of the best bits from our chat with the Blues legend...

'Pure hatred' for Tottenham

Chelsea and Tottenham's rivalry is one of the biggest in England, with some iconic London derbies occurring over the years.

Terry will never move on from hating Spurs and the topic came up when Kyrgios was revealed to be a fan...

"I didn't know that, I'm not sure I'd be here if I did!" Terry joked as the Australian was outed as a Spurs supporter.

Then when asked how he thinks they will do next season, he added: "Hopefully not too well. I think Thomas Frank is a good manager but I don't think they're in a good place.

"Seeing where they finished last year, I look at them and the foundations, the facilities, training ground and stadium are incredible, but I think it's time for a change there with someone coming in to give it a real go.

"But I'm happy for them to stay where they are. There's no beating around the bush with Spurs: I hate Spurs, they hate me. It's really simple.

"You grow up on that and it's pure hate, I hope they stay where they are if I'm being honest."

Eden Hazard vs Jose Mourinho

Terry revealed to talkSPORT that Eden Hazard and Jose Mourinho were involved in a spat in a training session.

Both are Chelsea legends and two of the best at what they do, but Hazard's personality ended up clashing with Mourinho's.

"Hazard had all the ability in the world, but he would turn up to training and not be interested.

"Under Mourinho, we were playing West Ham and it was a tactical day...and after 10 minutes, Eden's gone: 'Why are we doing this? Who are we playing tomorrow'.

"He didn't even know who we were playing... all he said was: 'Just give me the ball, 1-0'. Mourinho pulled the bib off him and told him he wasn't starting.

"But for me, being the captain of that side, I told the other players we need to work a bit harder because when he's on it on Saturday, we're going to reap the rewards of it.

"You have to work twice as hard to compensate for him because he's that good, so when he gets the ball going forward, he comes alive and will win you the game.

"Before the game, we'd go out to warm-up and he's there face-timing with his tracksuit on and a minute to go, playing Mario Kart.

"30 seconds and he'd put his kit on and walk out, but come 3pm, he's ready and we don't need to push him before."

Best mentality at Chelsea?

The 44-year-old played with a huge number of talented stars, including Hazard, throughout his career at Chelsea.

But he only had one answer when asked about who had the best mentality at the club during his time there.

"Lamps [Frank Lampard], by far. The best player I've seen at Chelsea is Hazard in terms of pure ability.

"But in terms of relentlessness, year after year, what Lamps had done...if I was ever at a point where I felt a bit tired in training I'd go and mark Lamps, he didn't stop moving.

"I knew my numbers would be up, not as high as him, but I'd just follow him around and you'd be absolutely shattered. You start walking in and look back and he's out there with a bag of balls.

"You think then that I best be doing something, so it's those top players...when you want ex-players in the building, passing that level of information across [to academies], that's what you want to see."

'I don't enjoy watching football'

Terry was part of the inaugural season of Baller League UK earlier this year, managing his team, 26ers, in the six-a-side competition.

And he believes that it has brought a new appetite for football fans, admitting he doesn't enjoy watching the sport.

"I don't sit there and enjoy watching football anymore. The guy who started Baller League, he's got backers from across the world.

"They were fed up of seeing tactical games where teams play against Man City, you get 11 men behind the ball, it's boring and Man City try to break teams down...it's really boring. You don't see many shots, you don't see many players like Hazard, Joe Cole getting people off their seats.

"In Baller League, the kids love it, the viewing figures have been way more than the Championship, I think that will grow again next year.

"It gets to a point where people are getting fed up with it."

The lost art of defending

The former centre-back was known to be a hard tackler and a defender that players just wouldn't mess with on the pitch.

But he feels like football has lost that side of the game and players can no longer put in a strong challenge without punishment.

"You could tackle back in the day, now it's gone.

"The art of defending has completely gone, which I think is a shame to be honest, because there's some tackles where if I tackled you, I'd end up following through.

"Now people go: 'You can't do that, that's a sending off'. And I'm like absolutely not, you can't tackle and stop immediately.

"I get frustrated at people in football now getting jobs and roles within the TV, it does my head in.

"Real football people love to see that side of it and it's a big thing that's missing."

Arguing with Mark Clattenburg

On top of the legend's joy at Baller League bringing back some excitement, he also had his fair share of controversies.

One of those was a clash with former referee Mark Clattenburg, with Terry being held back by his players as a brawl erupted.

"I'd had murders with Mark on the pitch anyway, but in Baller League, more so than when I played. He's been a shambles, so bad.

"I'm directly behind him and the 'keeper puts it out for a corner, he hasn't seen it...my head was frazzled. I told him to go back to Gladiators."

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