John Terry: Jose Mourinho remark helped inspire my Chelsea revival

John Terry has said Jose Mourinho telling him he had been "written off" helped inspire his revival at Chelsea over the last two seasons, saying: "He knows what buttons to press."

Chelsea captain Terry, 34, was a central part of the club's success during Mourinho's first reign and, following the Portuguese's return in 2013, he has come close to replicating that form.

It had appeared Terry's career may be drawing to a close during the 2012-13 season, with predecessor Rafa Benitez showing little trust in the former England international and even Mourinho initially himself refusing to offer the centre-back any assurances over first-team football.

In an interview on the club's official website, though, Terry said Mourinho was a master of man-management.

Referring to the manager's initial stint at the club, he said: "He made a group of players -- good players at the time -- feel like we were the best in the world. Whether we were or not, we felt it. You see that in the performances as well.

"You could immediately tell he knew how to draw the best out of everyone. So individually, I remember when he first signed, you get a text message or a phone call from him. Even when he came back this time, you get that little phone call saying: 'I need you to hit the ground running. People have written you off.'

"It's just inspiring and, for me, there's no better at drawing the best out of people than Jose Mourinho. He knows what buttons to press. It goes unnoticed a little bit. He knows what makes me tick. He knows if I make a mistake he can tell me -- some players you can't. It's handling different players differently and he does it superbly."

Mourinho has made some major decisions in allowing key players to leave the club, most notably when he sold Juan Mata to Manchester United after six months despite the Spaniard having won Chelsea's Player of the Year award in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

David Luiz was also allowed to join Paris Saint-Germain last summer, while Andre Schurrle headed to Wolfsburg in January, but Terry backed his manager's decisions.

Discussing the "fundamentals with training," he added: "He wants the best out of everyone on a daily basis. You look at some of the world-class players we've had -- Juan Mata, David Luiz, players like that who've left the club -- [and] he's seen something, I don't know what, to let those big players go. And again, he makes judgment calls and he gets them right."

Terry also discussed Mourinho's tendency to catch the players off-guard during half-time team talks.

He said: "There are so many, more than 50 or 60, big moments I can think of that sum him up. Sometimes you're losing a game at half-time, which doesn't happen often at this club, and you expect to come in and get a rollicking, and you come in and the manager is calm, collected -- the complete opposite.

"And he's like, 'Listen, we're going to win the game. We're going to get an early goal...' And he talks you through it. I've had managers before who say the same thing but, when he talks, it comes from his heart. He firmly believes it. If he didn't think it, he wouldn't say it.

"Other times you'll be winning two or three nil and you'll come in happy at half-time and he'll go ballistic. Tables will go over, bottles of water will go flying. You think, 'Where's that come from?' But you go out for the second half and win the game 5-0 rather than scraping through 3-1, 3-2.

"Those little details. He knows when players take their foot off the gas. He can sense something before the game. He just gets a feel for everyone and every single game. And I look at that and think no one else has got that that I've experienced."

He also praised another former Chelsea boss, saying: "Man-management, Carlo Ancelotti is up there and a real great guy, someone I loved working with. Those two would be the main ones for me."