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John Terry has explained the incredible lengths Jose Mourinho went to ensure Chelsea had the advantage over their opponents during his time at the club. Mourinho will go down as one of the club’s greatest-ever coaches, with his focus on margins a key element of his success.

Terry was a crucial fixture in Chelsea’s defence during both of the Portuguese’s spells at Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho guided Terry to three of his five Premier League titles, also winning three League Cups, one FA Cup and one Community Shield.

And the iconic Blues defender has revealed a strategy he introduced to his players when they were 1-0 up in games.

Speaking to beIN Sports, Terry explained that Mourinho would tell him and Gary Cahill to bump into each other and both fall to the ground.

The referee couldn’t order two players to exit the pitch for treatment, so play couldn’t resume as the clock ticked down.

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He said: “Just to win. He didn’t care about anything else. He did anything to get an edge.

“I remember, the rule was, if we were 1-0 up and the ball got delivered into the box… if two defenders went up together and both went down on the floor after, you didn’t have to go off the field of play.

“So last 10 or 15 minutes, he would sit Gary Cahill and me down and go, ‘when the ball comes in the box, make sure you both go down – bump into each other, and both go down because you can’t both go off’.

“We’d never heard of that rule ever. So the ball comes over in the last 10 minutes, head it away, Gaz goes down, and I think, ‘I better go down’.

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“So I dropped to the floor, and the ref said, ‘you two off the pitch’. I said, ‘no, that’s not the rule. Ask the linesman’.

“Mourinho was so far ahead with those little bits, and you’re talking small margins, and the best managers find those little margins. Incredible.”

The strategy certainly would’ve helped Chelsea concede just 15 goals in the 2004/05 season, a Premier League record that will likely never be broken.

Mourinho’s team in west London will forever be remembered as one of the best in the country’s history.

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