BIRMINGHAM -- It will take some time to get used to seeing John Terry in a shirt other than Chelsea's, but he is an Aston Villa player now. In dropping down to a Championship club in severe need of rescuing from itself, the five-time Premier League-winning captain has accepted a very different mission.
Once Antonio Conte made clear that Terry had no further part to play at Stamford Bridge, the 36-year-old, with 18 years as a first-team player behind him, wanted to prove he still had something to offer on the pitch. A one-year contract at Villa will test that, and he begins a new life in the Championship, where he last played while on loan at Nottingham Forest in 2000, with Saturday's home game against Hull City.