EXCLUSIVE
John Terry has announced that he will leave Chelsea in the summer after a glorious 22-year career in which he has won 14 honours, and Goal has decided to take a look into his first steps into the game of football.
Chelsea stars pay tribute to Terry
The Blues captain was actually born in the East London suburb of Barking and played with a local Sunday League football team called Senrab FC, before joining West Ham and then Chelsea.
His first football team is steeped in tradition, coaching boys from poorer backgrounds in the capital of the United Kingdom. Jermain Defoe, Sol Campbell, Ledley King and Ray Wilkins were just some of the names that came through Senrab, who can boast having found three former England captains on their books.
The club was founded in 1961 and claims to have produced over 170 professional footballers, welcoming children of all abilities to train in Poplar and play in Wanstead Flats.
Tony Carroll has been involved with the club for the past 25 years and took us through what the likes of Terry mean to the club, as well as Senrab FC's community ethos.
"John Terry has done well for himself and we are proud to say that he came from Senrab," Carroll told Goal. "We had three England captain - Ray Wilkins, Sol Campbell, John Terry. We have 18 other full internationals.
Chelsea will miss departing Terry
"He was a midfielder when he joined us and he played alongside Ledley King, Bobby Zamora, Jlloyd Samuel and Kemal Izzet, who is Muzzy Izzet's brother, they were all in the same team.
"We had 10 English internationals, three Irish, Turkey, Algeria, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago. We are a community club, everyone knows about Senrab, they know where we train. It is one of those clubs that is infectious, with the history and standing that we have in the football world."
Please watch, like and share the video above that details the earliest stages of Terry's career.
