John Terry has revealed that Jose Mourinho once warned that he and Gary Cahill would be replaced by big-money signings if they didn't up their game during pre-season at Chelsea in 2014.
Terry and Mourinho had already worked together during the Portuguese's first stint at the Blues from 2004 to 2007, winning back-to-back league titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup.
However, the former Chelsea captain has spoken of how Mourinho went about trying to get the best out of his players.
Speaking on Instagram Live to former snooker player Stephen Hendry, Terry pointed out that having just signed Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, Mourinho wanted to re-establish his high standards, and stopped a training session in order to lambast his two centre-backs.
"He said, 'You two, I'll go and spend £100m on a couple of other centre-backs if you keep giving the ball away.' We looked at each other and thought, 'Oh wow'," Terry said.
"So me and Gaz [Cahill] now, first day of pre-season, we've gone round started smashing everyone in training. The tempo has gone up, everyone's kicking lumps out of each other.
"After training he came and put his arm round us both and said, 'That's why you'll be starting this season'. He just knew exactly what he was doing, he was four steps ahead of everyone else."
Terry established a great working relationship with Mourinho throughout his two spells in charge at Chelsea, and went on to say that although his former manager wasn't always the friendliest, you knew he had your back.
"He knew when to push your buttons and when not to." Terry added. "Even small things, you'd be sitting at home and get a text message off him going, 'unbelievable today in training, you're my main man, love you captain'. You'd sit there and go, 'That's unbelievable'.
"So a really good relationship, but also I was petrified of him, like probably most players was. You'd go in the next day and you'd get nothing from him at all.
"He'd walk past you, say nothing and blank you. You'd think you've upset him. Did I text something back? You look at your messages and think, 'No, I'm alright there.' After training he'd go, 'That's why you're my captain, you just needed that little push'."
Source : 90min