Appearing on the latest episode of Double Tops sponsored by BetMGM, Terry spoke about playing through illness and injury and said he almost never fully fit.
He revealed: “I was very old school. If I was feeling ill or sick I would just go out and get on with it, I don’t think people should miss matches due to illness – it doesn’t sit right with me.
“Everyone says ‘oh you won’t be at your peak if you’re ill’, but you don’t know that until you get out there and give it a crack.
“I can’t tell you the amount of injections that I had to get through the next game, but that’s because I wanted to play in every single one. I played 717 games for Chelsea and I could say, genuinely, I was 100% fit for five of them.
“When I went into a game, I rarely didn’t have a rib, arm, leg, ankle or some sort of injury – something always hurt. That was just part of being a professional footballer and you can’t sit it out because you’re ill.
“The games come so thick and fast and you can’t afford to miss one. The player who might come in to replace you might not be at your level and in order to win titles and constantly compete, you need to be there, no matter what.”