Chelsea have never had our equivalent of a player completing a Paolo Maldini-type career.

We've never had a footballer who emerged from our youth ranks (established in the 1950s) and then realised his potential until retiring after a full-length career without signing for another club.

The closest we've come was 1960s right-back Ken Shellito but he was forced to retire through injury at the age of 25 having played just 123 games. Even those two colossal figures in Chelsea history, Ron Harris and Peter Bonetti, eventually moved away from Stamford Bridge to other clubs; Chopper to Brentford and The Cat sampling life in US soccer before returning to Chelsea. He also played for Dundee United before retiring to coaching.

John Terry has made no secret of his burning desire to be 'Chelsea's Maldini' and the way is clear for him to be the first. Now the Maldini-style records are beginning to fall his way.

Against Aston Villa in Chelsea's most recent match, he became the player who has captained the team on the most occasions, surpassing Harris's previous best of 324 matches.

The breaking of that record was a little overshadowed at the time by Frank Lampard's phenomenal goalscoring feats and a special Chelsea performance and result, but determined to give our skipper's achievement the spotlight it deserves, the Official Chelsea Website sat down with him to discuss six seasons in full-time possession of the Chelsea skipper's armband and the making of a captain before that.

'I have been aware of Chopper's all-time appearance record but his captain's one I wasn't aware of until a few weeks ago,' John reveals as he considers his new milestone.

'The figure of 325 games is incredible. It just shows how early I came into the side and got the armband. The older players pushed for me to become captain and since then we've had some world-class managers and I'm really pleased they've all seen something in me and I've been able to lead such a good side. I have been here such a long time, ball-boying, coming through the youth team, cleaning showers, boots and toilets, hoovering the dressing room and then coming through and seeing off so many great defenders and still keeping my place. I take so much pride from that.

'When I first came into the side, captaining it was not something that was at the forefront of my mind,' he continues, 'but when you get a taste of it and you do it for the odd cup game or whatever, you just want more. You take pride in leading your team out.

'I don't miss many days training and when I do train, I like to think I give absolutely everything and hopefully that rubs off on the players around me. I have had some bad games over the years but I also like to think that even when I've had a bad game I tried to give everything to the team, and maybe that is what managers have seen in me and why they make me captain.'

It was Claudio Ranieri who first asked John to lead the team on odd occasions, beginning with a match at home to Charlton in December 2001 when several more senior players were overlooked. As club captain Marcel Desailly became increasingly unavailable, so John skippered more until Jose Mourinho gave him the job permanently in 2004 after Desailly's departure.

Signs of a skipper-to-be had long been there. He couldn't get enough of being part of the football club. The teenage John could often be spotted at the training ground long after his contemporaries had gone home simply enjoying the company of coaches and senior players.

When school summer holidays stretched before him, he asked his dad to phone Chelsea to find out if he could train with the youth team, and so between the ages of 14-to-16 he practiced with kids up to three years older.

'People like [coach] Graham Rix took me under their wing and after training some of the players would be out knocking 40-yard passes he would shout left foot only.

'It is daunting at the time because you're with the likes of Graham, Luca Vialli, Jody Morris, Michael Duberry and at first my attempts were going here, there and everywhere. Now my longer passing is probably better on my left than my right.'

'I stayed around after training, asking the coaches what I needed to improve. I always wanted to be better than what I was. I never settled for breaking into the team or getting the armband.'

But despite all the early work and promise, might the most successful captaincy in Chelsea history never have commenced?

Before our match against Sunderland in January, Steve Bruce announced that he came close to signing John when manager of Huddersfield over a decade ago. He said he agreed a fee, only for the player to resist the move.

John has his own recollections.

'I know Chelsea turned down, I think, £450,000 and that was all I heard at the time. I was young and I didn't really get told much. Gwyn Williams [the then assistant manager] said we got an offer from Huddersfield, we don't want to let you go, and that was it.

'I didn't get asked the question, the club turned it down and thankfully they did. I wouldn't have gone. I went on loan to Nottingham Forest and thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I think Huddersfield tried to loan me as well.'

John confirms that manager-at-the-time Gianluca Vialli saw the youngster's future at Chelsea.

'He gave me my debut and he was keen for me to go on loan to Forest because of his relationship with David Platt who was manager there.Even then we had every Wednesday off at Forest and I would drive back to Chelsea and train here.It went down well at the time but I wasn't doing it to look good, I was doing it because I had the chance to train with people like Marcel and Wisey.'

What John took from great players around him to become the defender he is today has often been discussed but when it comes to captaincy, he was less influenced by what he saw and heard from others.

'It is one of those things you're either born with or you're not. I don't think you could say there is a player, now we are going to turn him into a captain.

'But I do think I am different than when I was first captain. I am more at the front of things that go on in and around the football club on a day-to-day basis.When I was young I was concentrating on my own game more but now it's just little things I try to do.

'If people get injured like Ash or Michael Essien at the moment, you see them in the morning but they'll probably be here until about four or five o'clock.'

'Here' is the Cobham training ground which has emptied after training. John is typically late to leave and is carrying out this interview in the canteen. A few yards away Ashley Cole is ending his lunch break with a game of pool before resuming his rehabilitation exercises.

'Sometimes they just need someone here,' continues John, 'so I might stay behind and do an extra gym session, or I'll phone them to see if there is anything I can do, those kind of things.'

Chelseafc.com spoke to Chopper about JT beating his captaincy record and the former Blue laid down a gauntlet.

'John is in a very good side, like I was, and good luck to him,' Harris said.

'But I bet anybody that he doesn't play more than 795 games. Don't get me wrong, he is a terrific lad, a tremendous player and a fantastic leader, but I am having a bet with anybody!'

'I have joked about beating that record with Lamps,' responds John who currently has 450 games to his name.

'We've spoken about it meaning another six seasons playing more than 50 games and you don't know what's going to happen. Chopper loves congratulating me knowing I won't do that, but you never know, I might be manager one day and sling myself on for a few appearances late in the game,' he smiles.

'But listen, 795 games is a great achievement and that's the reason I want to beat it. What he has done in playing for such a long time will probably never be beaten but I am setting it as my target.

'I'm not a fool, I know there is going to be a time when I am too old and not good enough and out I go. I will accept that when that comes but I hope I have five, six, seven years before that.

'At the same time, when we have youngsters like Jeffrey Bruma coming through all I can do is be the same as Marcel Desailly, Frank Leboeuf and Michael Duberry were with me, spending time after training with them and letting them know that I'm always here for them - not just for football things, for anything.'

Turning from the distant future to the immediate challenge ahead, match number 326 as captain for John could hardly be more important.

'There is so much on the game on Saturday and the way we have played the last couple of games, we have to take that momentum and that same game plan into this match,' he decides.

'We have to approach the game with no fear and we must go into it playing our own game. It is a tough place to go and the way we got beaten there and the way we played there last year was not good enough.

'We go there not only with confidence from the last few games but still hurting from that defeat, and that will spur us on.'

Despite all the great leaders in the club's long past, is there anyone you'd rather have on the Old Trafford pitch believing Chelsea can beat Manchester United to go back top?