• Captain says Napoli can still be overcome
• Terry denies senior players too influential
John Terry has urged his Chelsea team-mates to transform a campaign apparently teetering on the brink into "one of our best seasons ever" and warned that the club's ability to challenge in the long term will effectively be determined by the next three months.
Roberto Di Matteo's side will attempt to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night by overturning Napoli's 3-1 advantage from the first leg, maintaining English involvement in the competition in the process. Although that would restore some pride at Stamford Bridge after shoddy form cost André Villas-Boas his job, Terry has pointed to the need to return to the Premier League's top four as key in determining the club's future.
The defender, who publicly thanked Fabio Capello for his support over the England captaincy issue, issued his rallying cry with a number of senior squad members potentially playing their last game for Chelsea in the competition if they are eliminated.
"That might be the case," said Terry. "Naturally, we have players who will be out of contract and others in negotiations over their current deals. I'm hoping many stay but the key factor with players coming into this club is that we have to be playing Champions League football next year. We need to be in the competition for financial reasons and also to be able to attract the best players.
"We understand, as a group, what we need to do to ensure that happens and we'll do everything we can to make sure it does. It's been difficult and frustrating this season, and I'm not happy with the position we're in in the league, but there are an awful lot of games to go. We've seen Tottenham Hotspur drop points of late, so if we get on a run we can maybe turn it around still. And, given we're still in the FA Cup as well, if we go through this could yet be one of our best seasons ever."
Terry was dismissive of suggestions, most notably from the Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and the former Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, that the senior players are too influential at Stamford Bridge. "That's nonsense," he said. "Roman [Abramovich] and the board make the decisions. Things on the football pitch can affect what happens upstairs of course – if we don't win matches, the board step in – but what other players and former managers are speculating from outside is complete nonsense.
"This match could be one of the great nights of Chelsea's history and kickstart our run-in to the season. In [the interim first-team coach] Robbie and I, you won't find two people who care more about this football club. We represent Chelsea and have blue blood. We'll give that fiery atmosphere in the dressing room and take it on to the pitch, and hope everyone feeds off that. As a group, we're determined to make things happen."
Chelsea have failed to win any of their past five Champions League knockout matches on home turf, stretching back to Liverpool's quarter-final visit in 2009, but this team continues to be driven on by the disappointments endured in the latter stages of the competition. "We've gained a lot of experience over the years," said Terry. "The one thing that does stay with me is the disappointment from those nights: the ties against Monaco [in 2004], against Barcelona [in 2009], and in the 2008 final in Moscow.
"In my mind, the only way to overcome that is to come through this match, kick on and go on and win this competition. It's the one trophy missing from our cabinet. I've got a few years in me yet, and I really hope I can bring this trophy to the Bridge."