Terry: I was scared to leave the house after England's defeat by Croatia

"It's going to take a very long time for the public to get over it," admitted the Chelsea defender. "For us as well, you don't want to come out of your house or people to see you.

"As time goes on things heal and it gets easier but at the same time when you walk down the street or are out you wonder whether people are looking at you but life goes on."

Terry missed the 3-2 defeat against Croatia at Wembley through injury and the defeat cost Steve McClaren his job as coach along with assistant Terry Venables.

But he has since returned to action with Chelsea - helping them to a victory over Derby in the Barclays Premier League and into the last 16 of the Champions League thanks to a 4-0 thumping of Rosenborg in Trondheim last night.

England's players were booed by fans during league games last weekend and Terry admits that he is still feeling the repercussions from their failure to reach the finals of the competition next summer.

Terry said: "It was very disappointing as captain this happening but we have to make it work in the World Cup now.

"The draw has been made and we have a chance. The players need to reform and have a good chat about what direction we are going to move in and go forward.

"It would be nice to play Croatia and get what happened out of our system. They are a good side and it will be tough home and away. They showed how hungry they were at Wembley and that surprised a few of us because they had already qualified.

"We will have to face that wherever we go in the world and that is firmly in our minds. Hopefully that will help us do ourselves justice in the qualifiers.

"We have got a chance to prove ourselves in that group and we need that, the country needs it. We can do that and bring the country up again and get the fans back on our side. We have let them down and will move on."

Terry watched from the sidelines as England failed to overcome Croatia but confessed that he came close to playing after almost recovering from knee surgery.

He said: "I feel fine now, a bit sharper after two games and it is great to be back. I had a few conversations with a few people - the manager and the medical staff at England and Chelsea.

"But it was four and a half weeks after my operation and I had only done a bit of running on my own at the training ground, trained with the youth team and then went over to England, so it was probably about a day's full training.

"Going into a game like that I wouldn't have done the lads any favours at all. I would always play if I am asked but you have to think of the bigger picture and if I had to come off after 50 or 60 minutes because of the injury then I would have been no good to anybody.

"It is different if you are an attacking player. Maybe the boss would have stuck me on the bench if it was Wayne Rooney but there was not much I could have brought to the game late on.

"I had long conversations with Steve McClaren and wanted to be part of it. I was very close."