Terry leads the Scolari fan club

There was much speculation over the strength of his relationship with Avram Grant last season, but there is no doubt that Scolari has already won the England international's respect.

The former Portugal and Brazil coach certainly knew what he was doing during his first press conference on Tuesday when he not only expressed his desire for Terry to remain captain, but also revealed how he had voted for him as one of the best players in the world a couple of years ago.

It not only let Chelsea fans, the world press and any rival managers tuning in know that Terry would remain the rock on which the club is built, but also reassured the player himself, who was watching the broadcast with the rest of his team-mates at the training ground.

While Frank Lampard only had cause for complaint over what he heard regarding his future, Terry was thrilled.

He said: "It was good to hear that he wants to stay with me as captain.

"Obviously I still need to prove myself in pre-season, that I want to be here, I want to play and am good enough to play. There is still a lot of hard work needed from my end.

"I think he voted for me at the last World Cup when all the managers select their best players of the tournament."

"I heard about it back then, but it's very nice that he is talking about it again. It's good to work with a manager that understands his football and likes the way I play. I just need to keep doing what I do best and keep putting in 100 per cent in training and in every game. Hopefully that will be enough to please him."

"I actually met him for the first time a few months ago after one of our games. He is a very good guy, a great football man and knows everything about the game, which is good for us. Fingers crossed it's going to work very well."

"His English is very good and he surprised me. The new staff did as well. There have been no problems communicating whatsoever."

"I went up and introduced myself to him and the new staff on the first day. I welcomed him to Chelsea and told him I was available if there was anything I can help him with. It was the first meeting and it was very good."

So in just a few days Scolari has won over Terry and the nation's media, the only downside being Lampard's probable departure for Inter Milan.

Scolari isn't the only one to make an impact this week as fitness coach Darlan Schneider has been making his mark during some gruelling double training sessions.

Under previous managers Jose Mourinho and Grant, the emphasis at Cobham was to work with a football as part of every exercise programme.

It was a departure from the days under the disciplined Italian managers that had come before them, Gianluca Vialli and Claudio Ranieri, who wanted the squad to run as much as possible before doing any ball work. Schneider, with Scolari's obvious encouragement, appears to have something more in common with the Italian duo.

Terry added on Chelsea TV: "The training methods are different to what we have been used to the last four years. It's good, though. We are running a lot and did this kind of work under Claudio Ranieri and Gianluca Vialli.

"It's a different type of fitness training. We didn't get the balls out at first, the first time was yesterday afternoon."

"But it all works in the same way and as long as we're all fit and have no injuries, it will be a good for us."

"Everyone is looking to impress. On the first day the fitness coach told us to go for a gentle 15-minute run, but we all sprinted off as fast as possible."

"Afterwards he told us we should have taken it easy because it was only the first one, but that is the mentality of the players, we all want to impress the new manager."

"It's a clean slate for everybody. Last season is gone and we need to think and build on what we can improve this season."

Despite his agonising penalty miss that cost Chelsea the chance of winning the Champions League Final in May and led to him bursting into tears, the 27-year-old is adamant he still loves the game as much as ever.

Terry said: "It's great to be back. When I was on the beach with the kids on holiday the ball came out. They want to play so you never get away from it. It is a good thing really because I love my football and never want to get away from it."