Former England captain, John Terry, has said that he wants to put the recent past behind him and insists he is focused on success for this season.

The Chelsea captain was stripped of the top England job when it emerged that he had an affair with the girlfriend of a former teammate. The news exploded and there were even calls from many for Terry to be dropped from the side completely.

However, the centre back is still a very good player and the circus that has surrounded him seems to have made him more determined to funnel his energy into something else and in this instance it is football success.

Chelsea are still fighting on more than one front and Terry also is still going to the World Cup to play for his country. This is the most anticipated World Cup in recent memory and one of England’s best chances to win an international event.

He said: “I’m on a mission and nothing is going to distract me. I’m responding by doing what I’ve always done – by looking straight ahead. I’ve got broad shoulders and nobody’s going to knock me out of my stride.”

“I want to win the Champions League and Premier League for Chelsea and help win the World Cup for England. I’m not ashamed to say it, I wouldn’t be John Terry if I felt any differently.”

“Jose was an inspiration to us all at Stamford Bridge and I truly value his friendship. It’s going to be a sensational tie between two great teams but when I stick on the shirt tonight I’ll be focused on one thing only – playing and winning for Chelsea. It’s the way I play the game and the way I always will.”

“There’s a shirt on my wall at home – the shirt I wore when I missed that penalty against Manchester United in the Champions League final. It’s there as a daily reminder to me of what I’m striving for. I won’t rest until it’s replaced by a winner’s shirt – that’s my pledge to every Chelsea fan who has stood by me and still believes in me as a player and as their club’s captain.”

“If I’m fortunate to play for England in the World Cup – and playing for your country is the ultimate honour – I will take the same determination, drive and passion out on to the pitch in South Africa as I’ve always done. Absolutely nothing will change. I’ve already admitted that losing the captaincy hurt but that’s in the past and all I want to do now is move forward and carry on giving my best for England.”

Hopefully this brand new energy and enthusiasm from Terry will be healthy and will spread to the rest of his teammates and colleagues. It is a very big time for English football and if the people committing the mistakes can make up for it then it could also turn out to be very successful.

Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has let rip on his team after an unconvincing win over Apoel last night. Chelsea got their noses in front early but failed to increase their 1-0 advantage, regardless of the fact that they had a number of good chances.

Ancelotti said: “I wanted Chelsea to play better and to take more control, to play with courage. But I think that at this stage of the season it’s normal. We have to change. They ran a lot, but we have to play better.”

“It wasn’t a good performance. We started with good control, scored a goal, and we had opportunities to do quick counter-attacks after that, but we didn’t do that.”

“In the second half it was different. We tried to control the game with possession, but we made a lot of mistakes. Nicosia played very well in the second half and deserved to draw the game.”

Captain, John Terry, speaking ahead of the next Premier League match with Liverpool, added: “We have to be better. They are a very good side who had a tough result yesterday [a 2-0 defeat away to Fiorentina]. They will be up for it and they are a big club so we will have to respond again when we play them.”

“Ideally you want to play well and win. We haven’t been at our best tonight, but there were times when we passed it well and we came away with three points, so you can’t ask for more.”

The weak performance is being used by Chelsea critics as evidence over why they will never be able to win the Champions League under the current management and structure.

They need to be stamping their authority all over games and teams such as this because when they come up against a better side they will not be allowed to get away with it.

The frustrations last night were clear as Terry himself got involved with a player right at the end of the game but the point is that a win is a win. Chelsea can take another three points away with them and they should be satisified that they are looking good for qualification.

There is time and space to get some hard work done ahead of tougher and more important games but for now the focus should switch to beating Liverpool this coming weekend in the Premier League, where they have just seen their lead slip.