Behold the headline I discovered on X’s “Explore” section on Tuesday morning: “John Terry Raps Diss Track with ArrDee Targeting Angry Ginge at Baller League UK Season 2 Launch.”
Confused? You’re not the only one. Monkeys with a typewriter could never. But uh oh, here I go clicking on this abominable jumble of words because its very absurdness has reeled me in. Social media, you’ve done it again.
Firstly, I won’t pretend to feign Baller League ignorance entirely. I know it’s on Sky Sports. I know it’s something like 5-a-side. While I’ve also seen clips of players shooting from distance in some sort of sudden-death format.
I’ve recognised YouTubers like KSI joining ex-pros like Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Daniel Sturridge and Micah Richards in clips I may be caught watching for five-to-10 seconds.
Crucially, I know it’s not aimed at me, but YouTube numbers alone prove 213k subscribe to the Baller League UK channel, while more than 850k have streamed Monday night’s action already.
Ardee makes his entrance with John Terry at Baller League!
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 27, 2025pic.twitter.com/mWRznKHKPa
So the audience is there. That guy voted first off The Celebrity Traitors is there. So is Chloe Kelly. Maya Jama. Idris Elba. And Terry.
So back, begrudgingly, to the rap. Out walks the former England and Chelsea captain with actual rapper ArrDee, mics in hand. ArrDee taps Terry, and together they say/rap: “What’s happening? Ginge is in trouble.”
ArrDee, rightly and thankfully, then takes the lead, while Terry – donning a Peaky Blinders cap – throws in a couple more “Ginge is in trouble” harmonies, directed at the ginger-haired and presumably oft-angry bloke who was actually pretty good on Soccer Aid this year and features on loads of Instagram clips I’ve seen because he says “that is absolutely gorgeous” while eating something.
Okay, I’m losing myself here, so let’s switch it up like an interview with Terry’s old pal Frank Lampard and ask, seriously, what is he thinking?
Baller League is harmless fun that I am trying my best not to criticise simply because I have a few (okay, many) grey hairs, but simply put there is no management pathway from Baller League to the Premier League.
And that is despite Terry revealing just last week he still dreams of managing Chelsea one day.
“I’m not sure it ever happens to be honest,” he says with a wry smile on TikTok, adding: “As a player, you retire after 22 years… Listen, 100 per cent, you learn enough to go into management, playing the level I played at and the managers I played under.
“It doesn’t give you the right to just go into management at a certain level. You still have to learn and understand what it takes.”
Indeed, after retiring Terry duly worked under Dean Smith at Aston Villa as assistant head coach from 2018 to 2021, before leaving to become a No 1 himself.
“Providing the right opportunity presents itself, I feel ready to take up such a challenge,” Terry said at the time, already hinting there is a level he wouldn’t stoop to.
But no gig was forthcoming. Terry teamed up again with Smith at Leicester City – for mere months in 2023 – before working with Chelsea’s academy, but a series of knockbacks have evidently crushed him.
Sunderland was one such role, when the Black Cats were in League One and sacked Lee Johnson in February 2022. They appointed Alex Neil instead.
“I had a really good meeting, came away thinking that’s mine,” Terry told former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan last year.
“I got on really well with the sporting director [Kristjaan Speakman]. I got the message, ‘It went really well, just a little bit inexperienced.’
“Same with another one, just no experience. So I’m sitting there wondering, how do I then get this experience? To be honest I didn’t really want to go as low as League One, but I promise you Sunderland was getting up that year.
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Rejection has clearly deflated one of the Premier League greats, and it is remarkable to think this captain, leader, legend has already given up, acting as if there is no room for the outspoken when notorious shithouses Craig Bellamy and Robbie Savage are now coaching Wales and Forest Green Rovers respectively.
But evidently, unlike Bellamy and Savage who have continued to graft, Terry’s mindset appears to be backwards, and the fact he believes League One is below him only to then manage a Baller League team is laughable – and truthfully, quite sad.
Lampard leading the way with Coventry City in the Championship, desperately bidding to resurrect his managerial career and seemingly doing so, only makes the contrast starker.
Here we have one Chelsea legend still chasing the dream, while the other has stopped pursuing it entirely.
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