Terry, 36, joined Villa on a one-year contract last month and was handed the captain's armband by manager Steve Bruce. He pledged to bring the winning mentality of 18 years in Chelsea's first team to the fallen Midlands giants, who flirted with relegation last season from the Championship, before eventually finishing 13th.

"We have enough to go up," said Terry. "Should we be winning the league? Yes. Nothing else is really acceptable for me as an individual and how I have behaved and what I have been around in previous years."

"Clearly we all want to be champions and want to go up but worst case scenario, because in this league you get a buffer, then if we go up runners-up then I am sure we would all take that as well."

Terry said one of the things that still motivates him is the medals he missed out on at Chelsea, despite winning five Premier League titles and five FA Cups as well as the Champions League in 2012 and Europa League the following year.

"When you play 38 games throughout the year and walk away with nothing after being the second or first best team or missing out by a few points, even now that gets me. That makes me boil inside still -- the opportunities I have missed out over the years of not winning six or seven Leagues or FA Cups.

"That is just my character, I want to win. You have either got it or you haven't and the ambition is very clear for me."

Bruce has brought in four players, Terry and three other Premier League veterans in Hull's Ahmed Elmohamady, Chris Samba from Panathinaikos and Stoke's Glenn Whelan.

Villa begin their hunt to return to the division they were relegated from at the end of the 2015-16 season with a Saturday evening match against Hull City, the club Bruce quit in July 2016.

Terry said: "I think with the squad of players we already had, the additions the manager has made already, we have a big squad more than capable of going up. If we put things right on the pitch there is no reason why we shouldn't go up."

Asked where winning promotion with Villa would rank in his career, Terry said: "It would be really special, it would be up there for me.

"To step out of my comfort zone was a big decision for me. I still feel like I can play, hence my decision to come here. There's enough competition within the group to push me. Working with other players, seeing another league that I've not played in, all of it excites me.

"I don't think I'd ever want to come into a season where I'd go, 'I'm happy if we stay up or I'm happy if we finish halfway or do better than we did last year.'

"I think that would be really unambitious of myself, of the manager, of the football club as well. That's a big reason why I signed here; I wanted to be winning more times than I did losing.

"Hopefully that's the case. It's not a given. We have to work our socks off to prove ourselves within this league because it's tough. It's probably one of the most unpredictable leagues within world football to be honest.

"We have to make sure we have an identity that we're going to be at it regardless, whether we play well or not.''