John Terry left us in no doubt on Sunday that he's still the boss at Stamford Bridge.
His second-half header wrapped up a 2-0 success for Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea against Stoke, booking a semi-final against Aston Villa at Wembley.
But Terry's celebration was the really notable thing, as he rolled up his shirt sleeve and pointed to his captain's armband in front of the Blues fans.
He may have been sacked by Fabio Capello as captain of England, but he's still the main man at Chelsea and this was a chance for him to reiterate that. Was he having a little dig at England manager Capello by reasserting his authority with his club?
His form has undoubtedly been shaky in recent weeks, however much he tries to deny that he has work on the pitch been unaffected by the whole Wayne Bridge/Vanessa Perroncel business.
But a solid showing for England against Egypt last week, combined with Sunday's trademark header to add to Frank Lampard's opener against Stoke, signalled that Terry is firmly back on form.
In his post-match interview with ITV Sport, Terry was without his shirt - but was still wearing the captain's armband. Chelsea fans are unshakeable in their support of Terry and that is to be expected. But perhaps more importantly, are his team-mates at Stamford Bridge so sure about JT?
Appearing on today's ITV Football podcast (the latest episode will be published on this website very shortly) the News of the World's Neil Ashton says Manchester City's Bridge has had several text messages of support from current Chelsea players.
So while he is still Stamford Bridge's favourite son as far as the fans are concerned, his stature among his own team-mates has perhaps been compromised.
As Stoke proved yesterday, fans of opposition clubs will continue to give Terry stick whenever and wherever they can. And with Manchester United now favourites to win the title (following Saturday's 1-0 win at Wolves) and Arsenal also hitting an exceptional run of form, Chelsea will need to have everyone unified as the chase for the Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League intensifies.
They will increasingly be under the microscope in the coming weeks. So no matter how much we would all like this story to go away, while this season carries it will still be bubbling in the background at the very least.
O'Neill's hairdryer
Wouldn't it have been great to be a fly on the wall in the Aston Villa dressing room at half-time at the Madjeski on Sunday in what became a 4-2 win for the Midlands side?
Aston Villa's hat-trick hero John Carew chose not to reveal what their boss Martin O'Neill said. But whatever it was clearly did the trick, and Reading and Villa served up a brilliant Cup tie on a weekend that a couple of the sixth-round ties failed to provide much excitement.
Villa have been inconsistent this season - and they missed the pace of Gabriel Agbonlahor on Sunday - but they'll give themselves every chance of causing an upset against the Blues at Wembley - and perhaps put to rest the anguish of their Carling Cup final defeat by Manchester United.
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