Grant the unsung hero
April 30th 2008 23:58
Isn’t it wonderful when something comes along and restores your faith in football? After enduring 180 minutes of Manchester United and Barcelona playing chess with each other, the second leg of Chelsea V Liverpool was a breath of fresh air.
It’s fair to say it wasn’t pretty. There wasn’t a great deal of slick passing moves or solo runs, and there wasn’t a stepover in sight. But this game had excitement. Both teams really played like they wanted to win, and a rainy night at Stamford Bridge was illuminated by a thrilling match.
The result was just about right. Chelsea did shade it, and their place in the final on May 21st will be well deserved. Yet rather than focusing on the exciting prospect of an all English final in the Champions League, I found myself feeling pleased for Chelsea’s manager, Avram Grant.
Grant is a hugely interesting figure. After moderate success with several clubs in his native Israel, he became Director of Football at Portsmouth in 2006. But just a year later, with then Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp still scratching his head to explain what Grant’s job actually involved, the Israeli was recruited by Chelsea, again with that delightfully ambiguous title, Director of Football. Then in September 2007, Jose Mourinho was sacked. Enter Grant.
There was a backlash from fans, no doubt aggrieved at swapping the suave ‘special one’ for the hangdog features of Avram, an unproven manager in England, and certainly not as comfortable in front of the cameras as his predecessor. His cause wasn’t helped by losing his first match against title rivals Manchester United. The backlash became nasty. Grant received anti-Semitic letters, and even death threats.
The ship was steadying until the loss to Tottenham in the Carling Cup final, but recently Chelsea have really stepped it up. Chelsea have lost only four matches under Grant, and within the space of a few days, they have gone level with Utd at the top of the premier league, and are through to the first Champions League final in their history. The calls for Jose were strangely absent during the standing ovation Grant received at the end of the semi final.
Seemingly, Avram Grant has turned things around spectacularly. It is possible his team could record a historic double, and the fans love him for it. And yet there may well still be a nagging feeling of doubt in his mind. Chelsea will probably not win the league. Even the most ardent Chelsea fan will find it hard to imagine Manchester United taking anything less than 6 points from matches against West Ham and Wigan, and their vastly superior goal difference will not be overcome. The Champions League final is of course a one off game where anything can happen, but Utd will be slight favourites for that too.
Roman Abramovich is the sort of man that expects his projects to be successful, and why not? After all, the hundreds of millions he has ploughed into Chelsea doesn’t grow on trees. So if Chelsea finish runners-up to Utd in the league and Champions League, not to mention runners-up to Spurs in the Carling Cup, will this be considered a successful season? I doubt it.
A lot is yet to be decided this season, but if Chelsea end it empty handed don’t be surprised to see the unsung Grant out of a job. It could be worse of course, he could be in Rafa Benitez’s position.
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