World Of Sports

Following the acrimonious departure of Jose Mourinho at the beginning of this season, Chelsea fans were fearing for their club. The Special One became The Unemployed One, and Mr. Moneybags himself Roman Abramovich decided to bring in the former Israel coach Avram Grant.

Grant was hired as Director of Football in the summer of 2007, leaving his post as Technical Director at Portsmouth. It was on 20th September that Grant was named as the new boss just hours after Mourinho left the club by ‘mutual consent’. Since then, it has all gone gradually downhill…

Grant’s first game was against English Champions Manchester United. The team went on to lose that game 2-0. Despite the shaky start as boss, Chelsea went on to record a 16-match unbeaten run, but the boss didn’t have the support of the fans.

Perhaps the biggest controversy of Grant’s short tenure so far was the League Cup final in February of this year against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur – themselves under the relatively new management of Juande Ramos. The Chelsea faithful were deeply unhappy that fans’ favourite Joe Cole was named as a benchwarmer for what was, at that point, the most important game of the season. Chelsea went on to lose 2-1 to Spurs, with Jonathan Woodgate giving Tottenham a well-earned victory at Wembley.

It isn’t too hard to see why the fans aren’t too fond of Grant. Firstly he replaced the most successful manager Chelsea have ever had. Mourinho was much-loved by the fans of Chelsea, as well as the media. You could even go as far as saying many other football fans liked Mourinho. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one tuning into Match of the Day on a Saturday night waiting for some new words of wisdom based on another poor refereeing decision.

Secondly, Grant doesn’t seem to show any passion from the dug-out. His facial expression rarely changes, and – with all respect to the man – it isn’t the best facial expression we’ve ever seen. Mourinho wasn’t afraid of changing things drastically, on more than one occasion we witnessed three substitutions take place at half-time. Grant however rarely seems to use all three substitutes.

And finally, and perhaps more importantly, it has to be said that Grant has the tactical awareness of a deer on the first day of hunting season. He comes across as clueless at times, something which is the complete opposite of his predecessor. His substitutions are made at arguably the wrong times, and most of the time the majority of fans would agree that the players on the bench should actually be starting the match.

But let’s try to look on the bright-side. Grant has brought some calm to Chelsea, something that some could argue the club needed. There aren’t any more post-match rants about Arsene Wenger or Anders Frisk. And from the start of Grant’s tenure, the team seemed to be trotting along calmly. He’s only lost 3 games since taking charge of the team, winning 70% of the matches.

The club are still in the Champions League, and have a two-legged tie against Liverpool to look forward to in the semi-finals. The club did lose to Barnsley in the FA Cup, but Barnsley had already beaten Liverpool at Anfield. And Chelsea did get to the final of the Carling Cup, albeit losing to Spurs. It is the Premiership that the fans are basing their opinions on however.

Last night the team seemed to have the upper hand on relegation threatened Wigan Athletic for the whole 90 minutes. ‘Keeper Chris Kirkland however was on fine form, stopping everything that came his way before Michael Essien’s 55th minute opener.

Chelsea had more chances as the game progressed, but Kirkland – who has one England cap to his name – kept his side in the game. You could always sense that Wigan were never out of this game, things just weren’t going Chelsea’s way as Alex, Ballack and substitute Joe Cole all came close.

Ex-Liverpool and Leicester striker Emile Heskey virtually handed the Premiership Trophy to Sir Alex Ferguson with an injury time equaliser. Chelsea had no time to get a winner, and as the final whistle went, the fans around the ground got up to their feet, and booed their hearts out towards the players and Grant.

Such has the dislike of Grant grown that a minority of supporters have gone on national radio to state they would prefer their club to lose, so that Grant will get the axe. People have often said this about their current manager as a joke, but these fans were being deadly serious, and as far as many are concerned they need to get a sense of reality.

The chances are that no trophies this season would mean Grant will get the sack, but they are still in the semi-finals of the best competition in the world. And if they were to do the impossible and beat Liverpool over two-legs, followed by a victory in Moscow against either Barcelona or Man Utd, surely then the fans would begin to give Grant a chance.

The truth is that Grant walked into a job where nobody can improve on what the predecessor achieved. The fans loved Mourinho, and were never going to react kindly to his successor, it is something that Grant would’ve known, but the fans seem to have been pretty harsh on him since he took over.

Yes some could say that when Grant was brought in as Director of Football just two months before he took full control of team affairs, it seemed as though there was something a little fishy going on at boardroom level. But is that Grant’s fault?

Grant didn’t force Mourinho to leave; it was the irreconcilable differences between The Special One and Abramovich that lead to his departure. But the fans won’t recognise that, nobody will ever be good enough after Mourinho. He’s gone now, and won’t be coming back; the future is where it all lies for Chelsea. Getting behind the team coming up to a two-legged tie with Liverpool is imperative, no matter who is in charge.