Nothing normal for Grant as Chelsea manager

By Mike Collett

LONDON (Reuters) - Avram Grant described himself as "The Normal One" when he succeeded "The Special One" Jose Mourinho as Chelsea's manager last September.

His eight months in charge at Stamford Bridge were far from normal, however, despite him leading Chelsea close to a treble of Champions League, Premier League and League Cup triumphs.

In the end, he ended up winning nothing, and it is debatable whether even a victory in the Champions League final against Manchester United in Moscow on Wednesday would have helped him save his job.

Rightly or wrongly, his critics maintained that Grant, who had joined the club as director of football from Portsmouth, only got the job as Chelsea manager because of his close friendship with the club's billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

The argument ran that Abramovich could not control the charismatic and powerful Portuguese Mourinho whose football was too defensive and not entertaining enough for the Russian owner.

Grant would make Chelsea play in a style more to Abramovich's liking and would not stand his ground in the way Mourinho had done.

Overall, however, there was not all that much difference between Grant's football and Mourinho's.

FIRST ISRAELI