Humble Grant banishes memory of Mourinho

MOCKED as Roman Abramovich's yes-man when he replaced Jose Mourinho as Chelsea boss seven months ago, Avram Grant has done more than enough to prove his doubters wrong.

And there were many of those. Scour the opinion columns that were written at the time of the Israeli's appointment and you'll do well to find a single one that didn't sound more like a football obituary.

The former Israel national team manager was to fail and badly. Critics pointed out that he had no experience of European club-level management, despite, of course, the obvious fact that everyone needs to be given a break at some stage in order to gain that experience.

He was replacing a European Cup winner and a man who had delivered Chelsea only their second and third league titles.

It seemed an impossible act to follow and, in some ways, despite taking his side within touching distance of an illustrious league and European Cup double, Grant has failed in his primary task as Chelsea manager, which was to get his team playing attractive football to match that seen week in, week out, by fans of Manchester United, Arsenal and Barcelona.

Such a transition takes time, however, and it would have probably cost Grant his job if he had spent the first few weeks of his tenure trying out various attacking formations, only to drop points in what would have been a trial-and-error process.

Well aware that winning matters more than anything else, he played much the same team as his predecessor Mourinho and the well-oiled, if not especially pleasing to the eye, results machine that the Portuguese created soon kicked back into gear.

Is that doing Grant a slight disservice? He has made slight tweaks here and there at Stamford Bridge. Players who were ostracised under Mourinho, such as Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko and Joe Cole have been brought in from the cold.

And, although Shevchenko still continues to play only a bit-part role, Ballack and Cole have proved instrumental in Chelsea's run-in.

The German, in particular, has been a powerhouse in the centre of midfield and it is questionable whether his late runs into the opposition's penalty area, which have been paying such dividends in recent weeks, would have allowed under the strict confines of Mourinho's formation.

Grant does not appear to hold grudges in the same way as the confrontational Mourinho.

He is a unifier by comparison and it must be imagined that many of Chelsea's players now feel more able to express themselves on the pitch purely because they no longer fear their former manager's wrath.

Chelsea's detractors have often used the club's supposed lack of history as a stick with which to beat the club.

Of course, this is unfair, as all clubs have history, be it glorious, mundane or just plain indifferent, yet it is unlikely that Mourinho's personality could have engulfed a club such as Manchester United or Liverpool in the same way that it did Chelsea.

Perversely therefore, Grant's striking lack of presence should be welcomed.

For, when Chelsea do well, the Israeli does not skid along the turf, gyrating, longing for the television cameras to focus on him rather than his team, as Mourinho famously did when the Blues snatched a late draw against Barcelona in Camp Nou in October 2006.

Mourinho simply could not help but hog the limelight and his actions robbed his players of richly deserved credit on more than one occasion.

If Chelsea do triumph, either in the Premier League or in the Champions League final in Moscow on May 21, you can be sure that the humble Grant will let his team take the plaudits.