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Chelsea players: Grant 'not good enough'

MrJibbles

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Duncan CastlesSunday September 30, 2007The ObserverRoman Abramovich barracked by his own fans, John Terry's cheekbone fractured, Didier Drogba sent off on his comeback from injury, no goals and no win for the new manager. Chelsea's great post-Jose Mourinho experiment is charting predictably turbulent waters.At the end of a week in which the Blues' billionaire owner took over the office at the Cobham training ground Avram Grant used in his former role as director of football, and his chosen coach made sparse progress in quelling resistance to his accession, Chelsea's self-inflicted misery deepened.Abramovich might be regretting his populist decision to watch his team's goalless draw with Fulham among the hardcore fans in the Shed End. As Drogba saw red for landing his studs on Chris Baird's right shoulder and Fulham came close to ending Chelsea's long unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge, supporters turned on the owner. One threw his shirt to the ground and screamed abuse at the Russian: many, many more sang Mourinho's name to Abramovich's face. At the end of the game, according to an eye witness, chief executive Peter Kenyon was verbally abused and spat at.Abramovich's club captain had already departed the scene, felled by a wayward Clint Dempsey elbow that inadvertently broke Terry's cheekbone. Replaced at half time, the centre-back is due to have surgery today and is expected to miss Wednesday's testing Champions League trip to Valencia. He is hoping to play, possibly wearing a protective mask, for England against Estonia on Saturday.Terry's absence will prove a further test of Abramovich's increasingly hands-on role in the direction of the football department. The oligarch has become a regular attendee at first-team training in the aftermath of Mourinho's dismissal as manager 12 days ago and he selected a team for Grant to face Manchester United in last weekend's 2-0 loss at Old Trafford.Grant, a former Israel national team coach, seems to have made little headway in attempts to quell resistance to his accession as Chelsea manager. Senior players continue to question his ability and qualifications to lead a team of Chelsea's calibre, while members of the coaching staff also harbour serious doubts.Ahead of last Wednesday's League Cup victory at Hull, Terry elected to hold a team meeting in which he called on team-mates to rally behind the new manager. Terry's message was ill-received, however, with several players insisting Grant was not good enough to coach them. One respected international spoke with team-mates after Terry's words, complaining: 'Chelsea deserve a bigger coach than him. Grant does not have the quality to coach a team like this. When we play big opponents we will suffer because of him.'There are many at the club who agree. Abramovich is understood to have received unfavourable reports on Grant's coaching methods from club staff, one of whom describes them as '25 years behind the times'. The Israeli has not helped his cause by using training drills that many players believe to be outdated when compared to the cutting-edge methods they had become accustomed to under Mourinho. According to a source, at least one member of Grant's coaching staff has told friends that he will consider leaving the club if there is no further change in management.While some sources believe Abramovich is preparing contingency plans should Grant fail to deliver positive results and that a new appointment could be made during the next international break in November, those closer to the Russian expect the status quo to remain in place. Club chairman Bruce Buck described Grant's appointment as 'permanent' during the Israeli's first week in the job. Moreover, Grant is a friend of Abramovich's and far more receptive to the owner's tactical ideas and new habit of instructing first teamers on how they should play the game than an established international coach would be.Marco van Basten's candidacy is being pushed by the Dutch-Danish axis of Piet de Visser, Abramovich's personal adviser at the club, and Frank Arnesen, Chelsea's sporting director, but the Holland coach has not been offered the job. Abramovich, meanwhile, has given his backing to the Russian federation's on-going efforts to extend Guus Hiddink's contract as their national team coach. 'Mr Abramovich is very pleased the Russian Football Union has offered to renew Mr Hiddink's contract until 2010,' his spokesman said last week.Jurgen Klinsmann, who coached unregarded Germany to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup, is interested in entering club management with a major Champions League club and met members of the Chelsea board during July's pre-season training camp in California, but would expect complete control over first-team matters. Asked whether the Chelsea job appealed to him last week, Klinsmann said: 'At the moment, I don't want to comment on this subject.'According to several sources, the club have been disappointed by the amount of information leaking from the dressing room in the aftermath of Mourinho's departure and are attempting to identify and silence the moles. There has been similar concern over players speaking on the record to the press, with the first team instructed not to talk to print journalists following Wednesday's win at Hull.Abramovich is unlikely to be pleased to learn that Mourinho remains in contact with several of his former charges. Ever the astute student of human behaviour, Mourinho has sent text messages to players telling them how much he admires them as footballers and reassuring them that he will always be receptive to their quality.Terry publicly denied, for the first time yesterday, a report in last week's Observer Sport that his fallout with Mourinho played a central role in the manager's dismissal from the club.Writing in Chelsea's match-day programme, he said: 'Most of the time it's easy to shrug off stories that are plainly made up, but this week I got very angry about a couple of pieces suggesting that an argument between me and Jose after the Rosenborg game was somehow the cause or contributed to his leaving Chelsea. This is ridiculous and untrue, and with the help of my lawyers I'm taking legal action to put this right.'Jose Mourinho won six trophies at Chelsea. He simply was the most successful Chelsea manager ever and the best I've ever worked with. His training, preparation and tactics were outstanding. His impact on a game was there for all to see. More importantly, he is a good man, with good people around him.'
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