Avram Grant supervised his first training session as the new manager of Chelsea Football Club on Thursday as the media and fans, many of whom took part in a protest against his appointment at Chelsea's West London stadium on Thursday night, asked if the all-but unknown Israeli was the right man for one of the biggest jobs in sport. Chelsea, the world's richest soccer club, currently sits in a mediocre fifth place in the English Premier League and could only manage a draw in its opening European Champions League match earlier this week. Owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, it had been managed by mercurial Portuguese José Mourinho, who led it from the margins of English soccer to Premier League honors in recent years, but failed to secure European success. Earlier on Thursday, Chelsea released a statement announcing Mourinho's departure and confirming Grant's hiring, but not specifying how long the Israeli manager was slated to be in charge. "Chelsea has appointed two men [a reference to assistant manager Steve Clark] with contrasting but rich football backgrounds... Avram Grant has a wealth of experience, both in domestic and international football, with a rich coaching career in both club and international football. He replaces José Mourinho as manager after being recruited during the summer as the club's director of football. The club is delighted that in Avram we have an experienced man who can come in immediately at this difficult time to help deliver our objectives," the statement read. While Israeli colleagues of Grant, a former manager of the national team, generally hailed his appointment as a badge of honor for the country's soccer status, and some English commentators were supportive, others were indignant, even appalled. Critics noted that Grant had failed to secure qualification for Israel in the World Cup and European Championship campaigns he managed, and sneered at the quality of Israeli soccer as exemplified by Israel's 3-0 defeat to England in London earlier this month. John Ley, writing in the Daily Telegraph, referred to Grant as "a popular figure within the world of football, known to be a cultured, charming character." Henry Winter, Telegraph soccer correspondent, said Grant had a huge task ahead. "Grant must convince them that he is a good man-manager, that he has the sort of tactical nous Mourinho was famed for," Winter wrote. "Grant is highly regarded, but he has never faced such a task as this. [He will be] facing a near-mutinous dressing room of multimillionaires, most of whom owe much of their success to Mourinho." Grant's first task, suggested Winter, would be win the support of Chelsea's hugely popular captain John Terry. If he managed that, "other players will fall into line. The debt the players owe Mourinho is immense, and frequently acknowledged. [Midfielder] Joe Cole knows Mourinho turned him into a good international. Terry became England captain after flourishing under Mourinho." Such considered analysis contrasted sharply, however, with the assertion by ex-Chelsea player Pat Nevin that Grant would be "as welcome [at Chelsea] as Camilla at Diana's memorial." And former Conservative government minister, the outspoken Chelsea fan David Mellor, spewed that the appointment was "laughable, risible, completely and utterly stupid." On the plethora of soccer Web sites and fan message boards that discussed the merits of appointing Grant, many were asking: "Who is he?" "I am completely shocked at José's departure, whatever the reasons behind it are," Toby Brown, editor of CFCnet, one of the largest Chelsea fan Web sites, told The Jerusalem Post. "He is without doubt the best manager in the game at present, his record is peerless and I don't see how we can hope to replace a manager of his quality. "I don't think Grant is the right man for the job at all, and remain to be convinced he even has the credentials to manage a top flight team in a highly competitive league. We should be looking at managers of the caliber of [Real Madrid coach Fabio] Capello, [Russia coach Guus] Hiddink and [AC Milan coach Carlo] Ancelotti, and sadly, Avram is not anywhere near the league of these managers. I hope to be proved wrong..." Gavin Hamilton, editor of World Soccer, a monthly magazine published in London, said he thought Grant's appointment was intended as a stop gap until Chelsea got the right man for the job. Hamilton told the Post: "Grant's appointment is not a long-term solution. The idea for now is to bring in someone more sympathetic to Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich. "The big question is if he can cope tactically and with the media. He also needs to win over the players, who are mostly all Mourinho's men. The media will be disappointed that Mourinho has gone as he was so charismatic and so quotable. Grant will not be anywhere similar with the press. It's a huge issue which Grant can't win. If he's successful it will be attributed to Mourinho, if he's a failure he'll be blamed." In a poll on soccer Web site TeamTalk.com, just 3 percent of respondents thought Grant would steer Chelsea to the Premier League championship this season. Another 9% felt the Blues would get an automatic Champions League spot for next season, while 29% feel they will finish outside the top four. The Polls Boutique Web site asked if Grant's appointment was a "brilliant or desperate move?" Out of 594 voters, 78% said the move reflected desperation, leaving comments such as: "Maybe he is cultured and a nice bloke, etc. The thing is, Israel hasn't been noted for its football genius. I'm sure there hasn't been more than five Israelis in the top flight of English football over the last 20 years, and this man has been their top coach. I don't suspect he'll pull any trees up." Another fan wrote: "Grant is relatively unknown. He does have a reputation for coaching his teams to be very defense minded. Hopefully, this is a short term solution as we need a manager that will bring out the best of an obviously, talented squad of players." Still another said: "Maybe he used brute force, a tactic often employed by Israelis, especially against the Palestinians." On the Guardian's "Comment is Free" blog site, there was a discussion on what Mourinho should do next. "Henrykrinkel," mimicking Mourinho's English, said: "Surely he should take over from Blair as Mid East envoy - Who is causing problem? People speak, speak, speak about peace, about rockets, they speak about Hamas, Hizbullah. Nobody speak about Israel. Is it fair Israel put up [the] wall, so Palestinian player can not look after field? I don't say, I only ask question." On footymad.net, in a discussion entitled "Who is Avram Grant?" a fan known as "dicanio" answered: "The Jewish, Christian Gross, I hope," a reference to a previous, and unsuccessful, manager of London's Tottenham Hotspur club that elicited a response from someone called "mcmlxxx": "Just one of the many Hebrews that have come over the years to save your club and indeed put it onto the European football map - so be regretful of your anti-Semitic heritage and respect the fact that Chelsea is now a Jewish club, just like Tottenham." "idf89" wrote: "He [Grant] did a pretty decent job with the Israeli national side a couple of years ago. A big student of the game since he became a young coach in the Israeli league. He became a great coach in that league, which obviously is a very weak one. He used to travel all over Europe, attending training camps of big clubs, studying the game as well as making connections for himself, known in Israel as a smooth politician that always had his sight on the big price - getting a job in one of the big European leagues. The friendship with Abramovich basically made that road shorter. "In the national side, he used very defensive tactics but got good results, got heavy criticism for those tactics and not playing to win. But maybe [he] didn't have any choice with the talent he had. Once he got the job with Chelsea, it was obvious Roman is up to something, but still a bit shocking to see him as the head man right now.
