What was Grant’s grunting about?
Comment & analysis round-up
Quote of the day: “I don’t know who will win [the Champions League semi-final], I think always between big teams the result is a question mark. I want Chelsea… Mathematically it’s possible [for Chelsea to win the league]. I want them to win. Yes, for the fans, for the players, yes, for the friends I have in the club. And when I say friends I include the board. I have no problems with Peter [Kenyon, the chief executive] or Roman [Abramovich, the owner]. I always support my friends.” – Jose Mourinho.
Runner-up: “This game is hugely significant for us. We got the bonus we were looking for when Chelsea dropped two points on Monday and we could not have asked for anything more. Ewood Park is not the easiest place to go but we are looking for top performances from our players. It is in our hands. We are two points in front with a game in hand, so hopefully we will make it count.” – Alex Ferguson
Today’s overview: Avram Grant’s now famous “grunting” press conference after Chelsea’s win at Everton dominates today, and there are a number of Saturday morning interviews, including a Times exclusive with Jose Mourinho.
According to Matt Lawton in the Daily Mail, Avram Grant lost the plot after the win over Everton because he fears he “has lost the backing of his employers and can do nothing to save his job as Chelsea manager.”
Sam Wallace (Independent) points out that “It is unfortunate that on one of the first times Grant decided to show his mettle, no-one was entirely sure what it was he was upset about – not a problem that Sir Alex Ferguson or his predecessor Jose Mourinho ever endured… However, this latest episode does demonstrate how eager the Chelsea manager is to be taken seriously.”
Oliver Brown in the Daily Telegraph writes that “Grant’s bizarre behaviour simply reinforced the public perception of him as sulky, sullen, inscrutable.” And that if the Israeli is entering into a battle with the daily newspapers “it is a battle he can never win.”
Grant is yet again overshadowed by Jose Mourinho as The Times grab an exclusive with the “Special One”. Along with his quotes on Chelsea (above) the former Porto manager talks of his return to the game. “I have no contact with clubs. They know where I am. They know the kind of clubs I want, the level of challenge I want. When the leagues finish that’s when they make decisions. I had some good options this month, some good clubs and some good countries. But I decided to wait until the beginning of next season. That is right for me.” Mourinho also has some words on Avram Grant: “I’m not interested in what he says, I don’t care what Avram Grant says. I’m not interested.”
As always on a Saturday morning there are a number of interviews, today includes Phil Brown (Hull City manager) and Danny Murphy in the Guardian, Niall Quinn and Chris Mort on the Tyne-Wear derby tomorrow in the Independent and Theo Walcott and Andy Reid in the Telegraph.
Other articles of interest include, Jimmy Greaves on Sven in The Sun, Henry Winter on the amazing life story of former Chelsea player Paul Canoville, Graham Poll (Daily Mail) on divers (Steven Gerrard) and John Lichfield (Independent) on PSG’s probable relegation.
In addition, Lawrence Donegan (Guardian) speaks to Billy Beane the star of the remarkable baseball book “Moneyball,” according to Donegan, Beane is eager to get involved in the Premier League and has already established ties with Spurs. Money quote: “Big teams like Manchester United can get the best players because they have got the resources but most clubs can’t do business the Manchester United way and expect to survive, never mind compete. The trick is to find a way to compete, using metrics [statistics] and finding areas that have been neglected.”
