“Give the man some credit. He deserves it.”
One would have thought the media would have been eating large helpings of humble pie after Avram Grant engineered Chelsea’s victory over Liverpool last night. Surely now the Israeli has rid himself of the shadow of Jose Mourinho, who in the two previous Champions League semi-finals was unable to get the better of Rafa Benitez.
But, the football media in Britain chose to concentrate on Didier Drogba’s powerful display and the emotion of Frank Lampard’s penalty - a moment Martin Samuel in The Times described as “among the gutsiest acts from any athlete, across many decades.”
It is curious that whilst every paper mentioned Lampard’s emotions, almost all the papers this morning ignored the fact that it was Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel today which was why Grant was wearing a black armband. One of the few journalists (along with Patrick Barclay in the Sunday Telegraph) to stick up for Grant in recent weeks has been John Nicholson of Football 365 who writes today:
“Grant has been the focus of much unpleasant and undeserved criticism, some of it perhaps motivated by anti-Semitism, but his quiet commemoration was largely ignored by the television coverage that as ever prefers the easier-to-understand tragedy of an individual’s loss to loss on a scale so massive and horrific it is scarcely imaginable. Grant himself had members of his own family murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
“Today he is apparently at Auschwitz, that perpetual memorial to just how fucking vile human beings can be to other human beings; it would be a fitting time for his fiercest critics to give the man some credit. He deserves it.”
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Yesterday we highlighted French racism and it is important to note that anti-Semitism still exists in European football. Polish footballer Arkadiusz Myson faces a large fine after wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “Jewish whore” in the local derby between LKS Lodz and Widzew Lodz this past weekend.
But perhaps the most ironic part of Avram Grant’s success is that Chelsea fans are the most anti-Semitic in England, as is illustrated by one of their favourite terrace chants:
“He’s only a poor little yiddo, He stands at the back of the shelf, He goes to the bar, to get a lager, And only buys one for himself, He’s only a poor little yiddo. YIDDO!”
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Whilst England celebrated having two teams in the European Cup final, the Moscow showpiece will also mark the first all-Jewish Champions League final. The owners of both Chelsea (Roman Abramovich) and Manchester United (the Glazer family) are Jewish.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I regularly go to Stamford Bridge and have never heard that chant - it was not sung at all last night.
On occasion the fans do sing a few songs (2) lambasting Tottenham for their percieved Jewish heritage, but I am glad to say that I\’m noticing a number of people no longer joining in. As such please don\’t state that Chelsea fans are anti-semitic - I\’m certainly not, and to generalise in the manner you have is both dangerous and provocative.
What I find most shocking is the Adebayor song - a definite racist chant. Thankfully something not embraced by the Stamford Bridge crowd.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I`ve been to the bridge many times and that chant is not the most offensive the idiots there sing directed towards Spurs fans…the chant of \
May 1st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
“I`ve never felt more like gassing the jews, when Chelsea win and tottenham lose..woo…hooo, we wanna gass the jews….followed by the hissing sound to imitate the gass. It is by far the most disgusting chant i have ever heard at any stadium in the UK….obviously Jacob is one of those new found CFC fans..Chelsea is by far the most racist supported club in england.
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:07 am
racism, anti-semitism… it’s all disgusting.
i heard that malaysia (or whichever country it was that chelsea is going to over the summer) was planning on not letting chelsea’s jewish members (ben haim, avram grant) into the country with the rest of the team.
now that is just absolutely absurd. country’s like this should be banned from FIFA.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
Clearly I\’m a new found Chelsea fan yes, how would you know?
I\’ve no need to justify how long I have supported them, nor my reasons for doing so.
You\’ve missed the point I was making - don\’t generalise about Chelsea fans, or any other groups of supporters for that matter.