Average One - Mark O Toole

I had a conversation with a friend recently who supports Chelsea (I realise that phrase may be somewhat of an oxymoron). During the course of our chat this disillusioned soul, commenting on the mounting crisis at Stamford Bridge caused by the unpopular departure of Jose Mourinho, dubbed new boss Avram Grant ‘The Average One’.

It was here that my friend missed the point and real nature of what is rightfully being called a crisis by some observers of the club. Whether Avram Grant is a manager of sufficient quality is not the issue; although the initial reports from Chelsea’s training ground, which we will come to later, will be worrying for any Blues supporter. The real issue under the spotlight is Roman Abramovich’s running of the club and the lack of real strategy or sense to any of the boardroom-level decisions being taken at Stamford Bridge.

It was well documented that when the Russian billionaire oligarch took over the club in the summer of 2003 he prevented it from collapsing under the weight of its own enormous debts. However, throughout the season that followed, the club’s genial, colourful manager, the son of an Italian butcher - Claudio Ranieri was dogged by persistent rumours of his impending sacking, until he was eventually taken to the slaughterhouse and relieved of his coaching duties to be replaced by the marquee name of Champions League-winning coach José Mourinho. Two league titles and four domestic cups later the disgraceful treatment of Ranieri was revisited in the shabby treatment of Mourinho. Rumours were whispered again with Mourinho’s position being compromised by the appointment of Avram Grant as Director of Football and Frank Arnesen as Sporting Director and the purchase of two players he did not want (Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko) forced on him. The flashpoint came when, after the recent Aston Villa match where Roman Abramovich was seen storming from the directors box after Gabriel Agbonlahor had sealed a 2-0 win for the Villains. It has been reported that the incensed owner marched into the sanctuary of the dressing room and without so much as a glance at his first team manager walked over to skipper John Terry to demand where the performance had gone awry. With such callous disregard for the talented and charismatic coach, the writing was on the wall.

Mourinho whether you like him or not, consider him charismatic or arrogant must be respected. He will never be given the credit he deserves because of the vast financial resources he had at his disposal. Yet he instilled an incredible team spirit in his squad of millionaires, which enabled them to set a record of sixty-four home games unbeaten at Stamford Bridge. He managed a squad of colossal egos and his side displayed the best defensive football that has been seen in the Premiership era, yet due to the hyperbole that infects coverage of soccer these days this too will be overlooked. Some people have compared him to the late Brian Clough, which is an unfair comparison. Though they both had enough charisma to fill an ocean, Clough operated differently and played a different style of football. Mourinho also does not possess Clough’s capacity for self-destruction. When in a similar position as the one José found himself in while manager title winning Derby County in the seventies, Clough told an interfering Chairman where to shove his job; whereas Mourinho, despite the spin of ending his ‘contract by mutual consent‘, endured a constructive dismissal campaign against him so that when he was at last forced to go he could enjoy a generous severance package of reportedly STG£25 million.

Abramovich’s latest wish was that Chelsea - in addition to being successful - play with flair, penchant or what Thierry Henry would term Va Va Voom. When Abramovich confronted Mourinho demanding this, Mourinho refused to change his management style and that was chapter closed.

Mr. Abramovich is a man who evidently gets what he wants; this can be seen in his behaviour, which wouldn’t look out of place on an episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen.
He surrounds himself with close personal friends, like Shevchenko whom he signed to the playing staff, without sanction from Mourinho, thus creating a black hole in the dressing room through which all team morale disappeared.

In fact, viewed through this lens, one can only see the logic of appointing Avram Grant in his close personal friendship with Abramovich. Grant does not possess prestigious credentials or a high profile. He had moderate success with an average Israeli international team. However, the main point is this - Avram Grant is nothing more than Mini-Me version of Mourinho, without the charisma or support of the dressing room, he plays if anything a more negative, defensive style as can be seen in his time as Israeli coach. He will never be the man to deliver the type of attacking football that a Barcelona or an Arsenal might play and Abramovich desires.

There seems to be no strategy in Grant’s appointment and already it looks like the wheels are set to unhinge on this bandwagon. Some of the coaching staff have been reported as saying Grant’s training style is ’25 years behind the times’ and at least one of them is set to walk if there is no further change in management. He may be joined by some of the playing staff with Frank Lampard yet to sign a new deal and harbouring ambitions to play abroad at some point in his career, he may sense this as a final opportunity and top scorer Dider Drogba was already unhappy before the departure of ‘The Special One.’ After a recent team meeting in which captain John Terry attempted to rally the squad behind the new boss, one player is supposed to have said Chelsea ‘deserve better than Grant.’

Already the rumours are being whispered again against Grant with the owner’s cronies Frank Arnesen and personal advisor Piet De Vissier pushing for the appointment of Dutch coach and legend Marco Van Basten. Van Basten is certainly a manager who can face up to egos as can be seen in his treatment of Ruud Van Nistelrooy at the last World Cup and the incredible football mind he possessed on the pitch is also apparent off it since he stepped into management. However his teams play if not a defensive style, certainly a functional style of football, showing that the Big Kahunas in the Chelsea boardroom are still steering the club with any focus.

The decision to sack Mourinho without a suitable replacement will more than likely cost Chelsea the Premiership this year and destabilise the club further. It continues to operate at a loss and their plans to break even at an operating cost by 2010 look laughable, as the only way for Abramovich to solve this problem is throwing more cash at it and getting a new manager and probably new players too.

This will ultimately devalue any trophies gained in the process, in the eyes of rival fans and even Chelsea fans themselves (my friend celebrated the victories of the Gullit and Vialli eras a lot more than he does the ones under Abramovich’s stewardship).

Abramovich is learning that money can’t buy the love and respect that he craves for himself and the club.

All the while one can imagine Mourinho sitting at home, doing his best Dr. Evil impression, while watching the demise of Mini-Mourinho and co. at Chelsea and saying softly over his arched fingers ‘100million dollars.’

I realise that Mourinho actually got a severance package of US$50,954,861.79, but for the whole Austin Power analogy to work I altered the figure to be a bit snappier…