Avram Grant quits Portsmouth for West Ham
“This was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to take in my football career.”
And with that, Avram Grant was gone.
After a trying season of trials and tribulations, turmoil and turbulence, Grant resigned as Portsmouth’s manager last night, bringing an end to a spell that only began six months ago, but which has encapsulated more than many bosses have to put up with in six years.
Administration, points deduction, relegation, desperation, celebration, it was all there.
Saturday’s FA Cup final defeat at the hands of Chelsea was always likely to be Grant’s last with Pompey, and indeed the last for a number of his players, but the spirit and togetherness he engendered at the club amid the most trying of times simply has to be lauded, and obviously impressed David Sullivan and David Gold at West Ham, the club which Grant is about to call home.
Just two short years ago he was the man who didn’t win the Champions League for Chelsea.
John Terry’s slip on the Moscow turf ensured that Grant would forever be the man who wasn’t José Mourinho. He had already done more than the Portuguese could by leading the Blues to the final, but defeat and an unease amongst Chelsea fans ensured that he was never given a proper chance at the club.
He was immediately aware of the problems at Portsmouth when he took over in November, the club had suffered seven straight defeats at the beginning of the campaign, and with administration and a points deduction looming, he set about his task against the murkiest of backdrops.
Players and staff – or indeed workers at the club – weren’t getting paid, but Grant still guided Pompey to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final, where they achieved a memorable win over Tottenham, before facing up to the might of Chelsea in the final, and falling short.
His final wave to the Pompey fans on the Wembley pitch was his swansong, but it is a measure of the new esteem in which he is held that he won’t find it difficult to get a new Premier League appointment.
In England, he’s managed clubs who were almost polar opposites. Chelsea – rich and trophy chasing – and Portsmouth – poor, doomed to relegation and struggling to survive. Oddly, he’s seen his reputation dwindle at the former and improve at the latter.
Now in all likelihood it’s on to West Ham, where he follows in Gianfranco Zola’s footsteps. The Italian was sacked at the end of the campaign, leaving a challenging vacancy that Grant will love to get his teeth into.
There are no guarantees in football, but at least the boss would be walking into a club that are now on a stable footing thanks to Sullivan and Gold, but you get the impression that he’ll have to achieve success quickly.
The West Ham fans are a demanding bunch. They expect their football to be played well and they won’t be prepared to put up with another poor season like the one they’ve just witnessed.
He’ll have to hit the ground running, but after what he’s been through in the last six months he’s certainly likely to be up for the challenge.
First of all though, will come a huge sigh of relief.
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