Latest Chelsea News

Chelsea boss Grant warned he could flunk licence

Chelsea boss Avram Grant has been warned he risks flunking his pro-licence studies - which he needs to continue working in the Premiership. Grant pulled out of the latest coaching class in Tel Aviv on Monday following the Carling Cup final defeat because he was called on to explain his side's shortcomings to Roman Abramovich.
Israel's head of coaching Amnon Raz accepted his explanation but made it clear Grant would jeopardise his chances of finishing the course if he was absent again.
Raz said: "He called me to say he had a busy schedule and could not attend and I imagine he probably had a good enough reason. But he will have to be careful because if he misses many more, it will be the end for him. He has to be here for at least 70 per cent of the classes, or he doesn't get his licence."

Chelsea boss Grant must settle coaching issues

Chelsea boss Avram Grant is facing a battle to keep his coaching staff in-check. The Times says Steve Clarke, the assistant first-team coach, has complained privately that he is left to do much of the coaching on his own, with little input from Grant, while Henk ten Cate, the Dutch assistant who was brought in to crack the whip, has taken his task to extremes by antagonising several senior players.

Grant wants chance to build "his own" Chelsea

Chelsea boss Avram Grant expects to be around in the summer to buy "his own players". The Independent says a source close to Grant claimed yesterday that the manager was not "under pressure" but admitted that senior figures at the club "are not happy" with the nature of Sunday's Carling Cup final defeat to Tottenham. The source urged patience, and pointed out that Grant only recently signed a three-year contract, but also conceded that it's likely an "assessment" will be made at the end of the season.
Grant will plead then that he should be given the opportunity to make changes having inherited Jose Mourinho's squad, save the additions of Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic, the �10m Serbian defender who took part in his first training session with the squad yesterday after returning from injury.
Grant has privately admitted that he "blew it" with his team selection and tactics on Sunday - but has told friends that he expects to be given cash to spend this summer and will use it to bring in his "own players".

Curbishley: Chelsea days numbered for Grant

West Ham United boss Alan Curbishley is convinced Avram Grant is battling to hold onto his Chelsea job.Curbs told the Mirror: "It's the life we're in at the moment. Unless you get results and success quickly then you don't get the same time anymore.
"When you get to a high profile club everything you do is going to be looked at - body language, the way you walk onto the pitch, the way you dress, every last detail.
"Everything Avram Grant does is going to be analysed and that is something he has to handle. I looked at the cup final and the start was the most important thing and Tottenham made much the better start. If you are lucky enough to be a manager of a top-four club then that comes with the territory.
"If it's not Avram Grant, it's Rafa Benitez and if Arsenal weren't doing so well it would be Arsene Wenger.
"Being a manager is getting tougher.
"That honeymoon period has gone. You even look at someone like Dave Jones at Cardiff who was under pressure and then he turned it around.
"I think you get applauded over the top when you win, then you get over castigated when you lose. You have to take it with a pinch of salt.
"I've never been under too much pressure as a manager, apart from maybe when I was first at Charlton when I wanted to do things and change things.
"Even Sir Alex had a period where it wasn't going so well, but United showed the foresight to stick with it and I don't know if that is there any more. I managed my last game at Charlton at Old Trafford and I had done 15 years and Alex had done 20 years. I said to him the days of the two managers doing 35 years between them have gone."

Mourinho shuts out Chelsea completely

Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho decided to skip Sunday's Carling Cup final.The Sun says Mourinho did not choose to watch his former players take on Spurs in the Carling Cup Final on Sunday - preferring to take his son to the movies.
And even when the highlights of Chelsea's 2-1 defeat were shown later on Sunday evening, the Special One preferred to watch two Spanish and Portuguese weekend matches.
A friend of Mourinho, who lifted the Carling Cup a year ago when they beat Arsenal 2-1 in the final, said: "Jose went to the cinema with his son and barely gave the game a thought.
"He was planning to go out at the time of the game anyway. When the Chelsea match was re-run later he switched between a Sporting Lisbon game and a match between Barcelona and Levante.
"Jose loved his time at Chelsea but his interest in the club ended when he left London."