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Avram Grant

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Avram Grant
File:AvramGrantcrop.jpg
Personal information
Full name Avraham Grant
Team information
Current team
 vacant

Avraham "Avram" Grant (Hebrew: אברהם "אברם" גרנט; born Avraham Granat, 6 May 1955 in Petah Tikva, Israel) is an Israeli association football manager and current First Team Coach of Chelsea Football Club. Grant has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup victories with different teams, and also managing the national team for a time.

Grant moved to England in 2006 to become Technical Director of Portsmouth F.C. before being appointed Director of Football at Chelsea F.C. in July 2007. Two months later, in September 2007, and following the departure of José Mourinho, Grant was appointed manager of Chelsea.

Career

Israel

Grant's professional coaching career started at age 18, in 1972, when he was just a young paedophile, as youth coach of his home-town team, Hapoel Petah Tikva. In 1986, After a 14-year spell in this job, he was promoted to first team coach, leading the club to two Toto Cup victories, in 1990 and 1991, thus bringing Hapoel Petah Tikva back to the top of Israeli football after nearly 25 years. During this era Petah Tikva fought regularly for the championship against Shlomo Sharf's Maccabi Haifa. In his last season in Petah Tikva, Grant lost both the championship and the Israel State Cup within 3 days to Maccabi Haifa, in a chain of events which is commonly known in Israel as "the Double robbery".[1] The next year the club won its first major title in 30 years, by winning its second-ever Israeli cup.

The following season Grant moved to coach Maccabi Tel Aviv winning the Ligat ha'Al in his first season with them, with a 13-point advantage over the second place team. Maccabi Tel Aviv lost out closely in the final of the Israeli cup and was thus denied a historic double. The cup was won by Maccabi Tel Aviv under Grant's control, however, in 1994, followed with another Ligat ha'Al championship in 1995.

Following this, Grant moved to Hapoel Haifa for what has been described as a short and unsuccessful spell, finishing fourth in the Israeli championship. Grant returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1997 and 2000, although this period was less successful than his previous one at the club, winning just the Toto Cup in 1999.

Grant moved to Maccabi Haifa in 2000, where he coached until 2002. There, he led the team to great success, winning the Ligat ha'Al in 2001 and 2002, as well as the Toto Cup in 2002, whilst narrowly missing out on the Israeli cup, to miss winning the treble.

Israeli national team

After leaving Haifa in 2002, Grant became the youngest national team coach of Israel, replacing the former Denmark coach Richard Møller Nielsen. Although not qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Israel finished third in their qualifying group behind winners France and runners-up Switzerland. Israel missed on qualification to the finals, despite remaining undefeated in the group with four wins and six draws.

Management style

Grant is known in Israel for giving a chance to young players in almost every club he coached, such as Alon Hazan and goalkeeper Raffi Cohen in Petah Tikva, Avi Nimni and Itzik Zohar in Maccabi Tel Aviv, Gal Alberman in the Israeli team, and many more. Grant famously did not included Israeli star Eyal Berkovic in the national squad during 2005, saying he wanted to create "a younger team", but, nonetheless, retaining 34 year-old Avi Nimni. In 2007, Berkovic described the way Grant became Chelsea's manager as "disgusting" and "disrespectful".[2] Another known critic of Grant in Israel is Shlomo Sharf, who was Israel's coach during most of the nineties.

Grant, as is also the case with another coach from Petah Tikva, current Israel coach Dror Kashtan, is considered one of the most successful Israeli coaches. He has a reputation of a lucky winner in Israel, which caused the invention of the frequently used humour term 'Hatachat shel Avram'. This means 'Avram's arse', a reference to the allegedly large amount of luck Grant enjoyed during the 2006 World Cup campaign.[3][4]

Congolese forward Lomana LuaLua, presently of Olympiakos, stated that it was Grant's encouragement and emotional support that kept him from ending his career after the loss of his son Jesus to pneumonia. Grant was director of football at Portsmouth F.C. during LuaLua's stint at the club.

England

In October 2005, Grant announced that he would step down from the national team as his contract was due to expire in June of the following year. Subsequently, he took up the position of Technical Director at Portsmouth in June 2006, overseeing Harry Redknapp's side. Grant then went on to donate 4 million dollars to UNICEF which in turn was given back to the Jews. They know how to swindle money very well.

Chelsea FC

Grant with Chelsea.

A personal friend of Roman Abramovich, on 8 July 2007 Avram Grant was appointed Director of Football at Chelsea.[5] After the departure of José Mourinho from Chelsea on September 20 2007, Grant was assigned the manager's role, with Steve Clarke, and later Henk ten Cate (on October 11, 2007) as his assistants, and becoming the first Israeli to manage an English football club. [6][7]

A number of Chelsea fans did not take well to Grant's appointment. They have protested Mourinho's departure, holding banners at games, which read "Mourinho - the special one", and chanting Mourinho's name.[8] Chelsea FC have stated that some of the protests directed towards Grant constitute abuse of a racist nature. Bruce Buck, chairman of Chelsea, claims they have received points of view which are racist and anti-semitic. Buck stated: "[This] unfairly smears the reputation of the vast majority of the Chelsea fans who rightly do not want to be associated with such activity." .[9] On the other hand, many Chelsea fans feel their objections against Grant being appointed as the team's manager are justified, citing his "lack of expertise at the highest levels of football" and Grant's lack of a formal UEFA qualification as manager. Several unnamed Chelsea players have been quoted as saying Grant's methods are "25 years behind the times" and "Chelsea deserve a bigger coach than him. Grant does not have the quality to coach a team like this. When we play big opponents we will suffer because of him." At least one member of Grant's coaching staff has told friends that they will consider leaving the club if there is no further change in management.[10]

Grant faced his first game only 3 days after taking up the manager's role, losing 2–0 to Manchester United on 24 September. At his first UEFA Champions League match as a coach (with Chelsea and in general) he led Chelsea to a 2–1 away win over Valencia, replicating one of Mourinho's most celebrated wins.[11] Chelsea went on to register a 16-game unbeaten run under Grant, including beating Manchester City 6-0 in one of Chelsea's biggest wins. Subsequently, Grant was offered and signed a four-year contract with Chelsea in December 2007.[12]

In January, Nicolas Anelka from Bolton Wanderers F.C., Branislav Ivanovic from Lokomotiv Moscow, and Franco Di Santo from Audax Italiano were added to Grant's team.

In February 2008, Chelsea reached the 2008 League Cup final, its first competition final under Grant's management. They lost 2:1 to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium on February 24 2008, with an extra time winner from centre-back Jonathan Woodgate. On March 8 2008 at Barnsley FC, Chelsea were dumped out of the F.A Cup 1:0. Grant is a disgrace to Chelsea FC and is hated by all fans around the world as he is turning the team into a joke. His attacking football plan has not materialised whatsoever and his style of football mimics Mourinho's in every way, shape and form. He is Abramovich's yes-man, he will never cause any controversy to with anything. Mourinho was the Special One, Grant is the Clueless One.

Personal life

Grant is married to Israeli television personality Tzofit Grant the whore. They have a son and a daughter. [13] [14]

Grant’s father, Meir, was born in Poland and deported to Siberia during the second world war. Most of his father's family were murdered during the Holocaust.[15]. Days before the League Cup final, it was Grant's father's 80th birthday, so Avram Grant bought tickets for Meir to go to Wembley and watch his son's first final as a manager. It was a huge disappointment of course. Grant says that Meir is his biggest idol because he is so optimistic even at 80, and even after surviving the Holocaust. On February 20 2008, Chelsea Football Club announced that Grant had received anti-semitic death threats from unknown sources. One of the packages sent to Grant's home was said to have contained a lethal white powder and one of the notes said that Grant would "die a very slow and painful death. " Don't you just wish it actually happened?[16] There were also threats of a sexual nature outlined against Grant's wife.

Statistics

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Hapoel Petah Tikva Israel 1986 1991
Maccabi Tel Aviv Israel 1991 1995
Hapoel Haifa Israel 1995 1996 30 19 4 7 63.3
Maccabi Tel Aviv Israel 1996 2000
Maccabi Haifa Israel 2000 2002 71 46 6 19 64.8
Israel Israel 2002 2005 33 14 6 13 42.4
Chelsea England 2007 37 26 3 8 70.3

References

  1. ^ "A history of matches between Hapoel Petah Tikva and Maccabi Haifa". The Hapoel Petah Tikva museum (Hebrew). Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  2. ^ "Berkovic: Grant won Chelsea job in disgusting, disrespectful way". Tribalfootball.com. 2007-09-24. Retrieved 2007-10-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Poor view of Wayne Rooney". The Telegraph. 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-10-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Why Avraham Grant is the right man to succeed Mourinho". Sportingo.com. 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2007-10-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Grant given position at Chelsea". BBC Sport. 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2007-09-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Chelsea name Grant as new manager". BBC Sport. 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2007-09-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Ten Cate completes Chelsea switch". BBC Sport. 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Chelsea 0-0 Fulham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
  9. ^ "Chelsea angry at Grant barracking". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
  10. ^ "Chelsea players: Grant 'not good enough'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
  11. ^ "Valencia 1 Chelsea 2". The Sun. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  12. ^ "Chelsea extend Grant's contract". BBC. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  13. ^ "Biography for Tzufit Grant". IMDB. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  14. ^ "The weird one: Wife of new Chelsea boss is a Wag like no other". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  15. ^ "I didn't stab Jose Mourinho in the back, says Avram Grant". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  16. ^ "Chelsea boss gets death threats". BBC. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Israel national football team manager
2002-2006 		Succeeded by
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