ISRAEL: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - Sacked coach Grant says he had a "great time" at Chelsea

Record ID: 397006

  • Title: ISRAEL: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - Sacked coach Grant says he had a "great time" at Chelsea
  • Date: 28th May 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER CHELSEA COACH AVRAM GRANT SAYING: "It was a great time, I enjoyed very much to be with Chelsea. In the last year I breathed the club 24 hours a day, and last year I was in charge, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed more than this the developing of the team, and in the end also from the supporters, they were great. And now I wish them luck, I love this clu
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAZQZS0EJVVOSKB3S54T2TZWNZ
  • Story Text: Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant on Tuesday (May 27) said he was happy that his tenure at the London club was over and said he wished them well for the future.

    "It was a great time, I enjoyed very much to be with Chelsea. In the last year I breathed the club 24 hours a day, and last year I was in charge, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed more than this the developing of the team, and in the end also from the supporters, they were great. And now I wish them luck, I love this club," Grant told reportesr in Ramat Gan.
    The former Israel coach was sacked on Saturday after an eight-month stint at the helm of the London giants where he came within a whisker of winning the Champions League, the English Premier League and the League Cup, but ended up with nothing.
    Grant spoke to waiting reporters before lecturing to fellow Israeli coaches who are undergoing a UEFA Pro coaches' course in Tel Aviv. Grant is also a participant in the course.
    Grant refused to discuss his departure from Chelsea or his future plans.
    He also refused to discuss a report in "The Times" newspaper on Tuesday that said he had retained the services of a high-profile English lawyer Anthony Julius to look after compensation matters with Chelsea.

    "I will not discuss publications in the newspapers, there have been so many up to now. Anthony is a friend and there are no problems with Chelsea. If I need to, I will talk to them directly not through lawyers,"
    he said.
    Grant said that Julius was currently visiting Israel but that their names had been tied to each other "unnecessarily."
    He said that reverting to the technical manager's role, a position which Chelsea had offered him, was not the right for him and he also refused also to discuss his future plans.

    "I understand the offer and why it was made but I thought that from my point of view it was not the correct move," he added.
    Grant said that the reported severance pay sum of 5 million pounds sterling (9.9 million U.S. dollars) was far higher than the true amount he had been offered.

    "The amount doesn't even come close to what was written in the papers, but I will not mind if somebody will be prepared to make up the difference," Grant said in Hebrew.
    He also refused to discuss rumours of his appointment at Manchester City in place of outgoing coach Sven Goran Eriksson.
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