Taking it all for Granted

OK, so this isn't specifically about reputation (maybe it is - you decide), but I thought it was a very interesting story nonetheless. Hands up who has heard of Avram Grant ? If you live within the shadow of the King's Road in London, then you're forgiven for knowing who he is. Anyone else ?

Nope. Me neither. But he's now sat at the helm of one of the biggest football clubs in Europe (Chelsea, in case you haven't caught up yet). Alright, Mr Mourinho wasn't exactly employed for his tact, diplomacy, or his love of Smirnoff but by and large, he did do a fairly good job of shepherding the South-West London rich-kids into some semblance of a quality football team. Two league titles ain't all bad.

If you were to take a walk down football memory lane, it would be riddled with examples of managers falling out with their Chairmen but I do think this one has a very different subtext. Mr Grant has no pedigree for managing Chelsea and probably not even the Chelsea under-18's. But he is best mates with the man with the cash. So, love him or hate him, at least Jose was true to his word, gave everything 110% and had a belief in his ability second to none. He cared little about his reputation in the eyes of the press, the media and often his fans, concluding that what happened on the pitch was most important. And you can only imagine that this carried little weight in the lofty towers of Stamford Bridge when agreed to part company with Roman's empire.

It's funny. All those that denied that billionaires buying football clubs was not about the money, or profit, or commercial enterprise and they were doing it "for the club", must be looking at Chelsea and wondering what the next toy on Roman's Christmas list will be. And I wonder whether one day Chelsea will just forget to field a team at all, in favour of counting all the lolly.