Avram Grant: Portsmouth haven't paid me my wages yet but at least they give me love

THE MATT LAWTON INTERVIEW

Avram Grant recalls being in an art gallery with Roman Abramovich, admiring one of the Russian's many paintings. Chelsea's owner, and at the time Grant's boss, whispered how it had cost £25million.

'Pity,' said Grant. 'My daughter would have done the same picture for you for 25 quid.'

Grant might not be much of an art lover but he does speak as he finds, as he demonstrated to Abramovich that day and again during his only major interview ahead of today's FA Cup final.

Free love: Grant hasn't been paid his wages at Fratton Park but is afforded a warm show of affection by the fans

Free love: Grant hasn't been paid his wages at Fratton Park but is afforded a warm show of affection by the fans

He revealed some of the more extraordinary incidents during the most turbulent of seasons at Portsmouth; and suggested it is only now, after somehow overcoming the chaos at Fratton Park to guide his team to Wembley, that his former employers at Chelsea might appreciate what he did for them.

He feels, if you'll excuse the pun, that he was 'taken for granted'. That he did not receive the recognition he deserved when he steered Chelsea to what remains their only appearance in the Champions League final, coming within a penalty kick of winning the thing.

He also admits he did not want the Chelsea job in the first place.

As he enjoys a spot of lunch in the Wolseley on Piccadilly, Grant insists he is not bitter. He says he will embrace Chelsea's directors, staff and players like old friends when he sees them later today. That he remains close to the billionaire he still thanks for giving him his big break in English football.

'It had always been my dream to manage here and I'd waited 10 years for the chance,' he says.

'Roman was the one who gave me the opportunity.'

But even then he is not sure if Abramovich and his directors at Stamford Bridge recognised the talent he clearly has for managing football teams. A talent that looks like it will take him to West Ham after today's match.

'Like I said, I will never forget what Roman did for me but I can be disappointed with him for the way that it ended,' he says.

'He knows how disappointing it was for me. The decision itself didn't disappoint me. It was how it was made that did.

'The last three months, when the team were doing well, when we won the big games and played good football, I think they took that for granted. They didn't understand that everything comes from how you do things, how you don't sleep at night because you're thinking about training and the tactics; how you speak with the players.

Bright hopes: Grant will be looking to add to Pompey's trophy cabinet with the second FA Cup in the space of two years - against his former club Chelsea

Bright hopes: Grant will be looking to add to Pompey's trophy cabinet with the second FA Cup in the space of two years - against his former club Chelsea

'And yet at Chelsea every game we won wasn't down to me. It was down to the players, the other management, the kit-man, the groundsman. I'm joking but that's how it was. Only when we lost was it down to me.'

He knew it would be, is precisely why he first told them not to sack Jose Mourinho and then rejected the invitation to switch from director of football to the self-anointed Special One's replacement.

'When they offered me the job I said no,' he said. 'I didn't want to be the manager. I told them it would be better to take a team like Crystal Palace, another team, and make positive steps. Then everybody would see what I had done.

 'Chelsea asked me if I wanted the job.
I told them to
keep Jose.'

'People like to go to big clubs but, if you think only about yourself, it is better to start almost anonymously. If you believe in yourself, it is better to take a club and develop the football side, showing leadership and everything.

'At Chelsea, even though the team were on the way down, and they were, any winning would be, "That's what they should do". I would need to have unbelievable success, and when I took over nobody believed we would go to the Champions League final or fight for the title to the last day.'

Prompted by information from sources at Stamford Bridge, it is put to him that he argued against the decision on Mourinho.

'It's true, ' he said. 'I did. It was not that they sacked Mourinho. In the end he also wanted to go. But before this they thought about sacking him and I said they shouldn't. They asked me if I wanted the job and I told them to keep Jose. I was fighting like crazy.

'I had just come to the English league, after a short time at Portsmouth, and I wanted to work as an assistant to put the right things in place.'

No way, Jose: Grant insists he urged Mourinho to stay put at Chelsea before he left in September 2007

No way, Jose: Grant insists he urged Mourinho to stay put at Chelsea before he left in September 2007

He was seen simply as Abramovich's mate and not someone who should be taken seriously as a manager.

'I think you're right,' he said. 'England didn't know me when I was at Chelsea. Maybe they didn't want to know me.

'The one thing I didn't like was that people didn't judge my work. The criticism I can take, OK. But if you compare what I did to Ferguson and Wenger in their first year, or Mourinho in his last year, compare the way I worked, the style of training, the way we played, the fact we only lost one league game, I think I did a good job.

'We changed the style of play, less long-ball. But people didn't want to know. I think they have changed now, though, even the Chelsea supporters.'

The players always seemed to like him, as Frank Lampard revealed when he paid a moving tribute to Grant at a dinner in the England midf ielder's honour back in January. Not only did Lampard praise Grant for doing such a fine job during his eight months in charge, but in particular for the way he responded to the sudden death of the player's mother.

'The bond I formed with those players is something I'm very proud of,' he says.

'Not all of them, but most of them. And I hope they will give me a nice present in the Cup final. They owe me! Although if I say that I will probably be punished by the Premier League again.

'Lampard was very special, and I will never forget what happened in the week he lost his mother. It was obviously a question of whether we played him in the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool.

'He hadn't trained and when he eventually did, in the last session before the game, he was a disaster. He was scoring own goals. I'd never seen him like that. So distracted.

'The staff thought he shouldn't play because his mind just wasn't on the game. But I spoke with him and used a little psychology. I didn't tell him he would be playing, even though I knew he would. I didn't want to burden him with trying to think about the game. I left it until lunchtime on the day of the match and he was absolutely great.'

Moscow is a wound that will never heal.

'You know that John Terry didn't want to be up there taking the penalty,' he says.

Washed away: A rain-drenched Grant strides past the Champions League after Chelsea penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in 2008

Washed away: A rain-drenched Grant strides past the Champions League after Chelsea penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in 2008

'But I don't know if it would have been different if that penalty had gone in. I don't know if they would have wanted me to stay or even if I would have wanted to stay.

'When I look back, though, I can't have negative feelings, and I won't be going into this final looking for revenge. There were things I didn't like but there were a lot of good things as well.

'Roman is not perfect, nobody is, not even him, but he is a good man. And I can tell you that he never interfered. All this talk that he tries to pick the team, that he chooses the players, it is not true. All he has done is put the club on the map. It is a big club because of him. The facilities, the training ground. That is what he has done.'

It is, of course, a world away from where he is now - with a club at the opposite end of the Premier League food chain and one that has been in turmoil this season.

The deduction of nine points that followed their slide into administration; the changes in ownership and their failure, month after month, to pay the players on time.

Not to mention the round of redundancies that forced those same players to dip into their own pockets to keep certain members of staff, mostly down at the training ground, in employment. Grant, too, has suffered financially.

When he took the job at Portsmouth back in November as successor to Paul Hart, having returned there two months earlier as director of football, he agreed to help them out by taking 20 per cent of his salary as a bonus for keeping them in the top flight.

The nine-point deduction soon ended any hope of that. Like the players, he has also been paid late and in other months a good deal less than he expected.

'I called them once to say they must have mistaken me for the kit-man,' he says.

It has, in his words, been insane.

'The main problem was not knowing who the owner actually was,' he says.

Who are ya? Grant was dark in the dark over who was actually in control at Pompey on several occassions

Who are ya? Grant was dark in the dark over who was actually in control at Pompey on several occassions

'One day I'd be speaking to Mark Jacob, the next Peter Storrie. I knew Peter wasn't the owner but the chief executive, but at one point I just shouted, "Who the f*** is the owner?"

'One time I was sitting with Sulaiman Al Fahim, who by then was the former owner. He said, "I know you're interested in this Egyptian striker; you need to take him". I turned to Peter, who was sitting the other side of me, and said, "Is this the owner or the former owner?"

'The players were confused. They didn't know what to do. If you don't get paid, you want to go to the owner and find out what is happening. But there was nobody to go to. Crazy.

'When I came here they said the problem with the wages was a misunderstanding and that the money was coming through from Hong Kong. Now we know that was not true but I was told, "No problem, we don't have any problems with money".

'Then I was told I could keep the squad together and add three or four players. When I agreed I was sure we could stay in the league, so much so that I told them to put 20 per cent of my money as a bonus for keeping them up. In November or December we were told the debts were £20million or £30m. Then it was £60m and that seemed crazy. But now it's £140m - and we still don't know if that is it or if there is more.

'We had the day when the players had to pay the staff at the training ground. By then players had been sold. When we sold Kaboul they said it would save the club, and two weeks later we went into administration and lost nine points.

'I did come close to quitting. One month I would get paid this, the next month that. They owe me money now. But I decided I wouldn't give up, and when I saw the supporters and the unbelievable backing they gave me, that made my mind up.

Game for a laugh: Grant shares a light-hearted moment with his players in the build-up to their Wembley final

Game for a laugh: Grant shares a light-hearted moment with his players in the build-up to their Wembley final

'It's embarrassing, the way they have behaved. But this is not like Chelsea. Here, everything we do they give love back. If you stay at the club, they give you love back. If you win, they give you love back. I love that. Football is love.

'I know it's all about money in life, what the pound is worth compared to the dollar or the euro. But I don't believe in that. I respect money and I'd like them to pay me. But it's not everything.'

How Grant and his players have put such issues to one side and secured their place in today's final is extraordinary.

'We knew that whatever they did to us in the league, in the FA Cup nobody could take what we did off us,' he says.

'They couldn't take points away. They couldn't stop us playing. They couldn't kill the spirit of my players.

Same again: Grant is hoping to spring another surprise at Wembley against Chelsea after his side dumped Spurs out of the competition during extra-time in the semi-final

Same again: Grant is hoping to spring another surprise at Wembley against Chelsea after his side dumped Spurs out of the competition during extra-time in the semi-final

'Since the administrator arrived there has been more stability. But prior to that the hardest thing was arriving in the morning and having no idea what would happen that afternoon. I always like to start the day with a meeting with the medical people and my assistants, about training. Here, that was impossible.

'The Premier League taking the points away made me most angry, because they punished the wrong people.

 

'Rules are rules but rules were changed when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005 and they were still allowed to play in the competition the next season, even though they had finished fifth in the Premier League.

'The people who were sacked here worked so hard for just a small wage. That was one of my saddest days. The people who were hurt were the kind of people who have served the club for so long. Before the last owners arrived and long after we've gone.'

Today he fights for them. For the people he never took for granted.