CHELSEA HAVE REJECTED out of hand reports that club owner Roman Abramovich was considering re-hiring Avram Grant as adviser to interim manager Rafael Benitez.
Reports surfaced in the British press that Grant, the Israeli who has close links with Abramovich and who was in charge when Chelsea reached the 2008 Champions League final, could return to Stamford Bridge to help Benitez.
But a Chelsea spokesman told Press Association: “There is no truth in the reports.”
Benitez has set some unwanted new firsts since replacing Roberto Di Matteo and being handed the mantle of turning around the Champions League winners’ flagging fortunes.
The Spaniard is the first Chelsea boss not to win one of his first three games in charge under Abramovich, the first not to witness a goal in his first two and the first to lose to east London club West Ham.
After Saturday’s shock 3-1 loss to the Hammers, Benitez conceded that the task of reviving Chelsea could turn out to be a bigger challenge than he had envisaged.
After little more than a week in charge, Benitez has overseen two scoreless draws and an unexpected reverse that has left the club’s Premier League title ambitions severely dented.
That run has done nothing to get onside those supporters disgruntled by the dismissal of Di Matteo and opposed to the appointment of Benitez, and the reaction of the visiting fans at Upton Park confirmed the strength of feeling against him.
Benitez’s focus now shifts towards Wednesday’s Champions League meeting with Danish side Nordsjaelland, a game Chelsea must win if they are to have any remaining chance of progressing to the knock-out stages of a competition they won last season.
Asked if he considered the job more challenging than he expected when he accepted the offer to replace Di Matteo until the end of the season, he said: “Could be. It’s a top side in the middle of the season, and things aren’t the best.
“We’ll try to improve things, but it will take some time.”
He added: “My concern is improving the team. If we do that, and start winning games, we’ll be able to turn things around. The main thing for me is to improve the team. I’m not thinking about anything else.”
Just in response to the42.ie’s constant ads for Boyle Sports on their rugby articles, I’ll link to the news story of their parent site. The question…will they remove a comment that links to an article on their own parent site outlining Ireland problem gambling, or will they just ignore the fact that they are openly advertising gambling at the same time they are also reporting the harms of gambling?
https://www.thejournal.ie/130k-people-in-ireland-have-a-gambling-addiction-as-new-bill-aims-to-regulate-the-industry-6186839-Oct2023/
#WhEnThEfUnStOpS
@JoeVlogs: Spin that wheel baby!!
@JoeVlogs: Such is the dialethics of life. How do they make money without advertising revenue? Betting, alcohol, etc. all no doubt cause a lot of harm (and arguably a great deal of joy too) but they pay, and people need money to survive, as capitalism evolves so too does our addiction to money. Like why does Soros need more? (because like most business people he’s addicted to accumulating wealth and power). How do we protect the smallest number of people who may be vulnerable to addiction while supporting the majority’s personal freedoms, you won find an answer
@JoeVlogs: ive a gambling issue to ads should be banned plus im a subscriber
Good man Tadhg Furlong, another vital cog in this Irish machine.
A proper attitude can bring you a long way! Massive respect to him
@Tony Metcalfe: I see what you did there
@Tony Metcalfe: it could bring you a couple of furlongs. But at the same time you only need one Furlong
Good to hear he is in good nick. He is a very important player but not as vital as Porter. Bealham was excellent in the 6ns and O’Toole was also reliable. If Porter were to get injured I would be quite apprehensive about the scrummaging ability of his replacements.
Struggling a lot for two years now. First man off the field in the Hcup final on 44 minutes. Man must be broke up. Glad to hear he’s feeling good.
But injuries are catching up he should be around for next world cup do legend