Grant sacking unavoidable...

Grant's sacking, was no great surprise after messages from Chelsea's hierarchy since their defeat on penalties to Manchester United in Moscow gave him no cause to start planning for the future.

No surprise - but still a startling example of what football has become at the sharp end. It may be madness but this is now the price on the ticket for some managers.

It is a sign of the cut-throat nature of the modern game that a decent, dignified man is sacked three days after missing out on club football's biggest honour by the width of a post and on the Premier League title on the last day of the season.

The 53-year-old Israeli was perceived as dour and low-key, despite time revealing Grant's dry sense of humour and quiet decency in the face of almost daily questions about his future.

And yet he kept his head and kept Chelsea in the title race until the final afternoon, and achieved a feat beyond even the celebrated Mourinho when he defeated Liverpool to guide the club to their first Champions League final.

Grant handled himself in a way that did him huge credit right up until his final moments in charge, when he received generous applause from the world's media following his Moscow press conference.

He will now go in search of another chance to prove his credentials - and he can leave Chelsea with his head held high.

but football is no ordinary world, especially not at a club with one of the world's richest men at the helm, a man for whom second place is as bad finishing bottom of the pile.

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