Grant’s future rests on Europe

AVRAM GRANT summoned his entire first team squad for an emergency meeting at the club’s training headquarters yesterday, as the Israeli’s hold on his position at Chelsea loosened in the wake of Saturday’s FA Cup humiliation at Barnsley.

Roman Abramovich, the club’s billionaire owner who watched Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat on television in London with chief executive Peter Kenyon, was understood to be furious at his team’s inept performance and will seek talks with Grant before they meet Derby County in the Premier League on Wednesday.

The 52-year-old’s future now seems to rest on Chelsea’s performance in the Champions League. Abramovich is prepared to stomach the disappointment of seeing Grant fail to defend either the Carling Cup or FA Cup if he delivers a first European crown, but with senior players growing uneasy and the relationship with his owner frosty at best, the manager is apparently on borrowed time.