Until last September few people outside Israel would even have known who he was, unless they happened to follow Israeli football. But shortly into the Premier League season, Grant was elevated to the lofty position of manager of Chelsea, succeeding the highly popular Jose Mourinho. The former Israeli national team coach was suddenly cast into the spotlight and, apparently purely because he had replaced the fans’ favourite, overnight became a figure of hate — a situation which prevails to this day with Chelsea neck and neck with Manchester United for the Premier League title and shortly to face the same team in the Champions League final.

The fact that his record so far exceeds anything other than three of his rivals have achieved matters not to Chelsea supporters and most sections of the British sports press. Grant has been derided and belittled and his ability constantly questioned, with not a little antisemitism entering into the criticism. Emerging from all this is the fact that he has become the best known Israeli and in Israel’s 60th anniversary year could well stamp his mark indelibly on English football and possibly the wider European scene, although that would be at the expense of Manchester United.

Most Israelis are themselves incredulous of Grant’s rise and rise, but were the unthinkable to happen (as far as United fans are concerned), what then for Grant? Would his boss Roman Abramovich reward him with a longterm contract and would the suspicious followers of Chelsea then acknowledge his skill? And were the end result of Chelsea’s season to be success in both competitions, what a birthday present it would be for Israel to see one of its own achieve what a short time into the Premier League campaign seemed almost impossible.

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