There was a moment right at the end of the first half of Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford. Just as forward Carlos Tevez had struck an injury-time goal to give Manchester United the 1-0 lead, Red Devil’s manager Sir Alex Fergusen was seen walking off the pitch to the training room. Chelsea had yet to kick off and the half hadn’t ended yet. But for all intent and purposes Fergusen was signaling that the first half, for him, was over. Only seconds later did the game referee blow the whistle.
A small gesture indeed, and maybe one that is insignificant considering that the two minutes of injury time signaled by the referee was over anyway. But in the world of competitive athletics, this seemingly small gesture could have spoken volumes.
In the United States we call what Sir Alex Fergusen has “street cred” and “juice”. Fergie is one of the best and most respected soccer managers ever. If he says the half is over, then the half is over. It was a clear message sent to their opponents that day, and have no illusions the Chelsea players picked up on that, the timekeeper and the referee notwithstanding. More importantly, thought, this was Fergie’s way of throwing his weight around to signify what it is that Chelsea no longer had.
Under Jose Mourinho, you can make the argument that there had never been a time when Chelsea was more successful. In the three-plus years Mourinho was their manager Chelsea had won two English Premier League crowns – running away – and an FA Cup, as well as making it to the semi-final stage of the Champions League twice. If you include the UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and Champions League crown he had won with FC Porto the two previous years before arriving at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho had earned the kind of respect that Fergusen had. In essence, he had “street cred”. Take into further consideration that in the nine confrontations with Manchester United in Mourinho’s three years Chelsea had lost only once, then you can make the further argument that Mourinho had more “street cred” than Fergie.
Four days before this latest fixture with the Red Devils Mourinho suddenly departed as The Blues’ manager, leaving unknown Avram Grant as the manager. Whatever backroom conflicts that were boiling between Mourinho and Chelsea owner and super-billionaire Roman Abramovich are not important; suffice it to say that in replacing Mourinho, Abramovich did not understand the “street cred” that was going with him. Fergusen let both Abramovich and Grant know just who had the “street cred” in this fixture (Fergie had to walk by Grant to go to the training room).
Grant may have been a good club and international coach in Israel, and all due respect to him for that. But the EPL is an entirely different league. For now, though, Grant is going to have to earn “juice”, it won’t be just given. Sure he has the exact same world-class personnel that Mourinho had and he may turn out to be a good manager, but (1) these are Mourinho’s players, and (2) Grant hasn’t done anything with them yet. Plus, there are expectations at Stamford Bridge that not even Mourinho could fulfill (a Champions League trophy to be exact). You could tell from the unsmiling, dour doe-in-the-headlights look Grant sported throughout the entire match that Manchester United in Old Trafford was not the ideal fixture for this EPL neophyte to have to start his career.
daveydoug