Grant sacked as Chelsea managerUpdated: May 24, 2008, 2:40 PM ET
Chelsea have started their search for a new manager after sacking Avram Grant on Saturday.
Grant, who replaced Jose Mourinho last September, was expected to be removed from his post following Chelsea's failure to win a trophy for the first time in three seasons.
The 52-year-old Israeli found it hard to come to terms with being thrust into the spotlight and although he guided Chelsea into their first Champions League final, the penalty shoot-out defeat in Moscow last Wednesday paved the way for his departure.
After two days of meetings, Chelsea confirmed their decision in a statement.
It read: 'Chelsea can confirm that Avram Grant has had his contract as manager terminated today.
'This follows meetings over the last two days. Everybody at Chelsea FC would like to thank Avram for his contribution since taking over as manager last September.
'We will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager for Chelsea and there will be no further comment until that appointment is made.' Grant joined the club last summer from Portsmouth to take up the post of director of football.'
Then manager Mourinho, whose relationship with the board was already fractious, was unhappy with the appointment.
Mourinho was later dismissed after their 1-1 draw with Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge in their opening Champions League game.
Grant, who had never managed a club in England, was asked to takeover and later given a four-year contract.
A close friend of the club's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Grant's brief reign was tainted by reports of anti-Semitic abuse but remarkably he equalled a nine-match winning run set by Mourinho's side two years earlier.
Grant brought in Henk ten Cate as his assistant as well as new fitness and goalkeeping staff.
But his appointment was never really accepted by the fans, who steadfastly refused to chant his name until the final game of the season, and his sour-faced demeanour did him few favours.
He was also criticised for being tactically inept but guided the club to the final of the Carling Cup in February only to lose 2-1 to Tottenham.
But remarkably, Chelsea pushed Manchester United to the wire in the race for the Premier League and earned a place in their first Champions League final against Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
But his entire spell in charge was littered with speculation that he was just a stop-gap appointment and that he would leave in the summer.
Chelsea consistently denied they had plans to change their manager but the deafening silence from the club's board after Wednesday's defeat by United, told its own story.
Both chief-executive Peter Kenyon and chairman Bruce Buck paved the way for change by insisting that Chelsea's performance this season was simply 'not good enough'.
Buck said: 'We have very high expectations at Chelsea and a couple of second place finishes is just not good enough for us - so although we never would have thought in September when Jose Mourinho left that we would be able to make it into a Champions League Final as we did - and that is fantastic - Chelsea are here to win trophies. So although it was an excellent season, we are still disappointed.'
A series of discussions finally resolved Grant's future and it is understood the Israeli said his farewells to the players on
Contenders queue up to replace Grant at BluesUpdated: May 24, 2008, 2:34 PM ET
A host of names have already been linked with the Chelsea manager's job even though Avram Grant was not sacked until Saturday.
Grant's tenure at Stamford Bridge was always viewed as a stop-gap measure even though the club consistently denied he would be leaving.
But the attention now switches to those men most likely to replace the 52-year-old Israeli and the first name in the frame is Frank Rijkaard. He was linked with the job as soon as previous boss Jose Mourinho was axed last September.
Rijkaard has just been released by Barcelona after failing to win a trophy for the Spaniards in the last two seasons.
He is a friend of Frank Arnesen, who controls the club's scouting network, and has worked with assistant coach Henk ten Cate at the Nou Camp.
But Rijkaard has no Premier League experience and there have been recent concerns over his health as well as personal issues.
Dutchman Guus Hiddink is another favoured contender. Like Grant, he is a close friend of the club's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich and regarded as the world's best tactician.
Hiddink has consistently denied being interested in the Chelsea job but has as yet, somewhat significantly, not signed a new deal with the Russian Federation.
Abramovich is currently paying his salary to manage Russia and while there is no doubting his pedigree, he has not been involved in club football for some time.
Hiddink has more recently been associated with the international game with spells in South Korea and Australia before taking on the Russian job.
Sven-Goran Eriksson is understood to have rejected the job on two previous occasions and was infamously caught out secretly meeting the club's chief executive Peter Kenyon on one occasion.
His future at Manchester City is unclear and, like Hiddink, he boasts a fine record at club and international level.
But Chelsea fans are unlikely to welcome the Swede and that may dampen the club's willingness to pursue him. Then, of course, there is the most unlikely prospect of the return of fan's favourite Mourinho.
The 'Special One' was axed last September and replaced by the luckless Grant. Mourinho went after Chelsea's first Champions League game against a weak Rosenborg side ended in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho's relationship with the board, and Abramovich in particular, had deteriorated so much that both sides opted to call it a day.
Mourinho has been out of a job ever since but is favourite to join Inter Milan in the summer even though his relationship with Chelsea's Russian owner has been rebuilt in the last two months.
But his style of football was part of the reason for the severance in the first place and he would find it difficult to adopt another, more attacking approach.
But at a club that opted to replace him with a 52-year-old Israeli, who had never managed in England before and was a virtual unknown outside his own country, anything is possible. Even the return of the 'Special One'.
