Chelsea unveil new manager

Chelsea have said Israeli Avram Grant will take over as manager on a permanent basis.

"The appointment is permanent," chief executive Peter Kenyon told a news conference on Friday.

Despite reports of player unrest after Mourinho's departure, Peter Kenyon added that the Chelsea squad were supportive of the new manager.

"At the training ground it was business as usual," Kenyon said.

"After our initial meeting with the players there was a meeting with the team on their own and unanimously they came out in full support of the changes that have been made.

"They want us to support them in getting back to football."

At the same press conference, Avram Grant took pains to make it known that he was a different creature to the former Chelsea manager.

While Mourinho famously called himself the "special one" at his unveiling , Grant said today: "I am a normal person. I have my own philosophy.

"I respect everything that was here in the past and I'm sure what I do in the future will be respected.

"I fully respect Jose Mourinho. In the two months we worked together I enjoyed working with him. I respect everything he did for the club.

"In the three years here he had a lot of success. I want to follow that success and make things of my own."

He added: "In all of the world there are billions of people and they are all different. Not two people have the same opinion."

Grant could not have asked for a tougher start, with Manchester United on Sunday his first game and Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday, meaning he will not be working with his squad the day before the match.

The new manager is a close friend of owner Roman Abramovich but the club have denied that the relationship has anything to do with Mourinho's departure or that he was brought to the club to eventually take over.

While Grant has no experience coaching in England and minimal experience in the Champions League, he is aware of the emphasis on entertainment, which has been reported as one of the demands of Abramovich.

"Football is also entertainment," said the former Israel coach.

"We need to win games and fight for the trophies but I think the way we do this and win is also important.

"To play good and positive football — I am not saying it wasn't here in the past and I am talking only of now. We will try to combine those two things and I am sure we can do it.

"I know we are not going to win all the games but I believe we can do it in a positive way."

Mourinho's appointment in 2004 came after he won the Champions League with Porto and he was considered as the best in the business, which is in contrast to Grant's impressive but unspectacular reputation.

"The criteria of what we need for a manager has changed because the club has changed," explained Kenyon. "The position of Chelsea has changed.

"I can honestly say one of the key criteria I was looking for (in 2004), what we hadn't got in the team, was an ethos of what a winning team was all about.

"We have moved on. Chelsea today is a very different club. Its players are at a completely different level of those who were here three years ago.

"The results in the future will demonstrate we have taken the right decision," concluded Kenyon.