Manchester United will fight Chelsea's request for a Premier League dispensation from rules governing managers' coaching qualifications. Avram Grant was appointed as Jose Mourinho's successor last week, although it is not clear whether he holds a valid Uefa Pro licence certificate.
Grant does hold a coaching qualification from his native Israel, but Uefa have yet to sign the endorsement agreement under which that nation can award Pro licences. The European body are now trying to ascertain whether Grant's qualification is of an equivalent standard.
There is, in any case, a 12-week grace period during which Grant, a former manager of the Israeli national team, may legitimately manage in the Premier League. In the meantime, Chelsea are preparing their case in the event that they have to persuade their English Premier League peers to permit Grant dispensation.
Similar votes have met with the opposition of United. Glenn Roeder, at Newcastle United, and Gareth Southgate, at Middlesbrough, achieved exemptions from the rules following a vote of shareholder clubs; 19 voted in favour of them managing without the qualifications with only United voting against.
Old Trafford sources say that if Chelsea submit a similar application to waive the rules, the Premier League champions would again reject it on the principle that all regulations should be upheld. The league's rule Q6 states: "No club shall employ any person as a manager who does not hold the qualifications required by (the) rules."
Those rules provide for an English FA coaching diploma to suffice for managers with a long pedigree in the game, but this specific dispensation, which applies to those such as Alex Ferguson and Martin O'Neill, will expire in season 2010-11. It is believed that figures of their standing will be granted honorary Pro licences in recognition of the fact they helped construct the coaching course.
Meanwhile, Grant did his damnedest to be charitable towards Mourinho yesterday. He said "nobody at the club was happy" about his predecessor's departure, agreed that the timing last Wednesday night was inopportune and he seemed to suggest that the Portuguese had his sympathy.
Grant chose his words with extra care when the subject of the bond between Mourinho and the key players was raised. It is not a barrier he needs to overcome, he insisted, rather it is something to be respected and built upon.
"I can tell you that if there was a player who was three-and-a-half years under Jose and he didn't have a good relationship with him, I would be worried about him," he added. "It would be more strange that they can say, after three years, 'I don't know him, he was not good for me'."
Ultimately, though, Grant did indeed damn Mourinho. It is mightily difficult to tread a diplomatic line between the owner Roman Abramovich and the Portuguese. Just ask Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, whose powers of mediation have been tested in recent months. Grant is an Abramovich appointment and, in the end, he found himself toeing his master's line. The time for managerial change had come and the team's uninspiring start to the new season crystallised that view.
"We played one game against Birmingham (on the opening weekend) which was fantastic; we played well for 20 minutes against Reading; apart from that, we didn't play well, didn't score enough goals and there are many things to improve upon and make better," said Grant.
"The team has had periods of time for three years where Chelsea have played good, but maybe the time has come to change the base a little bit, maybe 20-25 per cent. We want to give the supporters a style of football. We know that the first commitment is to win; the way to win can be done better. The base is good, but the timing has come in the last month to change things."
Grant had ready-made excuses after the defeat at Manchester United on Sunday, his first game in charge. Mikel John Obi's red card was harsh; United's opening goal came after the first-half stoppage time had been played while their second was the result of a dubious penalty.
But Grant knows that excuses will not be tolerated at Hull in the League Cup tonight.
John Terry will not face action from the English FA for his confrontation with the referee on Sunday, when he attempted to snatch the red card from his hand. And the FA have rejected Obi's appeal against his sending-off.
