Grant plans Pompey summit meeting

Avram Grant wants a meeting with Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou before deciding what his future holds. It is widely anticipated Grant will be asked to step into the managerial vacancy at West Ham following the departure of Gianfranco Zola last week.Portsmouth fans retain a slender hope the Israeli will remain at Fratton Park, and that Sunday's FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea at Wembley will not be his last game in charge.All will be resolved once Andronikou delivers the answers Grant craves, which, without a new owner in place, are unlikely to be positive."I love the Premier League. I want to stay in the Premier League. But I love Portsmouth," said Grant."I spoke with the administrator a long time ago and asked him what the situation was. He said two weeks. Then it was three weeks. He says everything is okay but I don't know what the situation is."Clubs like Newcastle were relegated but they kept the squad."Maybe Portsmouth want to build something new, which is good. But to do that, you need stability."I am not just talking about money. You need to know where you are going. We need to see."As it is difficult to see how Andronikou can offer any greater stability, Grant's exit appears inevitable.He will leave the south coast a wiser, more rounded individual, having experienced life on both sides of the great Premier League divide following the season he spent at Chelsea."From the education side it has been good for me to experience both," he said."Of course at Chelsea things are much easier. You can buy any player you want. You have the facilities."When you see the training grod at Portsmouth, you understand you need more than this."Now I know how to do things if the situation is really bad. But I prefer it to be for just one year. Not more."Grant will go to his grave believing his club have been the victim of a massive injustice, first for the nine-point deduction for going into administration, which sapped all their will and condemned them to the drop, then to deny them a place in next season's Europa League because they failed to submit entry forms by the cut-off point.The counter-argument is that if Portsmouth had not over-spent so massively, they would not have had sufficient quality to reach yesterday's final in the first place."I don't know about that," said Grant."When I came here, these players were already at the club and no-one said anything about relegation."Because there were no rules, it allowed people to do what they did with the club. It was wrong. I admit it was wrong."I never said people did the right things. But the fact is we achieved something on the pitch. The players deserve something."That a missed penalty should cost his team so dearly was a particularly bitter pill for Grant to swallow just two years after John Terry slipped and missed the spot-kick that would have given Chelsea victory in that soggy Champions League final in Moscow.He tried to console Kevin-Prince Boateng - the third player to miss a penalty in an FA Cup final - John Aldridge and Gary Lineker were the other two, and remarkably Frank Lampard was to become the fourth near the end - but it was impossible.Instead, Grant offered wider words of praise for his entire squad."It is amazing what the players have done," he said."It is something that has even surprised me."Every week we have had a lot of problems. You cannot even imagine what has happened at Portsmouth this season."Sometimes the media create a big story from a small story. This is bigger than you think."I have been coaching since I was 18 and a half and this was one of the most emotional seasons I have ever had."

Source: Team_Talk