Probably best not to say too much about the fall of Avram Grant. The execution was carried out with a swiftness and clarity that can only be interpreted as a sign that the regime is listening. Exercise all possible caution, you who do not wish to share his fate.

If it's true that the tents are about to be packed, the cages broken down, the sawdust swept, the clowns sedated, the daredevils shot, the lions zipped into their traveling sweaters; if it's true that the circus is about to skip town, on a cloud of greasepaint and diesel fumes, leaving behind only crushed flowerbeds, [...]

Avram Grant's eccentric press conference after Chelsea's 1-0 win against Everton this week prompted many observers to compare Grant's curt, uncommunicative responses to the beloved monologues of his predecessor, José Mourinho. Wondering how Mourinho would have handled the questions the media put to Grant? Wonder no more.

Q: A deserved win José?
Mourinho: Yes. No. No, it [...]

Q. Was Avram Grant's bizarre monosyllabic press conference yesterday a devastating piece of conceptual criticism designed to expose the vapidity of the football media by giving reporters' banal questions the answers they would actually deserve in intelligent conversation?
A. I don't know.

What with the big news about Fabio Capello agreeing to manage a team that even he won't be able to overload with Dutchmen, the revelation that Avram Grant signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea yesterday has sort of been swept under the rug. That's too bad, because Grant's success has been one of [...]