Whatever his critics might say, the Chelsea boss's only mistake was to promise attractive football.

BACK IN September when Jose Mourinho left Chelsea and Avram Grant was chosen by Roman Abramovich as his successor, such was the antipathy toward the Israeli, from the media and the club's own supporters, it was difficult to imagine his reign ending in anything other than tears.

That reign could well end on Wednesday night, regardless of the outcome of the Champions League final - such is life at Chelsea, the new Real Madrid, these days - but it would be some conclusion to his brief spell in charge of the club should Grant oversee Chelsea becoming European champions for the first time in their history.

That, of course, is something Mourinho failed to do at the club, and something Alex Ferguson has achieved just once in over two decades at Manchester United. For a man so maligned, as Grant has almost universally been, it would be a hell of a farewell to his detractors should his time be up.

But how much credit would he deserve? Well, there has been a mean-spirited attitude from most quarters to what he's done so far - when the team was playing poorly, as it was until a month or six weeks ago, it was all down to Grant's ineptitude and his failure to win the players over; when they started playing well, rallied to push United all the way in the league and reach the final in Moscow that was, solely, down to the players. They did it in spite of him, we've been told.

Yes, of course, he is blessed with a fantastic squad of players, and yes, of course, this is, largely, still the team Mourinho built. But I think the guy knows what he's at - if he was as inept as we have been led to believe I don't think Chelsea would be in the Champions League final.

Nor would they have taken the league title race to the final day.

A lot of people made a big thing about the League Cup final, when he clearly got it wrong against Spurs, but nobody made much of Ferguson picking the wrong team when United played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge recently - and he did pick the wrong team.

One error by Grant and they're ready to come down on him.

Much of that is driven by a section of the media, particularly the London element, that lost the love of its life when Mourinho left, and regardless of what he achieved at the club they were never going to forgive Grant for replacing him, especially when he is, evidently, a friend of the owner.

But Grant's big mistake was to promise that his Chelsea would play a more expansive, attacking game and would be more attractive to watch than under Mourinho.

That could never happen with the type of players they already had, and Nicolas Anelka was the only arrival of note in January.

Maybe if the likes of Damien Duff and Arjen Robben - who were effectively turned into full backs anyway by Mourinho - were still at the club Grant might have had more scope to change how Chelsea play, but as it is Joe Cole is really the the only player he has who can actually make something happen behind Didier Drogba.

After that it's still Mourinho's way: a team that has a pragmatic, functional way of playing. And they play to their strengths, which is their strength - power and athleticism. They'll never get you on the edge of your seat; that's just not the Chelsea way.

Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Claude Makelele, John Obi Mikel, whoever they play in midfield, will just set about smothering the opposition and strangling the game. And they do it better than any other team.

Ballack, in the last few weeks, is much more like the player Chelsea have been waiting to see since he signed from Bayern Munich, but much of that has been down to the absence of Lampard through injuries and then the loss of his mother. He has blossomed without Lampard; when they both play they just take a little out of each other's game, a bit like Lampard and Steven Gerrard for England.

But I've never gone along with the view that they can't play together. It's just a question of defining their roles a little bit more in the team; then they are more than good enough to work effectively together.

The key man, though, is Drogba. For the majority of the season he has just looked uninterested, but something - or someone - has flicked the switch in the last six weeks, and he's been immense.

I suspect he's been told if he gets his act together, helps Chelsea win the Champions League, then he'll get the move he clearly wants, probably to Italy.

It's like getting your kids to behave: tell them if they're good for the next few days then you'll allow them join the Penguin Club. It's as simple as that - he plays football like he's a big kid anyway.

Signs are, then, it will be Drogba's last game for Chelsea, so that might be something he has in common with Grant. We'll see. The signing of Jose Bosingwa last week looked to me like a Frank Arnesen (Chelsea's sporting director) signing, which might not augur well for Grant.

Abramovich wants Chelsea to start playing like Manchester United - the irony is by playing the Chelsea way they might well beat United to become European champions.