Chelsea assistant coach Henk ten Cate has not ruled out replacing Avram Grant as manager at the Stamford Bridge club and claimed today that he and coach Steve Clarke may take over.
The Dutchman's position has been in the spotlight ever since the 53-year-old Israeli was shown the door on Saturday but the former Ajax man says he has been assured his job is safe and believes there he is a possibility he may take over.
"There are three options," said ten Cate today, "a new coach arrives and he will appoint his own technical staff, or (first team coach) Steve Clarke and I take over, or a new coach comes and wants me as his assistant."
His chances of getting the top job, however, may have been affected when he reportedly clashed with John Terry and a number of other players prior to the Carling Cup final defeat to Tottenham at Wembley.
Nonetheless, Ten Cate insists he has been assured by Chelsea that his future is safe and refuses to dwell on speculation that he may be forced out.
"Half an hour before Chelsea made the message about Grant officially known, I was called by the chief executive Peter Kenyon," ten Cate told Voetbal International. "He informed me that the departure of Grant will not affect me. I'd rather go on that. I have a contract until 2010."
Ten Cate's former boss at Barcelona Frank Rijkaard has emerged as the favourite for the job after Russia manager Guus Hiddink and Internazionale coach Roberto Mancini ruled themselves out of the running yesterday.
Former Chelsea midfielder Didier Deschamps also believes he is in the running to replace Grant. The 39-year-old played for the Blues for the 1999/2000 season when they won the FA Cup and was part of the France team that claimed both the World Cup and the European Championship.
As a manager he then led Monaco to the 2004 Champions League final before guiding Juventus back to Serie A after they had been relegated following the match-fixing scandal.
He resigned in May 2007 and has been out of management since. Deschamps told Monaco-based radio station RMC: "Three or four managers are on the list and I am one of them. It would be hard to refuse Chelsea. I want to return to coaching.
"They are a very big club, that I know well. We will see over the next few days how it goes but any big-name manager who is available would interest them."
Grant has revealed that he turned down the chance to resume his role as director of football after being sacked as coach, preferring a fresh start instead.
"I understand the offer and why it was made but I thought that from my point of view it was not the correct move," said Grant. "What I discussed (privately) will stay private but let's say that I saw that it was not a good move for me at this stage."
