'No duty to other teams': Grant
Sympathetic ear: Grant may rest South Africa-bound
players such as Nadir Belhadj
Avram Grant has hinted he will make a farce of the
Barclays Premier League survival race by fielding weakened teams
for the rest of the season.
The Portsmouth manager is furious his team have been condemned
to play Championship football next term after being deducted nine
points for going into administration.
He will hold a crisis meeting with his players today in an
attempt to discover how they want to approach their remaining nine
league games, when they have nothing left to play for.
And in a threat to the integrity of the Premier League he has
refused to rule out two stark possibilities.
He may field weakened teams, preferring to keep his best players
fit for their April 10 FA Cup semi-final date against Fulham or
Tottenham at Wembley.
And he may listen sympathetically to players like David James,
Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda if they say they do not want to risk
getting injured before the World Cup.
Grant is in no mood to bow to any league dictat that he should
field his strongest team in every game.
Grant said: ‘We don’t have a duty to the other Premier League
teams. The Premier League has a duty to the other teams.
‘We have a duty to Portsmouth, and I have a duty to
football.
‘We’ve tried everything in the last months to keep the spirit of
football and what I think football is about and I don’t see any
reason to do it when we haven’t got a target. Of course our target
now is the semi-final.’
