NorthEast United sack coach, appoint ex-Chelsea manager Avram Grant as advisor

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Guwahati, January 4: Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has been appointed as an advisor by NorthEast United FC for the remainder of the Indian Super League season. His appointment comes a day after the team sacked its head coach Joao Carlos De Deus.

NEUFC, under De Deus, is stuck one place from bottom on the Indian Super League table. They have just one win in seven games and even that came against bottom-placed Delhi Dynamos.

It doesn't come as a surprise then that the franchise decided to fire De Deus and his assistant Joao Pinho on Wednesday (January 3). Goalkeeping coach Joseph Siddy is rumoured to take charge.

Hours after De Deus completed his settlement with the club in Mumbai, NEUFC announced Grant as their technical advisor.

"I agreed to the challenge and I am hitting the ground running. India is a new and exciting environment for football and I look forward to the pace of the League. I have confidence in the club and we will do all we can to take the club forward," said Grant, who is a long-time friend of NorthEast United FC owner John Abraham.

Grant moved to England in 2006 to become technical director of Portsmouth before being appointed director of football at Chelsea in July 2007 and steered the team into the Champions League final and the League Cup final.

Grant has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup victories with different teams, and also managing the Israeli national team for four years.

His last appointment was coach of the Ghana national football team.

De Deus' sacking comes a day after Rene Meulensteen, a former assistant coach with Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, parted ways with Kerala Blasters FC. Former England goalkeeper David James, who was at the helm of Blasters during the 2014 ISL season, returned to coach the southern side.