Grants special Wembly Guest

As he approaches his first chance to win silverware as Chelsea manager, Avram Grant has spoken openly about influences that made him the man he is. For anyone involved in a major sporting showpiece such as Wembly cup final, the sense of pride can only be magnified by having family and friends inside the stadium to watch. As he leads the chelsea player out of the tunnel for the first Carling Cup final at the rebuilt national stadium, Grant will experienced those emotions as his father, Mier, watches on from his seat. the two celebrated Mier's 80th birthday on thursday and the party continues at the match against Tottenham. A ticket from his son helps to repay money borrowed by a football-obsessed young Avram to watcch numerous cup finals in the past. 'My father is a great man, one of the greatest that i know,' the Chelsea manager claims. 'He is an optimist like i have never seen in my life, and he suffered alot when he was young. He was the survivor of the holocaust. I have the same name as my grandfather who died in the holocaust with many other of his family.' Avram's father was just 13 in 1941 when his family fled their native poland and sought refuge in the forest of nothern Russia. Mier survived the harsh conditions but his father, mother and five of his brothers and sisters didn't. 'What impressed me about my father, and he give me alot in my life, is that he always saw the positive,' Avram reveals. 'Even when i was at school, he saw only the good marks. 'And he is still like this now. If you speak with him about the past, he will say there were wrong things in the past, but i live in the future - and he is 80! I wish him all the best. I love him.' The Chelsea boss has also paid tribute to the part played by his late mother, Aliza, an immigrant from iraq who Mier met after relocating to a town near Tel Aviv. 'My mother came from totally another world from my father and they were totally different. My mother was a perfectionist and did not accept it if you got 99 marks from 100. My father would accept everything in a positive way. Everything that happened to me in my life, I can only thank them for this. They gave me alot, without them i couldn't succeed.' One strength of character Avram believes he enjoys in adult life is the ability to thrive under pressure, even at the levels that accompany a London derby Carling Cup final. 'The pressure of this job is exactly what i thought, not more, not less. It is good pressure. The good thing in football, especially when you are at a big club, is the pressure to think how to win. I wish to have this pressure all my life, i cannot live without this. 'I am not worried about myself because if i don't take this trophy on Sunday, I will take trophies at Chelsea in the future. But even if it wasen't good for my future, I would want to win this game anyway, especially when it is so important to the fans and the club.'

-23/02/2008