Mutiny at Chelsea: Terry calls crisis meeting

The unhappy squad met after training at Cobham this lunchtime to discuss the implications of Jose Mourinho's departure and the appointment of Avram Grant as his successor.

Star players remain unconvinced by the appointment of Grant and some suspect he played a part in Mourinho's downfall because of his friendship with Roman Abramovich.

Skipper Terry, with plenty of input from other senior players, talked about the future and stressed the importance of presenting a unified front as they prepare for Sunday's visit to Manchester United.

The new Israeli boss who has a close relationship with Abramovich, clearly has a tough job proving to his players that he is the man to lead the club forward.

It seems certain, for now at least, that Grant will lean heavily upon his assistant, the long-serving club stalwart Steve Clarke.

In the long-term though, Grant will need to persuade the players, some more than others, that he has no agenda other than to move the club on.

As part of that attempt to win the players round to the new regime, Chelsea are reported to have made a move to stop Frank Lampard following Mourinho out of the door by offering him the £135,000-a-week contract he wants to stay at Stamford Bridge.

Lampard has said he wants talks over a new deal postponed until next summer when he will have only one year left to serve of his current deal.

Both he and striker Didier Drogba were close to their former coach, who is and waiting for the offers of work to come in. Mourinho at least knows that any prospective suitors won't be coming from London, as Chelsea have blocked attempts by Premier League rivals to snap up their former manager by forcing him to sign an exile agreement until next season.

The Portuguese agreed to the deal last night as apart of the pay-off for him and his coaching staff, which is worth at least £16million.

That scuppered an immediate approach by Spurs, who had privately declared their interest in securing his services in place of current boss Martin Jol.

Mourinho said: "I'm going to enjoy my life, I'm going to wait for the phone calls. I want to work. I'll take my time after what happened."

Having handed the reins to Grant and Clarke in the short term, Blues are thought to be considering adding Jamie Redknapp to their backroom staff.

Of their former boss, the club said: "Jose has been instrumental in putting Chelsea among the leading clubs in world football.

"He will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge, whether as a guest or manager of another club." thought to be headed on holiday to Brazil