Avram Grant has been told that he will discover his fate within the next 48 hours as Chelsea prepare to sack their second manager of the season. The Israeli fears the worst, despite leading Chelsea to within one penalty kick of winning the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history, and has begun to consider his exit strategy in the likely event of being dismissed.

Grant's future will be discussed by senior executives at Stamford Bridge today after an informal meeting between Roman Abramovich, the club's owner, and key lieutenants at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Moscow in the early hours of yesterday.

His position appeared to weaken further last night when Peter Kenyon pulled out of a planned trip to China. The chief executive had been scheduled to speak in Beijing at the International Football Arena, a conference and debating forum sponsored by Chelsea, but opted to stay in London to deal with the pressing managerial issue.

Kenyon - along with Bruce Buck, the chairman, and Eugene Tenenbaum, the director closest to Abramovich - refused to discuss Grant's position yesterday, but his verdict that the season had been disappointing sounded ominous.

“Three months ago we were involved in four competitions, six weeks ago we were still in two and last night we got knocked out of the last one,” Kenyon said. “It's disappointing from that point of view, but we're going to regroup from that and come back better next season. It's been an interesting season, but you don't like finishing second and as runners-up. Given the standards we've set at the club, that's not something we've settled for.”

Grant is also mulling over his position and, although he will not resign, he is deeply unhappy at a lack of support from the club. The 53-year-old is giving considerable thought to rejecting any offer to move upstairs as director of football if he is sacked, reasoning that it would be an affront to his dignity and believing that he is capable of getting another manager's job on the back of his work at Chelsea.

Grant is fiercely proud of his achievement in taking Chelsea so close to winning the Barclays Premier League and Champions League and is convinced that his reputation has been enhanced in England from the time when he was a little-known curiosity at Portsmouth 12 months ago. His impending dismissal is all the more puzzling given the lack of outstanding candidates to replace him, with the usual suspects of Frank Rijkaard, Roberto Mancini and Guus Hiddink leading the field ahead of outsiders such as Michael Laudrup and Luciano Spalletti, of AS Roma.

“I'm very proud of many things,” Grant said. “First of what we did in the league and how we did it. We had to play for over two months without all of our key players and won almost all of the games. In the first press conference in September I said I wanted to improve our game, to be interesting and in the final of the Champions League. I think when I said it everyone thought I was completely mad, but we've done it.”

Grant admitted that it would take his entire staff a long time to recover from the heartache of defeat on penalties, while he may also struggle to get over his treatment by the club. Grant looked a broken man on the return flight from Moscow yesterday and revealed that he had not slept since the final.

“I think for all of us it will take some time to get over this, especially as there are no games and we must go on vacation,” he said. “I did not sleep all night and will try to sleep because I am exhausted. I couldn't sleep because of the disappointment. Even if you try not to, you can't help thinking about the game. I don't like to lose, and am very happy that in my life I don't lose very often.”