"I go back to when I was at Chelsea and Jose Mourinho left and Avram Grant took over,” Sidwell told TalkSPORT.
"I remember when the players called a meeting. JT called all the players in and said, ‘look, I’ve been with Roman and he’s said that Avram would be taking charge’.
"The lads were pretty shocked as Avram was there as a kind of technical director and go-between between Jose and Abramovich.
"I remember John Terry and the lads saying, ‘right, we need to drive this ourselves as Avram hasn’t got the experience of the top echelons of football in terms of the Premier League. We have, and we’ll drive this’.
"I’m not saying they went against his wishes or anything. He still led the football club and the football team, but the players really drove that dressing room."
Jose Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007 through mutual consent after a turbulent start to the season.
Avram Grant oversaw a season of almosts for Chelsea as the Blues lost the Premier League on the last day of the season while also losing the Champions League final, both to Man United.
