FA Cup Final: Chelsea 1 Portsmouth 0

What happens now?

The answers for the two finalists could not be more polarised.

For Chelsea, if manager Carlo Ancelotti is right – and by winning the double he has eclipsed anything Jose Mourinho did at Stamford Bridge – the next step is winning the Champions League next season.

For Portsmouth, it is off to hell in a hand cart.

True, Grant, who has been linked with the vacant post at West Ham, floated the idea that he might yet be persuaded to stay at Portsmouth.

"If the club wants to do like Newcastle and keep all the players and try everything to continue then I'm still waiting but not for long," said Grant.

But his words carried the polite ring of a man who knows the value of dignity and grace and was desperate not to compound the club's troubles.

By "not for long" you suspect Grant meant his patience might stretch little more than the time it took for the players to get showered.

Let's face it, Portsmouth are the worst-run club in Premier League history and that includes the financial conflagration which engulfed Leeds, which is saying something.

They owe 138m, their chances of repaying a sizeable chunk of it any time soon are dubious, and every player who demonstrated commendable spirit at Wembley is up for sale. All reasonable offers considered.

The future is uncertain but while their fans have two FA Cup finals in three seasons to remember and parachute payments next season might ease their fears of bankruptcy, the concern is that the slide will continue through the divisions.

If so their demise would be the shame of a league who as good as declared its clubs unsinkable.

But if Portsmouth are the Premier League's Titanic, then Chelsea are sailing in an entirely different direction under a manager who in one season has cut through the myth that surrounded Mourinho as an iconic talisman at Stamford Bridge.

It is true Chelsea are an ageing team, a criticism which has been levelled against them whenever they have disappointed, such as their defeat against Mourinho's Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Yet at Wembley they proved the spine of their team is currently unrivalled in English football, starting with goalkeeper Petr Cech, whose save of Kevin-Prince Boateng's poor spot-kick in the 55th minute was pivotal.

They have class defenders in John Terry and Ashley Cole, the evergreen Frank Lampard – who also missed a spot-kick, on 87 minutes – as their influential playmaker and Didier Drogba virtually unplayable when in the mood.

Drogba was in the mood on Saturday. Quick, powerful, tricky, so much so that Chelsea should have had the game won by half-time after hitting the Portsmouth woodwork five times, one of them a candidate for miss-of-the-century by Salomon Kalou. On this form, however, you would not swap Drogba for any striker in the world. Not Wayne Rooney. Not Cristiano Ronaldo. Perhaps not even Lionel Messi.

It is why Ancelotti felt confident enough to predict: "This team has the quality to win the Champions League without any changes."

Perhaps he is right, but there is an old truth in football that managers disregard at their peril: strengthen from a position of strength. Liverpool did that in their pomp. It is the secret of Sir Alex Ferguson's success at Old Trafford.

It is why owner Roman Abramovich, if he is wise, will choose this summer to spend once more. On a midfield acquisition to replace the fading Deco and Michael Ballack, the latter in particular who compromises the high tempo which sees Chelsea at their best.

On a quality striker, too, and while Fernando Torres would cause Abramovich to dig deep into his pockets, think of the damage he might inflict in tandem with Drogba.

The double is delivered. One more push and European domination could be Chelsea's for the taking.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Ballack (Belletti 44), Malouda, Anelka (Sturridge 90), Drogba, Kalou (Joe Cole 71). Unused substitutes: Hilario, Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Matic.

Portsmouth: James, Finnan, Rocha, Mokoena, Mullins (Belhadj 81), Brown, Diop (Kanu 81), Boateng (Utaka 73), O'Hara, Piquionne, Dindane. Unused substitutes: Ashdown, Vanden Borre, Hughes, Ben-Haim.

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).