DailyExpertNews
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It’s only been six months since Graham Potter was considered the man to usher in an exciting new era at Chelsea.
The club’s new ownership group, led by American businessman Todd Boehly, had lured Potter away from Brighton on the promise of managing one of the most lucrative teams in the world.
More than $600 million was spent bringing big name players to the club and Potter, one of the most exciting young managers in the Premier League, had to transform them into a winning machine.
But on Sunday, the club announced it had sacked its manager after a disappointing spell at the helm.
Potter managed to win just 10 of 28 league matches this season and leaves the team 11th in the Premier League table.
In recent weeks, players have seemed a shadow of themselves and many fans have lost faith that Potter’s plan for the club could one day work.
In the end, having previously stayed with the manager, Blues ownership agreed.
“On behalf of everyone at the club, we would like to sincerely thank Graham for his contribution to Chelsea,” the club’s co-owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, said in a statement.
“We have the utmost respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always behaved professionally and with integrity and we are all disappointed with this outcome.”
In his previous role as Brighton manager, Potter was given time to imprint his identity on the squad.
The club was financially above its weight and so carefully selected new signings that would compliment Potter’s style of play.
The approach paid off as the team became an established Premier League side who have moved on to bigger things this season – the Seagulls are currently sixth in the league and in the UEFA Conference League qualifying spot.
At Chelsea it seemed quite the opposite.
As was the case under previous owner Roman Abramovich, the club expected immediate results and used its financial weight to sign a number of high-profile names, including Enzo Fernández and Mykhailo Mudryk.
Despite his impressive resume, Potter had never managed superstars and suddenly found himself in a dressing room of several.
The scatter gun approach to recruiting also left the team lacking balance and organization, with Potter failing to get a tune out of a team bursting with talent.
In reality many had raised eyebrows when Potter, inexperienced at the very top level, was chosen to replace Thomas Tuchel as manager.
Despite falling out of favor with the fans towards the end of his tenure, Tuchel had guided Chelsea to the Champions League title in 2021 and is still regarded by many as one of the best coaches in the world.
The German signed with Bavarian giants Bayern Munich for the 2024-25 season and recently told reporters that he “needed quite a bit of time to distance himself from Chelsea” as leaving the club had hurt him.
“Todd [Boehly] said he would be different from Roman [Abramovich]wrote former Liverpool player and current pundit Jamie Carragher Twitter.
“I feel for Graham Potter, but it was inevitable. You don’t mistake Tuchel for Potter. Ridiculous decision to begin with.”
With ten games left in the league and a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid ahead, Chelsea still have plenty to play for.
Assistant coach Bruno Saltor will take over on an interim basis, but Boehly and his team must now look for a long-term replacement who is able – and willing – to bring order to Chelsea’s chaos.
Potter’s sacking is yet another sign of how volatile managers can be in the top flight of English football, especially when results are not instantaneous.
There has been a record 12 sackings in the Premier League so far this season, with Potter leaving on the same day Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers was sacked.
The previous record was 10 manager changes in a single season, set in four other campaigns, most recently in 2017/18.