We talk a lot about a manager’s “in tray” when they take a job – the tasks that are already waiting for them the moment they sit down at their desk for the first time.
There’s always a pile of things for any manager to work through at any club, but a superclub like Chelsea have more than you can imagine.
It’s not just the players, the contracts, the training and the tactics Potter has to worry about. He’s also going to have commercial commitments far beyond anything he had at Brighton as he does
Then there’s the social media machine, endlessly hungry for fresh new content. It’s not just the general media press conferences he will have to sit through now, it’s internal club outlets like Chelsea TV grilling him on what direction he’s going to take this team in.
The unique context of national mourning that this is all taking place in won’t be making things easier either. It’s given him a few days of extra time to get to know his new group, but all at the expense of the standard routine that club and players thrive on.
After all that, the games themselves might actually end up being a blessed relief. The Chelsea live scores will start on Wednesday when we take on a dangerous Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League, and they don’t get any easier after that.
Liverpool are waiting for us on Sunday – assuming the game goes ahead of course. That’s a test for the ages, and while Potter won’t be judged too harshly if we lose to Jurgen Klopp’s well oiled machine, it completes a very tough opening week for the former Brighton boss.
His quality as a coach is clear, and that’s why he’s been appointed. What he needs still to prove is that he can manage top level players and the new challenges that come with that.
Win one or two of these tough opening games and things should get easier. Lose them badly and he could already find himself behind the 8 ball, further from earning their respect that he was when he arrived, and at risk of entering a terminal spiral of confidence before he’s even had a chance to get his ideas across.
So while fans and pundits will be careful not to judge him too strongly on these games, they still play a huge part in deciding how his Chelsea career might go.
