Chelsea announced that they had parted ways with current manager Graham Potter late on Sunday, and drama has since ensued.
As is what was predictable, everyone has been putting their reports out on the situation and what has happened there, and of course, who might come in next as Chelsea boss.
Sources: Four candidates club are looking at to replace Graham Potter!
But the fact remains that Potter has gone, and it looks like something that just had to happen in the end.
Potter was clearly struggling with such a big squad and in such a high profile position as Chelsea, and the pressure got too much. Fans wanted him gone, and the board have reacted.
But how did Potter take the news? The Athletic have an article out on it this morning, and there is a section on that.
They claim that Potter is believed to have taken the news, delivered face-to-face at the training ground, incredibly professionally and has agreed a severance package unrelated to the five-year deal he signed when he joined.
Now Potter took the fall that might not just affect him leaving Chelsea but his career generally. Imagine a coach the whole world wanted gone long time ago from his job, which club would trust their confidence on him again. Potter was on its own doing well at Brighton then Boehly blindly came with a bogus offer, imagine how it played out at the end.
Go go go
While the results weren’t what anyone wanted and many will condemn Potter for it, consider the following: 1) his tenure included a unprecedented number of incoming transfers that he had to try and integrate into a squad that had begun to struggle under Tuchel as early as a year ago; and 2) his tenure included a nearly unprecedented number of injuries to core players. To say nothing of Kante, the loss of James and Chilwell on the outside left a squad (without a true #9) that already struggled to find the back of the net virtually toothless. Potter then searched, largely in vain, to find an alternative formation/lineup. Would/could a different manager really have done that much better? Anyone who responds with an emphatic/unequivocal “yes” really hasn’t been paying attention.
Potter will no doubt go down as another in an ever-growing list of failed Chelsea managers (because we don’t seem to have the patience to keep anyone longer than 24 months), but his record at Brighton points to a guy that knows football and will eventually land back on his feet. Criticize the on-field results all you like, but (unlike a number of our past managers), Potter was a class act through and through and I wish him well.
How much did Porter pay you to write this? A good manager must be able to navigate through difficult situations and long term injuries shouldn’t be an excuse for getting smashed like that especially when you spend that much in a single transfer window to remedy the situation