“We are fortunate to have Graham as a partner on this journey”, explained Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali in early September as part of Graham Potter’s signing. Around seven months later, the 47-year-old coach was fired again. It is the culmination so far of a chaotic period at the 2021 Champions League winners, which began around a year ago when investors Eghbali and Todd Boehly took over the club.
Chaotic, expensive, sometimes seemingly arbitrary transfer policy, strange statements by the new owners about 4-4-3 systems, the early dismissal of Thomas Tuchel, the botched departure of Hakim Ziyech to PSG, where Chelsea submitted the wrong transfer documents three times and now the Potter off.
The dismissal from a purely sporting point of view is quite understandable. Chelsea lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa on Saturday and are eleventh in the Premier League. When Tuchel was fired, the club was sixth. And yet Chelsea in the Causa Potter gives anything but a good picture. Because the circumstances surrounding the dismissal are worrying.
Bloated squad
In a detailed background report, ‘The Athletic‘How the coach was fired and outlines a completely chaotic club environment. The club’s transfer policy, which was supposed to help Potter, did him more harm than good. As a reminder, Chelsea signed a total of 15 new players in summer and winter for a combined sum of over 600 million euros.
Nominally a lot of quality, but also a big problem for Potter: Because officially there are now 32 players in the Blues professional squad – almost every one of them has a regular place claim. If there were youth players who were supposed to get a taste of the training of the first team, Potter sometimes had to instruct 33 to 40 players.
Weird Scenes
‘The Athletic’ describes bizarre scenes: Team meetings held in a purpose-built media center at the training ground were so crowded that players had to sit on the floor. The dressing room was at times bursting at the seams. The result: players changing in the hallways. In training, eleven-against-eleven exercises were accompanied by a nine-against-nine counterpart on the neighboring square. Effective training looks different. ‘The Athletic’ concludes: “Such a number of players is uncontrollable.”
So could Potter only fail? Possibly, but some peculiarities of the former Brighton coach have apparently accelerated his decline. According to ‘The Athletic’, the 47-year-old had an authority problem within the dressing room. Behind his back he was partly from players „Harry“ or „Hogwarts“ been called.
Potter too nice?
While Potter was popular and the nicknames should not be taken as a mere insult, neither he nor any member of his staff played the role of „Bad Cops“ want to take. On the contrary: Potter asked a leader in confidence if the team liked him, which was taken as a sign of weakness within the team.
True to the motto: A trainer does not have to be nice, but successful. Also, Ziyech, who was supposed to be gone in the winter, reintegrated Potter with a starting XI in early February instead of no longer considering the Moroccan. Morally correct, after all, Ziyech didn’t get into trouble, but that didn’t make the bloated squad any smaller. No practice group two at Stamford Bridge.
Potter apparently did not receive any support in dealing with the club’s problems. “At times he had the impression of steering an overloaded ship alone through a storm”, ‘The Athletic’ describes the emotional world of the coach. It is also a result of the club takeover by Boehly and Eghbali.
“The club has changed massively”
After the club was sold, the new owners restructured Chelsea. New positions were created, old ones changed in their area of responsibility, and established staff were dismissed. A smooth sports machine has not yet developed from this behind the scenes either, according to the report, the impression has reinforced among the players that Chelsea is in a transition phase.
Former coach Tuchel recently said that his departure from Stamford Bridge took him away, “because I worked there for a long time and made lifelong friendships there. But the club has changed massively, which has also made it easier to keep your distance.” Now that Potter is also forced to distance himself from Chelsea, who will take over at the Blues? It cannot yet be answered, but one thing seems clear: a chaotic working environment awaits the new coach.
