BOTCH JOBS
But Potter has path back
HE MIGHT have the same surname as the most famous wizard on the planet.
But when it comes to repairing his managerial reputation, there will be no magic wand for Graham Potter. One thing Potter could do, however, is put in a call to David Moyes (inset). The two of them have a lot in common.
Both were chewed up and spat out by clubs that proved too big for them.
Both were the victims of their own success in previous roles elsewhere. Both were also casualties of a chaotic and calamitous reign which saw haphazard signings and overpriced flops foisted on them.
And both lasted just a matter of months before being put out of their respective miseries.
The parallels between Potter’s time at Chelsea and Moyes’ doomed spell as Manchester United boss are startling.
Moyes thought he had served his apprenticeship at both Preston and Everton to justify being Sir Alex Ferguson’s No.1 choice to replace him at Old Trafford in 2013.
But the so-called ‘Chosen One’ didn’t know what had hit him once he walked through the doors of the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ and set about the task of pulling off the impossible: filling the shoes of the greatest British manager of all time.
It turned into a nightmare which overwhelmed him and he was sacked within 10 months. “My stock had dropped,” recalled Moyes. “I got reminded of it by journalists asking questions like, ‘Have you redeemed yourself?’ and ‘You’ve made yourself much better, haven’t you?’
“I never really felt that low personally but it sounds like, in the outside world, there was that impression of David Moyes. “I was a bit surprised by that, but I can understand it. In a way, it has driven me on to try and challenge it.”
Moyes went to Spain to deal with the pain and managed Real Sociedad, but the bulk of his rehabilitation took place at West Ham, where he saved them from relegation and even led the club into Europe.
The durable Scot might be battling to save his own skin right now, but there is no doubt he has reminded football just what a good manager he still is.
Potter, who lasted just seven months at Chelsea, now faces the same challenges, questions and period of self-reflection as he picks through the rubble he’s left behind at Stamford Bridge.
But if he took the trouble to seek solace and advice from someone like Moyes, it’s a safe bet he would tell the Englishman he hasn’t become a bad boss.
That he remains a manager who, given the right club, amount of time and a decent centre-forward, can build something special again, like he did at Brighton.
It wasn’t too long ago Potter was viewed as the natural successor to Gareth Southgate as England boss.
But by the time Southgate had decided not to step down in the wake of the World Cup, Potter had taken the Chelsea gig and the rest, as they say, is history.
Potter will feel broken, for sure, because he deserved better than what he got at the Blues.
However, Moyes is living proof that people like him can be fixed, even if it might just be temporarily.