It’s NOT win or bust for Potter
No top four, no problem for new Chelsea manager
CHELSEA intend to stick with Graham Potter even if he were to miss out on Champions League qualification. Potter was named as Thomas Tuchel’s successor on Thursday, with his new employers expecting a top- four finish to be the minimum achieved this season along with a run deep into Europe’s top competition.
However, the Todd BoehlyClearlake Capital consortium that now own Chelsea are preparing for the long-term with Potter and also the club.
They do not see one year out of the competition as reason to rip up those plans or an outcome that would leave Potter in danger of losing his job.
After assessing Chelsea from top to bottom in their first 100 days they are confident they have got it right in making Potter their first managerial appointment and have full faith in what they have mapped out for the club.
Potter has been handed a fiveyear contract and is also understood to have been told that he will get the time he needs to make things work. Potter left Brighton fourth in table, three points clear of Chelsea in sixth.
The Londoners have lost three of their seven games so far this season, including Tuesday’s shock Champions League loss against Dinamo Zagreb, which turned out to be Tuchel’s final game.
However, according to senior sources, there is an acceptance that Chelsea missed a vital opportunity to gel as a team with much of their transfer business being done towards the end of the window and a firm belief that a much-improved team will emerge as the season progresses, led by new man Potter.
Chelsea’s previous regime led by Roman Abramovich were not afraid to sack managers for failing to meet expectations at the end of a season or even part-way through when results or performances were deemed to not be up to scratch, leaving their prospects of success in danger.
Carlo Ancelotti lost his job at the end of the 2010--11 season when finishing hing second but trophyless phyless just a yearr aafter fter winning the club’s first — and only — league and cup double. Luiz Felipe Scolari, Andres Villas-Boas, Roberto di Matteo, Jose Mourinho, in his second Chelsea spell, and Frank Lampard all departed mid-season.
The new hierarchy’s position on Potter, therefore, represents a shift in outlook from the top of Chelsea.
Potter has proved what he can accomplish and how he can overachieve given time, part of the reasonreas Boehly and Co turnedtu to him to replace Tuchel.
He spent more than seven years at Swedish side Ostersund, guiding them from the fourth tier to the first and into the Europa League.
After one season at Swansea, he was appointed Brighton head coach in May 2019 following their 17th-placed finish. He led them to 15th, 16th and ninth — a highest top-flight finish, with record points and goal tallies — having introduced an eye- catching style of play and left in a healthy financial position after improving a string of players to the extent Brighton have been able to bank significant sums for them.
He will be reunited with one of them at Chelsea in left back Marc Cucurella, who moved to London last month after a year under Potter at Brighton in a deal worth up to £62million.
Potter met and trained his new squad for the first time yesterday. With today’s lunchtime trip to Fulham being cancelled following the death of the Queen, Potter is now set to take charge of his first game against RB Salzburg at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League on Wednesday.