Graham Potter had impressed in big way as the Brighton & Hove Albion manager. As a result, when Todd Boehly made the decision to sack Thomas Tuchel, in spite of the fact that he had won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with the Blues, Boehly chose Potter as his replacement. The idea was that Chelsea were going to take a more long-term approach to managers moving forwards, with the hope being that Potter could implement his plans and create an environment in which the club boomed. In the end, however, he failed to impress and was sacked on the second of April 2023.
Potter the Player
Graham Stephen Potter was born in Solihull on the 20th of May 1975. His footballing career began when he was 17-years-old when he joined Birmingham City as a trainee, playing 25 league games as a left-back and scoring two goals. It wasn’t enough to encourage Birmingham to keep him, so he completed a loan move to Wycombe Wanderers in 1993. He played just three times there, being sold to Stoke City on 1993, where he remained for three years and played 45 times in the league. From there he moved to Southampton, being part of the team that famously defeated Manchester United 6-3 in 1996.
Another move was on the cards for Potter at the end of the 1996-1997 season, having played just eight league games for the Saints. This time it was West Bromwich Albion that signed him up, playing 43 league games over three years that also included loan moves to Northampton Town and Reading. In 2000 he moved to York City, which was the club at which he spent the longest time, playing 114 times in the league and scoring five goals. In 2003 he went to Boston United, being sent on loan to Shrewsbury Town before finishing up his career at Macclesfield Town. He played 57 times in the league for the Silkmen, scoring six goals.
Becoming a Coach
At the end of his playing career, Graham Potter received support from the Professional Footballers’ Association to do a degree in Social Sciences with the Open University. He got a job working as the Football Development Manager for the University of Hull, also being the Technical Director for the Ghana women’s team during the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup. From there, he was able to gain a position as the Assistant Coach for the England Universities squad, then he joined Leeds Metropolitan University with a similar role. It was whilst at Leeds that he competed his MSc in Leadership: Personal & Professional Development.
In 2008, Potter became the Manager of Leeds Carnegie, who were playing in the Northern Counties East League Division One, very much determined as he was to make his way up through the divisions and gain as much experience as possible. In the December of 2010 he signed a three-year contract to become the coach of Östersund, who were playing in the Swedish fourth-tier at the time. After two successive promotions, he extended his contract and helped the club make it into the Swedish top-tier for the first time in the club’s history. Potter was applauded for implementing a slick passing game, winning the Svenska Cupen in 2017.
After seeing Östersund do well in Europe, including defeating Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium, Potter was given the manager’s job at Championship side Swansea City. As well as doing well domestically, Potter led the Swans to the quarter-final of the FA Cup, losing 3-2 having been 2-0 up within 30 minutes. Brighton & Hove Albion were on the lookout for a new manager, having sacked Chris Hughton, and approached Swansea to enquire about taking Potter from them. Their approach was rejected, with Swansea offering him a new contract, but when he turned that down they gave him permission to talk to the Seagulls.
Becoming Chelsea Boss
Potter took over at Brighton & Hove Albion on the 20th of May 2019, helping the club to their first league double over Arsenal. His first campaign in charge at the Amex saw the club rack up their most points in a season as well as score the most goals, finishing 15th. Although the following season started slowly, he led them to their first league win over Liverpool at Anfield since 1982, with the Merseyside club being the defending champions at the time. They once again got 41 points, albeit finishing a position lower than the previous season. In his third season, the club best Manchester United 4-0 at the Amex, the biggest top-flight result for the Seagulls.
All of this was not going unnoticed at other Premier League clubs, including Chelsea. When Brighton defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford, the first time they had done so, followed by a 5-2 win over Leicester City that saw the Seagulls score five goals in a game for the first time, Todd Boehly decided that he was the right manager to replace Thomas Tuchel, who had been sacked on September the seventh. Brighton confirmed the departure of Potter, as well as five members of his backroom staff, on the eighth of September, with Chelsea paying around £21 million to secure the signatures of the managerial team.
Bulleted by the Blues
Potter signed a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge, drawing 1-1 with Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League in his first match in charge. His first win came when Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace 2-1, having been 1-0 down. His first loss came against his former club Brighton & Hove Albion on the 29th of October, with the Seagulls winning 4-1 under new manager Roberto de Zerbi. The Blues also exited the FA Cup in the third round for the first time since 1999 when they were beaten 4-0 by Manchester City. This saw Potter come under scrutiny by both the media and Chelsea supporters, with the club struggling for any sort of form.
Initially, Todd Boehly hung on, clinging to the idea of a new-look Chelsea that wouldn’t be so quick to sack managers at the first sign of trouble. There was a hope that it was just taking Potter some time to get his methods across to his new players, but when the club lost 1-0 to bottom of the table Southampton on the 18th of February, some supporters began to call for his resignation. Luckily for Potter, Boehly continued to back him even when most of the rest of the Chelsea board had turned against him. Chelsea limped on, with Potter’s position at least made partially secure thanks to the club’s success in the Champions League.
On the seventh of March, the Blues overturned a first-leg loss in the Champions League quarter-final in order to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on aggregate. This was obviously seen as a positive, but when Chelsea lost 2-0 against Aston Villa on the second of April, it was decided that enough was enough. Potter was dismissed, with one of the coaches that he’d brought with him from Brighton, Bruno Saltor, taking over as the manager for the club’s next game against Liverpool. They drew that match 0-0, with Frank Lampard taking over for the rest of the season. Potter left the club having lost 11 of the 31 games that he managed.