Graham Potter (Now Sacked ) - *Official* New (Now Old) Chelsea Manager

[Sexyfootball]

9 minutes ago, forbzy said:

We've never really heard Tuchel's side of this story.

I'll be amazed if we ever do.

Almost certainly had to sign some sort of NDA, and his pay off is probably linked to maintaining complete silence ... 

[Dean]

Just now, Argo said:

If I'm honest as gutted as I was I think looking back it was the right call, for him as much as any other reason.

I was travelling in obscure places at the time so didn't have time to watch anything but highlights (was barely posting here either as my posting history will attest too) but for some reason the other day I looked at his post match interviews after Zagreb for the first time and he looked on the brink of a mental breakdown.

I don't hold any grudges the way I do Conte as i genuinely believe he was trying hard still but I think the divorce, the sanctions and having to play director in the summer broke him and brought back the "volatile Tuchel".

It’s definitely plausible even if it’s not what I want to think. But I’m still not going to form any opinions based on what boehly apparently said to Simon Jordan. And if it were true that Tuchel was having a breakdown, it’s kind of classless to leak it to Simon Jordan of all people. 

[Argo]

Just now, Drogba1 said:

Guardiola was on the verge of tears in his interviews after his first few months at City, they kept faith in him and look what he did. It was a rough patch, especially with the turmoil the club was in. But if we were ever going to have a 'process' , that was the time to give Tuchel the faith and back him through thick and thin

Can't say i remember that but I also remember Pep practically gave up the greatest team of all time (and the chance to manage the MSN era) because his head was gone.

And given Tuchel signed up on a retreat shortly after strongly suggested he needed the break.

[Dean]

1 hour ago, JM7 said:

I feel like with Potter, there is the basics of a good manager there. Decent, hard working, friendly etc.

Unfortunately he really lacks that killer instinct and edge. Most elite managers are wired differently to normal. Potter unfortunately comes across as a normal guy. 

Applies to much in life. To REALLY succeed you have to be a bit of a psycho. That’s how I console myself over my many failures anyway 

[Argo]

4 minutes ago, Dean said:

It’s definitely plausible even if it’s not what I want to think. But I’m still not going to form any opinions based on what boehly apparently said to Simon Jordan. And if it were true that Tuchel was having a breakdown, it’s kind of classless to leak it to Simon Jordan of all people. 

To be honest I couldn't really care less what Jordan did or didn't say (although I do have a begrudging respect for him purely because he doesn't follow the party lines 99.9% of pundits do) and I don't even blame Tuchel if he did get to that point mentally, we're all human, I've quit jobs myself for that reason.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Argo

[Drogba1]

1 minute ago, Dean said:

Applies to much in life. To REALLY succeed you have to be a bit of a psycho. That’s how I console myself over my many failures anyway 

Yeah, it's like a lot of the Ronaldo bashing. Sure he's arrogant, but that's what led him to his incredible career and becoming the highest scorer ever. The same with a lot of professional fighters, it's hard to become the elite of the elite at sport whilst being completely normal.

[Dean]

Just now, Argo said:

To be honest I couldn't really care less what Jordan did or didn't say (although I do have a begrudging respect for him purely because he doesn't follow the parry lines 99.9% of pundits do) and I don't even blame Tuchel if he did get to that point mentally, we're all human, I've quit jobs myself for that reason.

Yes the Simon Jordan stuff wasn’t  directed at you. More of a general venting 🙂 I’ve discussed with others on here (maybe with you too?) the stress of divorce. How In many industries it effectively rules people out of key responsibilities / roles that involve a lot of stress. And being a manage of a top football team is an extremely demanding job, so….

[icecoolguy22]

Players had a great week, injury list reduced, identified the core reason for our failure so far ( that damn pre-season), still sh1t on the field if not worse. When you have lots of ex-players from rivals clubs defending him, you know the right thing to do is to do the opposite. Leeds manager would pray we keep Potter for another week.  Pundits  keep saying we just need a striker, but that was the problem for last season, right now we are all over the place. We have signed defenders, midfielders, wingers, yet we look at the way we been conceding, and the limited chances created, we'd still be the same even if we signed the next 100M striker. Hell, he could be on the bench for 80 minutes. There are no patterns in our way, again noted we had a sh1t pre-season 6 months ago 🤔 Whether we like Tuchel's 343 or not, there's at least logic and patterns in that. James and Chiwell, who had so much success with 343, are almost unrecognizable in attack these days.

[Dean]

4 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

Yeah, it's like a lot of the Ronaldo bashing. Sure he's arrogant, but that's what led him to his incredible career and becoming the highest scorer ever. The same with a lot of professional fighters, it's hard to become the elite of the elite at sport whilst being completely normal.

💯 Djokovic almost certainly another one in sport. But I would wager Nadal/Federer too, though they have/had the reputation of the “nice guys”.

[Shug]

Just F’ing embarrassing today.

 

Something has to change. Either the players all need to grow a pair or Harry Potter has to go

[axman2526]

Back your man Todd and Co or let him go now.

No more written statements from third parties. Come out and do an interview that you believe in him, back him and he is here next season, or put him put of his misery. 

You are leaving him liked the proverbial hanged man here, all alone on his island with the sharks closing in. These players feel they can just pi$$ about without a care in the world and take home their big wages and suffer nothing for it, cause there will always be another manager but they get security.

You have created a lot of problems, better get to fixing them or your investors will be unhappy, not to mention the many angry fans who will be out for blood if you kill our club.

[Scott Harris]

5 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Back your man Todd and Co or let him go now.

No more written statements from third parties. Come out and do an interview that you believe in him, back him and he is here next season, or put him put of his misery. 

You are leaving him liked the proverbial hanged man here, all alone on his island with the sharks closing in. These players feel they can just pi$$ about without a care in the world and take home their big wages and suffer nothing for it, cause there will always be another manager but they get security.

You have created a lot of problems, better get to fixing them or your investors will be unhappy, not to mention the many angry fans who will be out for blood if you kill our club.

I sympathise with the players for once. When the manager is sitting them down to watch that all or nothing Arsenal documentary, I would completely understand them if they think this guy is clueless. They were crowned Champions League winners less than 2 years ago and Club World Champions a year ago, with most of them just starting their careers. Arsenal were the ones needing to play catch up with us, now we have Potter saying we need to emulate them? It's insulting. It's evidently clear that Potter has bought into this rubbish that the club was a mess before he arrived, but I'm just not having it. The club was not a mess, it's been turned into a mess thanks to this gung ho approach from the owners and horrible coaching by Potter.

[Dean]

27 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I sympathise with the players for once. When the manager is sitting them down to watch that all or nothing Arsenal documentary, I would completely understand them if they think this guy is clueless. They were crowned Champions League winners less than 2 years ago and Club World Champions a year ago, with most of them just starting their careers. Arsenal were the ones needing to play catch up with us, now we have Potter saying we need to emulate them? It's insulting. It's evidently clear that Potter has bought into this rubbish that the club was a mess before he arrived, but I'm just not having it. The club was not a mess, it's been turned into a mess thanks to this gung ho approach from the owners and horrible coaching by Potter.

Yeah I also tend to think the players are the least guilty party in this. I’m not normally one to defend them either. I think if there’s any player power here, it’s a symptom, not a cause. They get paid an obscene amount of money to kick a ball around, I get it. but if they’re not being coached properly and not being inspired, theyre not going to perform. I don’t think any of them is deliberately playing badly. 

[Scott Harris]

57 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Simon Jordan defend Bohley by saying that he would have also sacked Tuchel given his behaviour behind the scenes. Jason Cundy also said similar stuff and seemed to have inside knowledge. So I think as much as we don’t like the decision, it was probably right. 

I don't trust the insider knowledge coming out of our club. Not long ago we had them saying Rudiger was a bully to the young players and one of the main reasons why Lampard was sacked, something Rudiger and the players denied. Just look at the things Chalobah said about Rudiger when he was on loan at other clubs. If the leaker is the same leaker we have now, then they are a sh*t stirrer.

I have said this a few times now, but there is so much spin going on at the club since Tuchel was sacked. They spin things to justify the crap we see on the pitch every game, so I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing is happening with Tuchel's sacking.

[just]

Ex-Crystal Palace and Republic of Ireland forward Clinton Morrison added: "I wanted Graham Potter to get a big job. I thought the job he did at Brighton was excellent and I thought he was ready to make the next step.

"I thought he would be a success at Chelsea. It hasn't worked out. I'm not completely writing him off because I still think he will turn it around with time but you don't get time in the Premier League.

"Potter lost some Chelsea fans before he stepped foot in the club. Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League in his first season in charge. Even though the team was on a bad run, the fans didn't want Tuchel to go.

"If fans don't want you at their club - it doesn't matter that the hierarchy say they believe in you - in the end the fans will win."

[BordeauxBlue]

In a nutshell, my worst fear was that the job was too big for Potter. I'm afraid that fear was well founded. 

 

If he's in the dugout for Dortmund I have no doubt we'll be out. And where do we go from there? 

Edited February 26, 2023 by BordeauxBlue

[Argo]

2 minutes ago, just said:

Ex-Crystal Palace and Republic of Ireland forward Clinton Morrison added: "I wanted Graham Potter to get a big job. I thought the job he did at Brighton was excellent and I thought he was ready to make the next step.

"I thought he would be a success at Chelsea. It hasn't worked out. I'm not completely writing him off because I still think he will turn it around with time but you don't get time in the Premier League.

"Potter lost some Chelsea fans before he stepped foot in the club. Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League in his first season in charge. Even though the team was on a bad run, the fans didn't want Tuchel to go.

"If fans don't want you at their club - it doesn't matter that the hierarchy say they believe in you - in the end the fans will win."

I don't agree with the last part. While ofcourse many were upset with Tuchel's sacking most treated the appointment or Potter as a separate entity.

Even if that was true results win fans round, we'll never truly know but I'd say he was made a lot more welcome than Tuchel would have been had there been a crowd for his first game.

[Frankie8Lampard]

1 hour ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Players had a great week, injury list reduced, identified the core reason for our failure so far ( that damn pre-season), still sh1t on the field if not worse. When you have lots of ex-players from rivals clubs defending him, you know the right thing to do is to do the opposite. Leeds manager would pray we keep Potter for another week.  Pundits  keep saying we just need a striker, but that was the problem for last season, right now we are all over the place. We have signed defenders, midfielders, wingers, yet we look at the way we been conceding, and the limited chances created, we'd still be the same even if we signed the next 100M striker. Hell, he could be on the bench for 80 minutes. There are no patterns in our way, again noted we had a sh1t pre-season 6 months ago 🤔 Whether we like Tuchel's 343 or not, there's at least logic and patterns in that. James and Chiwell, who had so much success with 343, are almost unrecognizable in attack these days.

I don't think pundits are backing him that much. Andy Townsend, who is usually a huge fan of giving managers time, was going in on him in commentary during the final parts of the game.

[axman2526]

8 minutes ago, BordeauxBlue said:

In a nutshell, my worst fear was that the job was too big for Potter. I'm afraid that fear was well founded. 

 

If he's in the dugout for Dortmund I have no doubt we'll be out. And where do we go from there? 

Why do you always end up being right? It would be alright if you were saying good things would happen but shesh if it is not all the black clouds that come around...;)

[bluehaze]

1 hour ago, Dean said:

Applies to much in life. To REALLY succeed you have to be a bit of a psycho. That’s how I console myself over my many failures anyway 

Thank you mother.

[Drogba1]

Apparently the board are still backing him according to Fabrizio Romano. We're completely f*cked aren't we

[axman2526]

47 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I sympathise with the players for once. When the manager is sitting them down to watch that all or nothing Arsenal documentary, I would completely understand them if they think this guy is clueless. They were crowned Champions League winners less than 2 years ago and Club World Champions a year ago, with most of them just starting their careers. Arsenal were the ones needing to play catch up with us, now we have Potter saying we need to emulate them? It's insulting. It's evidently clear that Potter has bought into this rubbish that the club was a mess before he arrived, but I'm just not having it. The club was not a mess, it's been turned into a mess thanks to this gung ho approach from the owners and horrible coaching by Potter.

Fair points on most of what you say there I cannot disagree with Scott, but saying the club was not in a mess? Come on mate.

In those months leading up to the takeover we could not sell tickets, the hotel, shop, bars etc were all closed and staff missing out on their jobs. Our club faced the real possibility of being liquidated. So no I guess not a mess, it was a full blown crisis.

Then follow that up with a fire sale and on to the new owners, who leave me a tad concerned as well.

Before the sanctions we were not a mess, just a squad needing a proper refresh. After, huge difference.

[axman2526]

4 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

Apparently the board are still backing him according to Fabrizio Romano. We're completely f*cked aren't we

Come on Drogs, just embrace eternity in Potter wonderland....

[Argo]

8 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

Apparently the board are still backing him according to Fabrizio Romano. We're completely f*cked aren't we

He's also saying things can change.

This has AVB vibes, ala the owner wants to stick with him but his hand is being forced.

[Ibby_786]