"It is what it is. You hear a lot of people say 'there's no loyalty' - well there isn't. Because if you lose a few games there'll be people shouting for you to be sacked pretty quickly. “if they think I'm not the right guy for them, in terms of results, they'll make a change. Regardless of whether I'm a good guy or not, it's nothing to do with that, it's because they have to make a change."
Those were the words of Graham Potter a couple of months before he would be approached by Todd Boehly to replace Thomas Tuchel in the Chelsea dugout.
He knew what he was getting himself into, the only shock might have been how quickly things went awry. But to assume that Potter is unaware of the brutal reality of elite football would be a naive approach.
There are several ways to analyse the failure of Potter at Chelsea. Is it the tale of a man out of his depth? The consequence of new ownership lacking cohesion? Or a set of circumstances that would have been tough for any coach to navigate?
There is probably a bit of truth is all of that. The weird conflict to wrangle with is that it is hard to feel like Potter failed to deal with Chelsea’s culture of the last two decades, even though we are now living under new ownership. But that was always going to be the litmus test for him and the risk Chelsea’s new owners took when they opted to make such a divisive change.
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The question now becomes what next? Do the principles and beliefs this ownership group publicly proclaim to live by get tossed to the side after facing the wrath of supporters' outrage? Will the temptation be for a win-now coach after seeing their £600m spend leave them in the bottom half of the Premier League table, the laughing stock of the footballing establishment and with a squad reeling from a chaotic campaign?
There should be some non-negotiables in who they approach next. Potter was a very good coach, whose reputation pre this fiasco was merited. The rewriting of Chelsea supporters to paint Potter as a mere “yes-man” for Boehly’s experiment is a sad indictment of the social media age of lazy debate.
Potter did brilliant things at Ostersunds and Brighton, and it will be little shock when he finds himself in a more stable role and starts reproducing those previously good habits that put him in a place to be considered for such a big role in September.
Potter did not buck his principles. He did not try to become something he is not to appease critics in public. That should be applauded in a world where it appears people clamour for characters who are ego-driven and confrontational. Through the toxicity of death threats, personal abuse and nonsense allegations, he never let that anger boiling under the surface show.
Being a good human being should not be cited as a reason he failed at Chelsea.
But when appointing his successor, there is a compromise the new hierarchy have to come to terms with. You need someone who can speak to a demanding audience, one who have been served a diet of consistent success, and more crucially, witnessed some of the continent's top coaches come through the door.
You need someone who has dealt within the madhouse of big clubs. The internal politics and big superstars probably overwhelmed Potter who had operated with players at a lower level and has a knack for extracting the best out of them.
But crucially, Chelsea’s new owners have to grasp that the coach should no longer be treated as God within the system. He is a coach that aligns with a broader approach, he ticks boxes for an identity that runs consistently throughout the club.
Part of Chelsea’s problems stretching back over the past decade has been focusing all efforts on the whim of one personality. Buying players for them, reshaping things just for them, when in modern football it should work the other way around. That means that when they inevitably depart if things go wrong, your whole system isn’t completely blown up.
Chelsea probably took the wrong lessons from Brighton. As much as Potter was a reflection of a club maximising its resources, the sound thinking running through the club has been best reflected by the smooth transition to Roberto De Zerbi, building from the foundations built before.
That is what Chelsea needs to be. Investing everything around “the guy” has proven a flawed strategy with Potter. The continuity of Christopher Vivell, Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart and Joe Shields should help guide that plan – whatever it is.
What are the key things within a checklist Chelsea’s new think tank are looking for? A brand of football? Working well with younger players? Having experience in being able to collaborate well with a sporting director before?
That is one side of it. The other will be communicating with a set of supporters who have dealt with a lot of upheaval over the past 12 months. Two head coaches, sanctions, a takeover and rapid change, not all of it welcomed.
The character that comes in needs to be able to communicate their ideas well to supporters, to forge that connection early, something which Potter could not. If Chelsea still feel that they want a guy at the helm for multiple years then they need to be prepared for some rocky moments, it helps if the guy in the dugout can forge a connection with those inside the stands.
These things may sound simplistic but the stand-off approach Potter did not blend well with Chelsea, especially coming after Thomas Tuchel who was one of the best speakers ever to grace west London. His opening press conference following the controversial sacking of a club icon is the only one to even rival Jose Mourinho’s infamous “special one” speech.
Results matter more than nice platitudes and catchphrases, but it gives you a connection from the off, and it potentially buys you a bit more time and sympathy when you encounter a difficult run.
Stamford Bridge needs to feel like a united place again, for everyone’s sake. For a while, it has felt like a hub for disappointment and discontent, and that is from the beginning of 2022, not just since Potter came in.
A young group of players that have been invested in need that support behind them, the sort shortly captured against Borussia Dortmund to great effect. A galvaniser who can couple a strong personality with a coaching acumen to construct a progressive unit with a talented group should not be mission impossible.
This next call will be informative on how Chelsea can begin to reconcile with a terrible season.
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