Business end: Potter must prove himself at Chelsea
(Picture: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali told Graham Potter his job would not hinge on Champions League qualification the first time he walked into Chelsea’s Cobham training ground.
That was only on September 8, but since then Britain has had two monarchs, two Prime Ministers and three Chancellors of the Exchequer.
Only failure to reach next term’s European top table would reveal whether Chelsea’s new owners actually hold their nerve on that pledge. Potter will be chief among those hoping to render it a moot point by virtue of a stirring second half to the season.
So, as the most truncated campaign in Premier League history grinds back into gear, Chelsea’s new era will finally start to spill its secrets.
Just how many more Parliamentarians Potter can see off in his Blues tenure remains to be seen. Should Boehly and Eghbali be able to mirror the LA Dodgers’ settled stewardship, as is the aim, then Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng and Co will be delightfully distant memories before Potter relinquishes the helm at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have ushered in a sizeable cohort of new technical and sporting staff since Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel, not least the new boss’s right-hand recruitment man, Kyle Macaulay. New technical director Christopher Vivell even rates Chelsea’s overhaul as the “most exciting project in global football”.
Those who work closely with Boehly and Eghbali characterise the successful business duo as laser-focused, and so precisely not the type to tire of building a lasting impact. The promotion of academy supremo Neil Bath to a wider-ranging role only underlines further the ownership group’s attempts to future-proof the Blues.
Potter entirely fits the boardroom bill at the new-look Chelsea: an educated, thoughtful operator who knows how to manage up, as well as down.
Tuchel paid the price for refusing to cut a more corporate edge with Chelsea’s structured new leadership set-up. Potter will not fall through such a trap.
Solihull-born Potter enjoyed a potent start to life at Chelsea in a nine-match unbeaten run. But the World Cup wind-down unravelled in a run of four defeats in five matches across all competitions.
And so Potter comes back to the cut and thrust of Premier League life under pressure for short-term gains, especially to climb the table from their eighth place.
Goals, and more of them, will also be on the agenda. Chelsea would sit 13th in a league table of goals scored. Manchester City’s 40 goals in 14 games dwarfs the Blues’ 17 in the same span.
Armando Broja’s knee injury will put extra strain on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but the Gabon hitman would desperately love to carry the goal load in any case.
A Boxing Day battle with Bournemouth offers the ideal chance for Chelsea to relaunch their campaign in style, but the World Cup hiatus will doubtless throw up some jarring results. Potter and Co will be all too aware of the potential chaos caused by squads mixed between players shaking off World Cup fatigue and emotion and those itching to get back into action.
Now, more than ever, those coaches prepared to plumb the depths of their squads could well reap rewards, where freshness and focus could for once skew established pecking orders.
Potter has never been afraid to rotate resources and routines, and Chelsea will hope that strategy pays off in a hectic run ahead.
A four-day home and away double-header against City in early January already looms large. The Thursday-night home League clash has enough riding on it in isolation, even before the Sunday trip to the Etihad in the FA Cup third round.
The Blues must also face Liverpool at Anfield in the League before the Champions League last-16 clash with Borussia Dortmund.
By mid-March, Potter’s Chelsea will either be mainlining momentum, or mindful of the owners’ European caveat.
