Chelsea are on the lookout for their next manager after sacking Graham Potter.
The former Brighton boss lasted less than seven months after leaving the south coast club to take charge at Stamford Bridge. Defeat to Aston Villa proved the final straw with Chelsea dropping into the bottom half of the Premier League table and staring at their worst top flight finish in 27 years.
The sacking of Potter has raised a host of questions about Chelsea's new ownership, led by Todd Boehly, and, inevitably, who will be the next man to take charge of the most expensively assembled squad in football.
With all that in mind, we asked our Mirror Football writers...were Chelsea right to sack Graham Potter and who should be their next manager?
David McDonnell
Ultimately, Graham Potter may not have been the right fit for Chelsea, who should never have parted ways with Thomas Tuchel in the first place.
But Potter wasn't helped by the hierarchy at Chelsea, who forced him to work with a bloated, unbalanced squad, full of new players. No wonder Potter struggled to hit upon his best side and system, with so many personnel - 32 in total - and with no effective and reliable striker to call upon.
Like so many managers in the modern game, working under impatient owners who demand immediate success, Potter was not given the time he needed to implement his philosophy and build a platform for sustained progress and success, as he did at Brighton.
Given Tuchel's brutal sacking, having led Chelsea to the Champions League, Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, Potter wil have known there were no guarantees about his long-term position at Stamford Bridge. But his dismissal, after owner Todd Boehly had appointed him and talked of the need for continuity with the manager in order to achieve sustained success, was an all too familiar throwback to the hiring and firing culture of former owner Roman Abramovich.
Julian Nagelsmann is the obvious candidate to take over at Chelsea, following his dismissal by Bayern Munich, but whoever takes the job at Stamford Bridge does so at their own peril. Time is not a luxury afforded managers these days, as Potter can testify to his personal cost.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Were Chelsea right to sack Graham Potter? Who should be their next manager? Join the discussion in the comments section.
Mike Walters
Only in football would you pay £21 million to invoke a head coach's release clause, hand him a five-year contract worth £10m-a-year, spend almost £700 million on new players - none of them a real centre-forward - and then sack him after six months.
In fact, only at Chelsea would such obscene largesse happen when there's a cost of living crisis and people all over the country have been struggling to heat their homes or going to food banks to put food on the table.
Graham Potter was dealt an impossible hand at Stamford Bridge: A bloated, over-priced, unbalanced squad, with too many players expecting regular first-team football and hardly any of them delivering on the pitch when given the shirt.
So who's next? Only candidates with experience of handling big names and even bigger egos need apply, which leaves Julian Nagelsmann - jettisoned by Bayern Munich for former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel last month - the obvious favourite.
Nagelsmann won the Bundesliga with Bayern last year and came runner-up with Red Bull Leipzig the previous season, so his star is still on the rise, despite his sacking at the Allianz Arena.
And although Mauricio Pochettino is available, remind me again: How many trophies did he win at Tottenham? (Come to think of it, how many trophies has anyone won at Tottenham since 2008?)
Simon Bird
In the end Graham Potter looked overwhelmed. His players looked unconvinced. He was making strange calls, wounds self inflicted, in team selection, and so became the second head coach to be sacked this season.
New owner Todd Boehly told us his regime would be different from the Abramovic era. Potter would be allowed time to build a team to win, and work through a period of transition. Given his club building and coaching at Brighton, it was hoped Potter would have the personal skills to manage the change.
But Stamford Bridge is a different dynamic. Those big personality mega-money players need an experienced trophy winning coach with global pull to crack the whip. One with an aura, who has an impact, picks up the odd trophy, and then, yes, expects the sack within 15 months to refresh the cycle. It’s the Chelsea way.
Despite chaotic spending on his behalf, Potter has no prolific scorer, and an injury list. Now they are being relegated from the European elite - even 7th place and the UEFA Conference league seems out of reach.
That means less income, FFP rules about to bite hard and players who will want out in a buyers market. Just as other clubs are on the rise. What a mess for, perhaps, Zinedine Zidane to inherit.
Alex Richards
Were Chelsea right to sack Graham Potter? Well, in terms of points accrued and the club being where they are compared with where they're expected to be, then yes, club officials were right to end his tenure.
But in terms of what the club's message has been throughout this season - of being about building for the long term and not making snap decisions - and given the bloated squad that Todd Boehly gave Potter to work with after their £300million January transfer clusterf***, then you can certainly make the argument that he should have been given more time, an opportunity to work when the chaos (caused by those above) had subsided.
As for who comes next, there is such general mayhem around that club right now and the public front has made such a song and dance about certain things - from sacking long-serving medical staff over Zoom to paying those vastly inflated transfer fees and dishing out mega-length contracts - that why would any of the game's genuine elite even want it? Especially when the undoubtedly elite manager they had, Thomas Tuchel, was sacked because he didn't like where he felt the club was heading.
As for those below the elite, Potter's reputation is in the mud and will need a fair amount of rehabbing at his next club to get him over this, why would you risk it other than for the financial guarantee? No doubt someone will jump at it, and if they're keeping Bruno Saltor until the summer then Julian Nagelsmann immediately leaps off the page.
But perhaps, it is another of Europe's most highly-prized young coaches to whom they should turn, in Sporting's Ruben Amorim. He's done a fine job in Lisbon since they gambled big to take him from Braga, and one of Europe's bigger leagues awaits him sooner rather than later.
James Nursey
No. The biggest failure at Stamford Bridge post Roman Abramovich , has been the chaotic and flawed reign of new owner Todd Boehly.
I thought the American might actually be shrewd and looking to build a long term sustainable future when he hired the impressive Potter, who is clearly a good coach.
For Boehly to then arrogantly assume he could handle the recruitment with little experience and spank hundreds of millions on various players, many of whom were seem ill-suited to Potter and the balance of the squad, was madness.
I know the dollar is strong against the pound and buys you a lot right now but it seems like chucking money away. Most coaches would struggle to get a settled side with a decent team spirit under those circumstances.
No doubt Potter will resurface in the higher echelons of the Premier League or in international football as I felt he was a potential future England boss.
But Boehly's stock, in football at least, is sinking fast after allegations he fell out spectacularly with Potter's predecessor Thomas Tuchel after regularly going into the changing room with a large entourage of hangers on and pals.
As for a new boss, I think Mauricio Pochettino deserves another Premier League job and would be a good hire but after a revolving door of players , mid-table is a realistic final finishing place at this rate.
Sam Meade
I don't think they were wrong to sack him, the problem really arose when they first hired him. With respect, you don't sack Tuchel to replace him with the Brighton manager, no matter how much potential you think he has.
Potter's problem was, whilst he didn't get very long in the role, he never offered enough spurts of optimism or promise to suggest he was ever going to really get it right. In many ways he orchestrated his own exit and can have few complaints, even if the hierarchy didn't necessarily make it easy.
Attention turns to who next and Boehly will surely have realised that spotting the next best thing is a lot harder in football than it may be in American sports. As a result a heavyweight name is likely to be more suited with Julian Nagelsmann and Mauricio Pochettino the two early names in the frame.
Both would command respect in the dressing room and have experience at leading European sides, which should help their cause and each have a clear philosophy that they've implemented successfully in the past.
Darren Wells
Yes. You feel for Potter, but ultimately results and performances weren't good enough and his time at Chelsea was turning into a horror show.
It's clear neither the fans nor the players had really got behind the manager, replacing Tuchel was always going to be a poisoned chalice. Chelsea's bloated squad didn't exactly help but he lost control of the situation quickly. He had to go.
The Blues now need a manager with the character to grab the bull by the horns and lead them into their next era. Julian Nagelsmann looks to be the obvious fit.
The German coach certainly doesn't lack confidence and will relish being the star attraction in London. He's worked with big-name players before and will bring an exciting, elite brand of football to Stamford Bridge.
There were rumours of discontent with the players at Bayern, though, which could pose problems, but at still only 35 he could be perfect for the 'long-term vision' of Chelsea's owners - if he gets the time to work his magic.
Jacob Leeks
Things clearly were not working out for Graham Potter at Chelsea, so it probably is better to cut ties sooner rather than later. The fans had turned against him and the defeat to Aston Villa gave no sign that the players were buying into his methods.
That being said, Chelsea chiefs clearly did not help their manager with the confusing splurge in the January transfer window. With Potter now on his way out, the Blues should push full throttle for Julian Nagelsmann.
The German has been successful in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga, developing a reputation as a wonderkid of coaching. Chelsea could be the perfect place for Nagelsmann to get back into management following his sacking by Bayern Munich, with the Blues likely handing him far more power over the dressing room than the German giants.
Tom Blow
No. Chelsea should have given Potter until the end of the season before assessing this mess they've gotten themselves in.
They shouldn't have sacked one of Europe's best managers in Tuchel; they shouldn't have spent more than £500million on new players; they shouldn't have handed out eight-year contracts.
Potter was the wrong man for the job, to be honest, but who are they going to replace him with at this stage of the season? Boehly will want Nagelsmann, yet it'll be difficult to get him so soon after his Bayern Munich exit.
They'll probably end up hiring the wrong manager and signing the wrong players again this summer because that's what Chelsea have become: a club that makes mistakes.
Boehly may eventually figure out how to run a football club, but when? The Chelsea chaos is likely to continue for a while yet.
Nathan Ridley
I'm reluctant to say this as I firmly believe that he can make it at an elite club, but yes.
Like plenty of his predecessors, Graham Potter failed to get a grip of a dressing room which is seemingly happy to chew up managers and spit them back out. Rarely did Chelsea - a tumultuous club at the best of times - look like they belonged to Potter, with supporter skepticism surrounding him as he stood on the touchline in the hope that something would finally click after six fruitless months.
As for who replaces him, the kind of 'win now' bosses such as Luis Enrique and Diego Simeone may have been the right fit under Roman Abramovich, but I think Julian Nagelsmann would be Todd Boehly's best bet. The German, still only 35, will be hungry to silence his critics back home after being sacked by Bayern Munich last month and his tactical flexibility coupled with a reputation of improving young players should suit this new-look Blues squad down to the ground.
He'd also fit into Boehly's grand plans for a multi-club model, with Nagelsmann having worked at RB Leipzig for two impressive campaigns. Potter, meanwhile, deserves a break after a brutal few months.
Ben Husband
Chelsea were left with no choice. Potter may be a wonderful coach, but from the day he was thrust into position at Stamford Bridge he appeared out of his depth - as is owner Todd Boehly. Unfortunately for Potter, Boehly is the man bankrolling the misguided project and so his incompetence will be forgiven.
Julian Nagelsmann is the obvious choice to replace Potter, but there must be serious doubts over working for an ownership structure trying to change the game without any expertise of how to do it. Whoever takes the role will be lumbered with overpriced stars tied to eight-year contracts and the looming spectre of FFP restrictions on the horizon. Boehly's approach needs a superstar manager, one used to coaching superstar talents and thriving at the top level. Thomas Tuchel anyone?
Daniel Orme
New Chelsea chief Todd Boehly appears to have lashed out in an effort to get himself out of the corner that he was rapidly backing himself into. In appointing Graham Potter back in September, the American was clearly getting his hands on an excellent ‘project’ manager - just look at his work with Ostersunds and Brighton.
Just 12 wins in 31 games in all competitions since his arrival from Brighton is simply a statistic not befitting of a Chelsea manager though and one that has invariably led to his Stamford Bridge exit. That wretched run has seen the Blues fall out of contention for European football, something that has put paid to Chelsea managers in the past.
On paper then, it is easy to see why Potter has been jettisoned as the Blues go in pursuit of short-term success. The question then turns to whether it was the right decision?
Had Boehly not pointed to his long-term potential, then it would have been a relatively straight-forward decision. But Potter was installed as a long-term option so it could be argued that Boehly has acted too hastily.
When it comes to replacements, the Blues might want to go back to their previous model of quickfire success - Julian Nagelsmann or Zinedine Zidane the obvious candidates to scramble together a trophy after what has been a wretched campaign.
