CHELSEA APPOINT GRAHAM POTTER AS NEW MANAGER
Chelsea Football Club have appointed former Brighton and Hove Albion manager, Graham Potter, as their new manager, the club announced on Thursday.
The appointment comes just over a day after the club confirmed that they had parted ways with Thomas Tuchel on Wednesday morning. Potter held lengthy talks with co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali on Wednesday night and now joins the club on a five-year contract, keeping him in West London until June 2027, and will start the new job immediately.
A statement from the club read: “Chelsea Football Club is delighted to welcome Graham Potter as our new Head Coach, joining us on a five-year contract to bring his progressive football and innovative coaching to the club.”
“Potter is one of the most exciting coaches in the game. Starting his journey in Sweden before bringing his talents to the English game over the past four seasons. The 47-year-old is educated to degree level and disciplines beyond sport and has combined these experiences to forge a collaborative, forward-thinking approach while developing attacking and winning football.”
“That has been in evidence during his time at Brighton and Hove Albion, where he achieved that club’s highest-ever league finish last season. Along the way, he earned his praise for his winning brand of football on the south coast, while proving flexible in tactics and formations to be a step ahead of opponents.”
Brighton and Hove Albion also confirmed the news via a statement on their official social media pages saying: “Head Coach Graham Potter is leaving the club after deciding to join Chelsea. Also departing are his assistant Billy Reid, first-team coaches Bjorn Hamberg and Bruno, goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts and assistant head of recruitment, Kyle Macaulay.”
The south coast club confirmed that Under-21 coach Andrew Crofts will now take interim charge of the first team together with his assistant Shannon Ruth, midfielder Adam Lallana, set-play coach Nick Stanley, and assistant goalkeeping coach Jack Stern.
“I am incredibly proud and excited to represent Chelsea FC, this fantastic football club,” Potter said of his new appointment. “I am very excited to partner with Chelsea’s new ownership group and look forward to meeting and working with the exciting group of players and to develop a team and culture that our amazing fans can be proud of.”
“I would also like to place my sincere thanks to Brighton and Hove Albion for allowing me this opportunity and in particular Tony Bloom and all the players, staff, and supporters for their continued support during my time at the club.”
Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly said that he was “thrilled” to have Potter as the new manager and that he “fits the vision” the new owners have for the club. Boehly and Clearlake capital acquired the club in May and Boehly said that they look forward to supporting Potter, his coaching team, and the squad in realizing their full potential in the coming months and years.
While the move is a positive one for Chelsea, it almost certainly declares doom and gloom for Brighton. After all, Potter guided Brighton to a ninth-place finish in the league only last season. Chairman Tony Bloom said that he was “very disappointed” by Potter’s leaving, saying that he had done exceptionally well over the past three seasons and will be hugely missed. The team currently sits fourth on the Premier League table after six games having won 4 matches, drawn once, and losing just once.
Brighton will now look to replace the 47-year-old Potter with deputy chairman Paul Barber confirming that they have already begun work to secure the best candidate for the club. While it’s nearly impossible to replace Potter with a manager equal to or greater than his tactical ability, Brighton have their work cut out for them as the club knows full well that Potter’s replacement will decide if the club stays in the Premier League or goes down to the Championship.
The club can look to current Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou as a replacement. Postecoglou led Celtic to regain the Scottish Premiership from bitter rivals Rangers in his first season in charge and won the Scottish Cup. However it remains to be seen if the Australian would swap Champions League football for the Premier League. The club can also look at Anderlecht manager Felice Mazzu, the man who steered Union SG to promotion in 2020/21 before joining Anderlecht this summer.
“I have no doubt there will be unprecedented interest in the job,” Paul Barber said. “Not least because of the excellent work done by Graham but also because of the footballing structure in place at our club.” Other candidates linked to the job include Luton Town’s head coach Nathan Jones, Bodo/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen, Brentford’s Thomas Frank, and Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers.
Chelsea were slated to play Fulham away in a West London derby at lunchtime this Saturday while Brighton were to face Bournemouth away on Saturday afternoon. Both games, however, will be made up at a later date in consideration of the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The queen passed away at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday, with the Premier League announcing all games this weekend will be postponed as a result.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: James Boyes. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.