How Graham Potter Wins Even If He Is Sacked By Chelsea FC

As Graham Potter smiled, his pen hovering over a contract tying him to Chelsea Football Club until 2027, Tottenham Hotspur fans could be forgiven for wondering what might have been.

Just over a year ago, it was their club who eyeing the then Brighton and Hove Albion manager as a replacement for the outgoing Jose Mourinho.

There was lots of speculation, but the move never really got off the ground. When he was asked, Potter himself said it hadn’t crossed his mind.

“It is nothing I have considered. I have got a contract here. I am committed to this, we’ve got a lot to do, we’re just at the start,” he said at the time.

“I don’t pay too much attention to things that are outside of my control, things that get written, or speculation. I am focused on this job, trying to finish the season off as strongly as we can. I am excited by the team, I am excited by the club, so I just focus on that,” he added.

South coast club was equally unwilling to countenance the Englishman’s departure back then, CEO Paul Barber told local media there was “no way we would allow Graham to leave at this time.”

But fast-forward a year and everything changed.

Just six matches into the Premier League season Chelsea’s American owners decided it was Graham Potter they wanted to replace the outgoing Thomas Tuchel.

Brighton granted the West Londoners permission to speak to their boss and a deal was done in a matter of days.

Gaining an insight into exactly why Potter felt this was the right move this time was delayed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which led to the new manager’s unveiling as Chelsea boss being postponed.

Whether he admits it or not one thing we can be certain of is that Potter knows the patience afforded him at Brighton will be of considerably less supply in West London.

It might be a five-year contract he’s signed, but given how Thomas Tuchel was disposed of winless spells, as he has at times endured on the south coast at times, are unlikely to be tolerated.

The short shelf life of Chelsea managers has not been lost on the wider English soccer community either.

Anxiety that one of English soccer’s brightest managerial prospects was potentially jeopardizing his upward trajectory has extended way beyond Brighton fans.

BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty summed up this response when he said “Chelsea and their new boss are both gambling on each other,”

“Good reputations can be built slowly but wrecked quickly, given Chelsea’s unique demands in previous years,” he pointed out.

However, a look at Chelsea’s bosses in the past decades suggests that even being fired is unlikely to diminish Potter’s reputation too much.

Being fired is no big deal

Potter’s immediate predecessor in West London leaves the club with the strongest reputation amongst the fans since Jose Mourinho departed for the first time in 2007.

Having delivered the Champions League trophy and then navigated through the unprecedented challenges of having the UK government take action against the club’s long-time owner Tuchel won a special place in the Blues supporters heart’s.

Beyond Stamford Bridge, the German’s impressive trophy haul in a relatively short tenure also means his sacking, just as was the case at both Bourissa Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, will do little to dampen his reputation across Europe as one of the best managers around.

When the next big job comes up, he will undoubtedly be a contender and Tuchel is far from alone in that.

He’s also not alone in having a short spell at Chelsea.

You have to go back to Dave Sexton in the 1960s to find a manager who’s stayed at Stamford Bridge longer than four years.

Since the dawn of the Premier League, only Jose Mourinho, in his first spell, and Claudio Ranieri have made it past the three-year mark.

In the past decade, the speed at which trophies have tumbled into the Stamford Bridge cabinet is only matched by the frequency the managers winning them have been disposed of.

Jose Mourinho (twice), Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte have all delivered the league title and then been sacked, while Thomas Tuchel and Roberto Di Matteo got the same treatment after landing the Champions League.

Except for Di Matteo, all of those coaches’ reputations were dinted little by getting the boot from Chelsea, all three league winners currently occupy roles at elite clubs and Tuchel will likely follow suit.

It’s almost like getting sacked from the club carriers an asterisk because of the ruthlessness of the environment because even less successful coaches who’ve held the hot seat, like Maurizio Sarri and Andre Villas-Boas, have continued at a high level after leaving the club.

But the major difference between Potter and all of those who’ve left Chelsea unscathed is the level of success they’d already achieved.

His record of improving Swedish side Östersund, Swansea City and then Brighton is impressive, but it is no match for managers like Mourinho or Conte.

This is a step up to a level he has never played at or managed before and if it is a disaster recovery won’t be easy.

But, if he can demonstrate he is cut out for the top level, pick up a trophy or mount a serious title challenge even a short-lived stay in West London won’t harm him in the long term. It could even bolster his reputation