Thank you and goodbye, Graham Potter. The manager didn’t even last seven months before Chelsea sacked him on Sunday night. Potter thought he had the job of his dreams – and indeed he did. In an industry where trainers clamor for more money, Potter had shot the golden bird. Chelsea have bought or loaned 14 players to the A team for more than €600m since the new owners took over from Roman Abramovich last May. Even in the crazy world of football, that’s a wild sum. But Chelsea, who have ambitions to fight at the top, have fallen to 11th place in the Premier League. Many will say that it is Potter who has been the problem. At the same time, Potter has had a job that is almost impossible. Three big mistakes Chelsea have not followed the usual rules for how to build a top team. Over the past 10 years, smart clubs have followed similar principles with good results, including Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. Under frontman Todd Boehly, Chelsea’s regime has run its own course. They have done much differently than the rest, and one has wondered whether they are either geniuses or incompetent. So far they look like the latter. NEW STYLE: American owner Todd Boehly manages Chelsea in a slightly different way to other club owners. Photo: Frank Augstein / AP Boehly has done three things in particular that smart club owners rarely do, and which made Potter’s job extra difficult. The owner who recruits The first is that he himself has taken an active role in buying players. A common denominator for smart clubs in the Premier League is that the owners stick to things they can do. Liverpool and Arsenal are owned by American businessmen. In Manchester City, the chairman is a businessman, politician and diplomat. These people don’t buy players themselves. Instead, they find good directors who in turn find the best scouts and players. But Boehly has taken the spotlight. He is an investor with experience in American sports, but had never worked in football when he joined Chelsea last year. Nevertheless, he employed himself as “temporary” sporting director with responsibility for buying players. It started a summer where Boehly landed stars for more than 300 million euros. They were brought in in collaboration with coach Thomas Tuchel. Then Boehly found Tuchel wasn’t his type of coach after all – and sacked him six days after the transfer window closed. SHORT SPEED TIME: Thomas Tuchel did not last long in the coaching chair at Chelsea. Photo: ANTONIO BRONIC / Reuters Now Potter is also out. At the start of the year, Boehly at least took a step back and hired two sporting directors: Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley. But the website The Athletic writes that Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali still have the most influence in the sporting decisions, such as the search for the next coach. It is natural for an owner to want to join in the fun. But in the best clubs, the owners give responsibility to those who know best. Directors since Boehly have also hired people in the wrong order. Tricky clubs get a sports director in first, who then decides how they want to play, what kind of names they want to bring in, and what the plan is for the next few years. Then they bring in the players who fit this plan. Boehly has got the directors in place recently. First he bought players himself, then came the coach, and when the money was spent, the roles of Stewart and Winstanley were confirmed. Thus, Chelsea’s stable has been adapted to two coaches who are now gone. The new coach can quickly dislike players that Boehly himself has bought. The two directors can do the same. It already seems clear that some of those bought last summer will be for sale in a few months. Everything must happen now A third factor is the rush. Liverpool and Arsenal became good by building their stables over several years. They set long-term goals and brought in a couple of key players per season. No top team has brought in an entire starting eleven in one season. Chelsea have in practice squeezed five years of player purchases into 10 months. ONE OF MANY: Chelsea set a transfer record when they bought Enzo Fernández in January this year. Photo: PETER NICHOLLS / Reuters Chelsea have often paid more than expected. Where other teams decide who to buy months in advance, Chelsea have suddenly thrown themselves into the hunt for players that rivals have wanted. Two examples have been Marc Cucurella and Mykhailo Mudryk – signed for 135 million euros in total, according to the website Transfermarkt. None of them have played their way to a permanent place in the starting eleven. Recruitment has seemed chaotic and sporadic. And it has made Potter’s job difficult. When everyone is new, there is no continuity or culture to fall back on. Several of the signings have never played in England before. On the field, they have often looked like they hardly know each other – maybe they don’t either. When the coach and the staff and the directors and owners are also new, there are many pieces that have to be put in place at the same time. Everything must happen in a constant rush to finish in the top four, which gives a ticket to the lucrative Champions League. And the responsibility clearly belonged to Potter. THE FAILURE: Potter has had an almost impossible task in his seven months as head coach. Photo: GLYN KIRK / AFP In January, Potter gave a quote that seemed to sum up Chelsea’s problem. – If you are in a position where too many people make decisions about recruitment over too short a period, then that is not a recipe for success, he said. Potter was right. But it is he who has paid the price. Big defeat Thus it is easy to have sympathy for Potter. He never had the charisma needed to lead such a star-studded team. He never quite got the fans on board. But he has also gone from Brighton – perhaps the best organized club in the Premier League – to one of the most chaotic. For Chelsea’s owners, this is a major defeat. Potter was their man; the trainer who was to lead a long-term project. They gave him plenty of time, results considered. In isolation, the kicking is perfectly fine. But it joins a string of bad decisions under Boehly. Chelsea have already brought in enough players who have not added as much to the team as expected. Even Abramovich didn’t fire two coaches in one season. It is almost an achievement in itself to break records for player acquisitions, only to end up in 11th place. A lot of work remains before Chelsea has a balanced and coordinated team. Last week, The Times newspaper wrote that they must sell players this summer in order not to break the Premier League’s financial rules. The rivals know this, which puts Chelsea in a weak negotiating position. This means that Boehly has enough to hang his fingers on. The good news is that the stable has many exciting players on long contracts. The ambitions are enormous. The owners must be willing to invest even more. In this sense, this is a dream job for trainers out there. It is just very difficult. And for Potter it became impossible.
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