Graham Potter sacked as Chelsea head coach
Chelsea have fired manager Graham Potter after less than seven months in charge, following a 2-0 home loss to Aston Villa, the Englishman’s 11th defeat in 31 games since taking over from Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge. Leicester is now aiming to replace Potter with Brendan Rogers, who was fired on the same day as Potter. Meanwhile, Chelsea is eyeing to bring Julian Nagelsmann to the Premier League.
“On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea,” co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said in a statement. “We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.” Follow OBN to get the latest sports news and more!
Potter won 12 of his 31 games in charge in all competitions, seven of which came from 22 Premier League games in charge. He finished with the joint-lowest points per game in the Premier League of any manager to take charge of 20 or more games for Chelsea, alongside Glen Hoddle with 1.27 points. Bruno Saltor has been appointed as Chelsea’s interim coach.
The 47-year-old Potter has agreed to a five-year contract at Stamford Bridge to replace Tuchel. Potter’s former club Brighton finished ninth place under Potter, a club’s record in the top flight, having finished 15th and 16th before that. Last year, Chelsea sacked Tuchel following the team’s loss to Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 in the Champions League opener, their third consecutive away loss and the first under Tuchel.
The German coach helped the Blues win the Champions League just a few months after joining them in January 2021. Last season, Chelsea finished third in the English top-flight despite keeping the top spot for quite some time. They also lost to Liverpool on penalty kicks in the finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup and fell to eventual winners Real Madrid in a Champions League quarterfinal.
Earlier last year, a consortium led by L.A. Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly bought the club from Russian owner Roman Abramovich for more than $5 billion in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to reports, Boehly and Tuchel’s relationship became strained when they disagreed on transfer policy, and further concerns over the team’s poor start to the season prompted ownership to act.
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