Graham Potter sacked as Chelsea manager after horrible season in English Premier League

Although Chelsea’s new owners have moved quickly to try to make their mark on the team, Graham Potter’s position as manager of Chelsea remains one of the most unstable in football. Potter’s tenure as manager lasted about seven months as a result of the Englishman falling to the 11th spot in the Premier League standings. The club’s American ownership group expected a higher return after spending an additional £2.5 billion on players and over £500 million ($616 million) on new players in their first season in charge.

In their first year, the group led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali of the private equity firm Clearlake Capital has already fired two managers. Despite his accomplishments on the pitch, including winning the Champions League in 2021, and off it, including his skilful handling of the challenges of last season, when the club was subjected to penalties because of the ownership of Roman Abramovich, Thomas Tuchel was fired in September.

There’s a completely different ownership: Graham Potter

Chelsea lost to Manchester City in the first round of both the League and the FA Cup under Potter, and the team is now firmly established in the bottom half of the Premier League. Potter only managed to win 12 of his 31 matches in command. Only winning the Champions League can save the season, but getting there will be challenging.

Later this month, the Blues will play Real Madrid, the current champions, in the quarterfinals, with the victor moving on to face either Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the semifinals. When Potter was removed from Brighton and Chelsea paid more than £20 million in compensation for his services, he had been sold the American dream.

“There’s a completely different ownership. This is hard for people to get their head around as Chelsea for 20 years has been one thing and now all of a sudden it’s different,” Potter said earlier in the season when speculation first arose over his future.