Graham Potter has revealed what went wrong during his ‘perfect storm’ at Chelsea and reflected on the rising pressure that ended in his early sacking.
Potter, 49, was dismissed in March 2023 in the wake of a 2-0 home defeat by Aston Villa after less than seven months in charge at Stamford Bridge. The loss was his 11th in 31 games since he replaced Thomas Tuchel in the dugout on September 8.
By the time of his departure, the Blues had dropped to a lowly 11th in the Premier League and fallen 12 points adrift of the Champions League race.
The board had also given the green light for a transfer splurge of around £550million on new players in both the summer and winter transfer windows, leaving Potter with a bloated squad and little time to bed in his new arrivals.
However, the coach, who has also admitted he is ready to return to management despite his bruising Chelsea stint, has taken responsibility for the poor results.
Graham Potter has reflected on the ‘perfect storm’ that led to his early sacking at Chelsea
Potter was dismissed just seven months in at Stamford Bridge after a horror run of form
‘I’ve never said I’ve ever been perfect and you live and you learn, and you are grateful for the opportunity and grateful for the experience you had there,’ Potter told The Telegraph. ‘But there’s probably a context that has appeared.
‘The easy solution is Chelsea aren’t winning, so it must be the coach who has never worked at this level before, he’s the problem.
‘That might not be 100 per cent wrong, but it’s not 100 per cent right.’
Potter has also rued the brutal fixture pile-up that faced his side as well as a mid-season World Cup and an injury crisis that saw key players sidelined.
‘It was almost like the perfect storm,’ he added. ‘It was 14 matches in six weeks prior to the World Cup. It was like you were in the washing machine, that’s what we said within the staff, because the games kept coming and we had no preparation time.
‘We lost Reece [James] and Wesley [Fofana] to injury. I think we had the most players at the World Cup and pretty quickly afterwards we lost Raheem [Sterling] and Christian Pulisic.
The club’s hierarchy, fronted by Todd Boehly (right), spent over £500million on signings
Potter suffered 11 defeats in 31 matches across all competitions before being ousted
‘Then the ownership decided to invest a lot of money in the squad, £300 million in the January transfer window.
‘Now, if you are spending £300m on players coming from outside the Premier League, from countries having a mid-season break, then the reality is you can’t just imagine they are going to hit the ground running and everything’s going to be fine.
‘But, obviously, if you spend £300m, the pressure on the team goes up and the pressure on the coach goes up.
‘And people go: “Come on then, you’ve spent all this money.” I think if I’d have spent it on Harry Kane and Declan Rice, fair enough, but at the time that was the decision.
‘We tried to support it as best we could, but it left us with a challenge of a lot of players after January and then they can’t go anywhere.’
Potter is understood to be on the Football Association’s shortlist as they look to name the next permanent England head coach – despite interim boss Lee Carsley becoming the No 1 contender – and he has also been linked with Everton.
He admitted to making mistakes but rued a fixture pile-up and dealing with a bloated squad
Potter is keen to return to management and has been linked with the England vacancy
‘I like the day-to-day and the building process of club management,’ Potter said. ‘International management is a different rhythm and there are pluses for that.
‘It’s more intense when it’s on, but you’ve got more breathing space in between.
‘It’s nothing that I’ve ruled out, but at the same time I do like the day-to-day bit of working with the players and being in at the club and trying to build and make a difference. Making a difference to people is why you do this.’