Many in the game believe Chelsea moved on from Graham Potter too quickly. Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
It will be a year on Friday since Chelsea made Graham Potter the most expensive manager in world football, paying Brighton £21.5 million to hire him and key members of his staff .
This appointment was to be a turning point for English coaches. But just seven months later Chelsea pulled out of Project Potter and the 48-year-old will look back on the anniversary while out of work — although not for lack of interest.
Written off as a costly failure by the time he was sacked, the intervening five months shed new light on Potter's time at Stamford Bridge and offer further context for what he faced.
There's a lot to the story. game who believe Potter was abandoned too quickly are surprised he didn't at least have a pre-season to properly implement his ideas, and many who would be willing to offer him a fast track back, such as French club Lyon, whom he recently met, but the time was not right.
Potter's name will inevitably be linked to every Premier League vacancy that becomes available when layoff season arrives, but it would be unwise to think he will jump to the bottom of the table again.
At Chelsea, Potter beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, beat Milan home and away, but never got the opportunity to face Real Madrid. He will feel that he has unfinished business in this competition, and over time there will be clubs either competing in the Champions League or seeking to qualify for it who will want to meet him.
Potter scored several notable victories in Europe. Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP
If he were to miss the entire season, Potter's name would also be on England manager Gareth Southgate's list of possible successors if his replacement is needed after next summer's European Championships. But the possibility of a suitable club may be more attractive at this stage of his career.
Potter has kept a low profile since leaving the 24-hour spotlight of Stamford Bridge to return to his former club Östersunds for a game against Sundsvall in July and has visited other sports teams and franchises to help his development.
< p>One Premier League data model rated Chelsea as a top-four team under Potter based solely on statistics and those who managed to trust the numbers. if it is inexorable luck and the results will ultimately turn in his favor.
We'll never know if that would have been the case, and many will still argue that Potter and Chelsea were a mismatch that wouldn't have worked out, but his career certainly shouldn't be defined by their time together.
Potter would have been familiar with Chelsea's defeat to Mauricio Pochettino's Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
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In his last game against Aston Villa, which ended in a fatal 2-0 defeat, Chelsea had 69 per cent of possession, had 15 shots off target, eight on target and finished with an expected goals rate of 2.16.
Pochettino's side lost to Forest by one fewer goal, had a higher percentage of possession — 76.1 and an expected number of goals — 2.3, but managed just six shots wide and two on target.
p>Chelsea were booed off the pitch, which had become a common occurrence towards the end of Potter's reign, and Pochettino, in his post-match interviews, stressed the importance of patience and an acceptance that the club's recovery would take time.
This may well have sent Potter into a curveball. smile, given the time constraints and circumstances in which he worked at Chelsea.
The influx of contracts made Potter's job impossible
Chelsea won one of their first four games, having lost twice earlier this season, but, however, there is widespread agreement that Pochettino is not to blame for the slow start following a transfer window in which the club tore apart its squad. and started again.
Potter was unbeaten in his first nine games as Chelsea manager, including victories over Milan, and lost three Premier League games between his appointment and the World Cup break, which came at Brighton, Arsenal and Newcastle United.
Chelsea then spent over £300 million in the January transfer window and what had already been a difficult task became almost impossible as players kept coming through the door but almost no one was heading towards exit.
Just like now. Stamford Bridge legends, players were forced to change clothes in the corridors because the dressing room at the club's Cobham training ground was not large enough to accommodate all the new recruits, and existing players even had difficulty remembering the names and identities of their new team. friends.
Potter had to manage a bloated Chelsea squad. Photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC
Potter was unable to name all of his players in his Champions League squad and it has since been suggested that some with bleak futures should be frozen out in order to concentrate entirely on those Chelsea believe have the best long-term prospects at the club. /p>
But while Pochettino was able to make it clear that the situations of Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech, who spent the summer training with the under-21s, had been resolved before his arrival, Potter would have to start moving players out of the lower leagues himself and risk the inevitable. consequences.
The defeat to Villa that sealed Potter's fate ended a run of four defeats, three wins and four draws in 11 games. Frank Lampard replaced him as caretaker manager for the final 11 matches of the season and achieved one win, two draws and eight defeats.
Roberto De Zerbi is credited with promoting Potter's work at Brighton and Italian May. we'll be first in line for the next big Premier League job that comes thanks to his superb work.
But it won't be forgotten at the Amex Stadium that Brighton won five of their first seven matches on start. last season under Potter before he was snapped up by Chelsea, which compares with three wins and one defeat under De Zerbi this season.
A year ago he became the most expensive manager in world football. Potter could also prove to be one of the top free transfers when he eventually decides it's time to step back into the spotlight.
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