WATCH: Why Graham Potter failed at Chelsea

April 3, 2023 Sports 1 Views

Chelsea have sacked Graham Potter with around £600 million spent in the transfer market this season along and the Blues in the bottom half of the table.

It’s a mess, as FFT’s Adam Clery points out in the video above (opens in new tab). Todd Boehly was supposed to be the anti-Abramovich, hiring a new manager who was going to oversee a long-term vision and looking to a brighter, more progressive style of play. Roman Abramovich never sacked two coaches in the same season, though.

And given that Chelsea paid Brighton & Hove Albion a whole £21m to part with Potter last September, that’s around £3m per month in charge. It wasn’t long ago that the former full-back was being touted as England’s brightest young boss and being touted for the Three Lions job one day.

Why did Chelsea sack Graham Potter?

Graham Potter during Chelsea's 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa in the Premier League in April 2023.

Graham Potter during Chelsea’s 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa in the Premier League in April 2023 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Chelsea experimented with formations, as Adam points out in the video. There was a back three to start his tenure before a 4-2-2-2, a 4-3-1-2 and a 4-3-2-1. “And then the transfer window happens,” Adam notes, “And Chelsea go absolutely bananas.”

Some £300m was spent on the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix (on loan, with a loan fee, of course) and Enzo Fernandez but to name a few. And Chelsea never really gelled from thereon in.

“Chelsea’s performances since the January transfer window, Chelsea fans will tell you, have just been all over the place,” Adam notes.

Potter essentially was up against it – and Adam even called it last week in our 10 managers who were doomed from the start (opens in new tab) video…