Chelsea Sack Graham Potter

[martin1905]

5 minutes ago, east lower said:

Finished now, had to fill a 8 yard skip. It’s  truly horrid, as you say. Binning people’s lives.

Just heard from a pal who works at Cobham, that training has been cancelled tomorrow!! If true, then that’s it then.

 

Big news that, no other reason to cancel training.

Reliable ?

 

[thevelourfog]

1 minute ago, martin1905 said:

I hear you.

So, and I know you previously didn't think there was any chance of Potter getting sacked this season, I assume you must think there is at least more of a chance now than we we previously spoke about it, do we sack him now and get Pochettino or wait until the summer and get someone else, whoever that may be?

Assume you think there is no chance of Tuchel coming back? He would be my preference, pretty sure we agree on him, in terms of just how good he is.

What's your thoughts on Jose? Would you like him and do you think he would, or more importantly, as I'm sure he would, would we?

I've gone from thinking there's no chance Potter is sacked before the 38th league game to thinking that there's a very slim likelihood, maybe 10%, it could happen. And that's because we're even worse than I had previously thought we would be. I had us finishing between 9th and 11th, no real improvement but nothing more disastrous. I genuinely believe we could be lower than that come mid- or late-March. How would these owners react to relegation fight positioning as well as relegation fight form? Genuinely don't know.

I have, maybe unfairly, a pretty dim view of the owners. I think they sacked a brilliant manager because they couldn't get along with him and thought they knew better. If I think that, it's hard for me to think they'll put their hands up to making a huge mistake so quickly. And how much will it cost to sack Potter? Can we do it this season without all hope of passing the PL's sustainability rules going out the window? We're surely on a knife-edge there.

So I don't think there's any actual chance of a Pochettino now. And no chance of Tuchel. And I'd steer clear of Mourinho. I still like and admire him, and think it's sad so many Chelsea fans don't, but his time has now been and gone. 

I think we're utterly buggered this season. The best I hope for is comfortable survival, Potter sacked immediately after game 38, and someone in then.

[Bob Singleton]

22 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

No, I agree they thought we were stealing a march in getting Potter when we did but I don't for one second believe they are stupid enough to think anything other than that they made a mistake and all the money spent and the players bought have nothing to do with Potter. I truly believe he was not even consulted on the players we bought in January, he was told what he'd get and that was that.

I think they know they fucked up and are already have the next manager lined up. 

Nothing else makes any sense.

Would you be happy with Pochettino?

See you've mentioned him a couple of times now.

Not having a go, but are we to believe that (amongst what were no doubt numerous and varied reasons) the club sacked Tuchel because he didn't want to discuss transfers, but "Golden Boy" Potter isn't being consulted? Especially given that there are two former Brighton back-room people forming part of the new Chelsea player recruitment team?

As for lining up a manager for next season... one can only hope that is why Potter hasn't been sacked yet.

[thevelourfog]

11 minutes ago, east lower said:

Just heard from a pal who works at Cobham, that training has been cancelled tomorrow!! If true, then that’s it then.

 

How will the players know the difference?

They'll all be off to, idk, a lute playing team building event or some bollocks.

[My Blood Is Blue]

12 minutes ago, east lower said:

Finished now, had to fill a 8 yard skip. It’s  truly horrid, as you say. Binning people’s lives.

Just heard from a pal who works at Cobham, that training has been cancelled tomorrow!! If true, then that’s it then.

 

Not sure that will be it though, if that was the case then why not sack him now? Why wait until Monday?

Sadly, I think it’s cancelled for some other reason.

[Bob Singleton]

15 minutes ago, east lower said:

 

Just heard from a pal who works at Cobham, that training has been cancelled tomorrow!! If true, then that’s it then.

 

🤞 🤞

[martin1905]

5 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Not having a go, but are we to believe that (amongst what were no doubt numerous and varied reasons) the club sacked Tuchel because he didn't want to discuss transfers, but "Golden Boy" Potter isn't being consulted? Especially given that there are two former Brighton back-room people forming part of the new Chelsea player recruitment team?

Absolutely. 

I don't for one second believe Potter had any say in any of our signings. 

I also don't believe Tuchel wasn't involved in the summer, just look at who we bought.

5 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

As for lining up a manager for next season... one can only hope that is why Potter hasn't been sacked yet.

 

[martin1905]

Maybe Potter has cancelled training to give them a well earned rest. He seemed fairly happy with their performance on Saturday after all.

[Sciatika]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

Put your mortgage on Felix winning Chelseafccom's goal of the month competition.

 

 

It's the only one we've scored.

Lauren James is the best goal I have seen from Chelsea this month,

[east lower]

24 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Big news that, no other reason to cancel training.

Reliable ?

 

 

19 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

How will the players know the difference?

They'll all be off to, idk, a lute playing team building event or some bollocks.

 

16 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Not sure that will be it though, if that was the case then why not sack him now? Why wait until Monday?

Sadly, I think it’s cancelled for some other reason.

 

14 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

🤞 🤞

Not the usual one who’s proved to be almost spot on previously - but I live in hope 🤞

[Mark Kelly]

50 minutes ago, east lower said:

 

Just heard from a pal who works at Cobham, that training has been cancelled tomorrow!! If true, then that’s it then.

 

Maybe it's Atsu related 😭

[Holymoly]

3 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

I've gone from thinking there's no chance Potter is sacked before the 38th league game to thinking that there's a very slim likelihood, maybe 10%, it could happen. And that's because we're even worse than I had previously thought we would be. I had us finishing between 9th and 11th, no real improvement but nothing more disastrous. I genuinely believe we could be lower than that come mid- or late-March. How would these owners react to relegation fight positioning as well as relegation fight form? Genuinely don't know.

I can think of sixty million reasons why Graeme Potter won't be sacked soon.

[Mark Kelly]

5 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

I can think of sixty million reasons why Graeme Potter won't be sacked soon.

Yep , £12m a year for five years , they must really have wanted him. 

[martin1905]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Yep , £12m a year for five years , they must really have wanted him. 

Add the lost revenue from not qualifying for Europe and loosing Mount, it really is an expensive mistake.

Would not be surprised though if there was some kind of break clause in it if he doesn't meet certain expectations. Perhaps that's why they won't act now, no matter how bad we are?

[boratsbrother]

Managers usually get to say goodbye to the players at the training ground, so I'll be surprised if Potter is sacked on Monday.

I want him to stay until the end of the season, so I hope I'm right about this.

 

 

[xceleryx]

4 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

"Happy" is relative, isn't it. Is he who I'd ideally want here? No, my ideal is that we don't let go of legitimately a top three in the world coach and appoint Graham Potter. But it's done. I'd be "happy" with any coach who didn't come at huge expense and we've seen really focuses on the training pitch. Pochettino, for any other faults, fits that bill. So my mood would improve, even if I wouldn't be happy as such!

I reside in a similar state. Pochettino isn't my first choice by a country mile, but what does appeal to me about him is that he's actually built some good young sides in the past. The work he did at Espanyol despite financial limitations was very good, he went to Southampton and once again built a good young side that ultimately was poached to death, then did well at Tottenham considering the state they'd been in prior. He's far from perfect and his Spurs history isn't ideal, but if we're proposing Potter or Poch, I'd be taking the latter every day of the week. 

That being said, I think he ends up back at Tottenham next season once Conte leaves. 

[xceleryx]

10 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

I want him to stay until the end of the season, so I hope I'm right about this.

Each to their own and all that jazz, but consider me a bit perplexed as to why you'd want to keep him until seasons end? That's virtually another full 3 months of Potter wizardry. 🤮

[Michael Tucker]

16 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

I want him to stay until the end of the season

Why on earth would you want that? We could be facing relegation by then!

[boratsbrother]

23 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said:

Why on earth would you want that? We could be facing relegation by then!

I don't believe 6 months is a long enough time to sort out this massive squad he's bundled with. Also, Boehly and co insisted this was a long-term project with Potter. To ditch that plan just because it's got off to a sticky start will make them look weak, especially as it would be their second sacking in less than a year. 

Fir once, let us finally give a manager a good amount of time to make mistakes, learn from them and then start making progress. If, not, then from now on we might as well employ managers on 6 month rolling contracts.

 

 

[Michael Tucker]

3 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

I don't believe 6 months is a long enough time to sort out this massive squad he's bundled with.

Surely he knew the size of squad before he willingly signed his fat contract? I doubt that he's been 'bundled' with anything tbh.

3 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

 

Also, Boehly and co insisted this was a long-term project with Potter. To ditch that plan just because it's got off to a sticky start will make them look weak, especially as it would be their second sacking in less than a year. 

Owners of clubs (not just ours) have been doing this (ditching managers/coaches) since year dot. And pretty much always gave that same coach their total support!

3 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Fir once, let us finally give a manager a good amount of time to make mistakes, learn from them and then start making progress.

Personally, I haven't seen Potter learn from his mistakes, nor have I seen any 'progress' in the way we play. I just think that he has proven to be a mistake. I wish that it wasn't so, but I think that he's out of his depth.

[xceleryx]

4 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

I don't believe 6 months is a long enough time to sort out this massive squad he's bundled with. Also, Boehly and co insisted this was a long-term project with Potter. To ditch that plan just because it's got off to a sticky start will make them look weak, especially as it would be their second sacking in less than a year. 

Fir once, let us finally give a manager a good amount of time to make mistakes, learn from them and then start making progress. If, not, then from now on we might as well employ managers on 6 month rolling contracts.

No one is expecting Potter to pull up trees, but there still needs to be some sort of progression being made across the board. We've virtually gone backwards in every area during his tenure. Our goal scoring woes have worsened and align with his historic struggles at Brighton where his sides were always at the bottom end of the goal scoring chats. We look tactically inept and massively downgraded from what we had in this area under Tuchel or other previous managers. We also look completely uninspired out on the pitch, a lot of which is also reflection of the demeanour Potter portrays on the sidelines and in interviews. While not a single player under Potters coaching has shown an ounce of improvement - Kepa aside, who deals with his own specific goalkeeping coaches. 

Surely there has to be some hint of encouragement or upside being made under Potter to justify giving him further time? 

[xceleryx]

So training hasn't been cancelled by reports, the plan is to give the players two days off. 

Can't help but think that had this been Mourinho, Conte, Tuchel or virtually any other manager we'd be seeing extra work being put in to rectify our situation, not providing two days of rest.

[My Blood Is Blue]

7 hours ago, boratsbrother said:

I don't believe 6 months is a long enough time to sort out this massive squad he's bundled with. Also, Boehly and co insisted this was a long-term project with Potter. To ditch that plan just because it's got off to a sticky start will make them look weak, especially as it would be their second sacking in less than a year. 

Fir once, let us finally give a manager a good amount of time to make mistakes, learn from them and then start making progress. If, not, then from now on we might as well employ managers on 6 month rolling contracts.

 

 

The issue is that this isn’t just a sticky start though, this is an absolute disaster with absolutely no signs of anything changing. I could accept it if performances were improving or the form was mixed and we sat in the outskirts of the Europa places, but make no mistake we are in relegation form.

I don’t think anybody in the game would question the owners if they were to sack Potter at this point. I said it elsewhere, but Brighton would sack him for this form as would most other clubs.

For me he just has to have been doing better than this, even with the injuries we’ve had he has to do better than this. In Tuchel’s last season we were decimated by injuries, we had the issues with covid, our owner and the club were sanctioned and yet he still delivered champions league football for this club. That’s the different between good managers and the top managers, they can find a way to make it work with what they have.

I would imagine most of the top managers in the world would give anything to have a squad like the one we currently have and we’re left with a guy who doesn’t know what to do with them, they’re sadly too good for him and my guess is, they know it.

[east lower]

1 hour ago, xceleryx said:

So training hasn't been cancelled by reports, the plan is to give the players two days off. 

Can't help but think that had this been Mourinho, Conte, Tuchel or virtually any other manager we'd be seeing extra work being put in to rectify our situation, not providing two days of rest.

Well, the fella was half-right if that’s the case. 😉

When I look at this situation and look back to RA’s time with us, there are some parallels. He came in and spent loads in his initial period, he had a ‘nice-guy’ manager who’d not won much. We failed to win anything, but did get closer than GP has, CL excepted this season but I’m struggling to see us progressing beyond the next round because we simply don’t score.

RA had the good sense and advice to change things and look what’s happened since then. 
 

GP and his staff are taking us nowhere, when the sum of the parts equate to less than they ought to, when the selection of teams is so clearly wrong. Look at Saturday as an example, was it 6 changes from Weds? Then after the game Potter moans (offers up the excuse) about integrating new players. Play a consistent side man, make the odd change like resting Silva but keep the small bit of momentum that an improved performance offers.

If Potter makes it past this season, then I believe we are in Man Utd territory and we will see years and years of mediocrity. Best coaches are ruthless b******s, do I see that in GP - nope

Edited February 20, 2023 by east lower

[boratsbrother]

8 hours ago, xceleryx said:

No one is expecting Potter to pull up trees, but there still needs to be some sort of progression being made across the board. We've virtually gone backwards in every area during his tenure. Our goal scoring woes have worsened and align with his historic struggles at Brighton where his sides were always at the bottom end of the goal scoring chats. We look tactically inept and massively downgraded from what we had in this area under Tuchel or other previous managers. We also look completely uninspired out on the pitch, a lot of which is also reflection of the demeanour Potter portrays on the sidelines and in interviews. While not a single player under Potters coaching has shown an ounce of improvement - Kepa aside, who deals with his own specific goalkeeping coaches. 

Surely there has to be some hint of encouragement or upside being made under Potter to justify giving him further time? 

Fans were seeing some signs of progress, especially after the Dortmund game. Now, one match later it's all doom and gloom again and Potter must go.

What we've seen so far has been disappointing, frustrating and downright awful at tines, but I was always expecting some backward steps before we start moving forward again.