sport news Chelsea will build on Graham Potter appointment with an overhaul of the club's ... trends now
The discussion in the Chelsea boardroom on Monday was fraught. There was a nagging concern. Chelsea were facing Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League game the next day and would likely win. Quite possibly, they would win well. Yet the decision had already been taken to sack Thomas Tuchel. How would it look, the board pondered, to sack a manager after a decent, victorious start to the Champions League?
They need not have worried. Chelsea continued in the same vein as they have done all season, following on from the defeat against Southampton and the fortunate win against West Ham, where VAR was their saviour, with a 1-0 defeat in Zagreb.
The following morning the deed was done and yet another Chelsea manager was sent packing. At least he lasted 15 months after his Champions League victory, seven months after winning the Club World Cup. Roberto Di Matteo only got six months after his Champions League win in 2012.
Graham Potter had been shortlisted as the next Chelsea boss before Thomas Tuchel's sacking
Tuchel, despite his short time at the club, had become a Chelsea legend. But one of the reasons for acting quickly was that Graham Potter was unlikely to be available for long. Chelsea felt that, should Gareth Southgate leave England after the World Cup in December, Potter was the shoo-in candidate. ‘You can’t keep getting the results Potter is getting and not get snapped up,’ said one source.
Yet whoever you talk to around Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, they all insist that this is not the way they want to do business. Indeed, what they are aiming for is something distinct from the Roman Abramovich era: long-term stability with a manager who buys into their project. It is just, at present it seems as though they have an odd way of showing it.
Chelsea under Potter is intended to be a different model. Best-laid plans and all that, especially with the new head coach being untested at the top level, but the appointment is intended to be measured in years rather than months. Hence the five-year deal when a more judicious approach might have been three years with a break clause. But the Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola tenures are the aim, rather than the 18-month rise and repeat cycle of the Abramovich era.
Tuchel was sacked just 15 months after bringing the Champions League to Stamford Bridge
The initial first 100-day analysis of the new regime is that, despite the 2021 Champions League win, they are far behind Manchester City and they want to catch up. The £250million spent this summer is designed to accelerate that.
But there is more work to be done. Commercial and sponsorship departments are being strengthened, co-ordinated by the Tom Glick, the new president of business, whose previous job was president of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, where he helped upgrade the impressive Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, a trick he will now be expected to repeat at Stamford Bridge. He has also been chief commercial officer of City Football Group and was CEO of Derby.
A sporting director will follow soon. It is less likely to be Michael Edwards, the former Liverpool sporting director. He had been in discussions with Chelsea but seems to favour taking more time to plot his next move. Paul Mitchell at Monaco is the kind of candidate the club might go for but interviews are ongoing. The relationship with Potter will be key and the new executive
