Chelsea fans were heard singing the name of former manager Thomas Tuchel earlier this month and Graham Potter will hope his reign does not come crashing down in a similar manner.
The Blues boss is under pressure to improve performances and results and to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Chelsea are currently 10th in the Premier League and appear to have an outside chance of finishing in the Champions League places this season, being 10 points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United.
Potter has struggled since taking the reins of Chelsea, with some questioning why the former Brighton boss was even brought in to replace Tuchel. However, the decision seems more clear cut than it first appeared, with The Independent reporting that the former PSG boss did not have the full confidence of the dressing room.
Todd Boehly held talks with key players after his arrival to gauge whether the squad believed that the German was the right figure to spearhead their revival, and the responses were mixed. ‘Most’ members of the team were not against Tuchel departing, prompting Boehly to hold further talks with more influential figures in the dressing room.
Potter was brought in to replace Tuchel at Chelsea (Image: Getty)
Tuchel’s hands-off approach during the transfer window was cited in some reports as a reason why doubt was cast over his future during the summer, despite the club spending approximately £273million on new signings. Additionally, his abrupt ‘no’ to bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo before the start of the season, a marquee arrival pitched by Boehly himself, also threw a spanner into the works.
TalkSPORT pundit, and former Crystal Palace chairman, Simon Jordan has recently shed a light on the situation by claiming that Boehly should come out and share the ‘secrets’ behind the sacking to provide context behind the decision.
Boehly held talks with players before sacking Tuchel (Image: Getty)
He explained: “There’s a lot more behind the scenes of Tuchel that would make most people’s eyes water as to the reasons why Todd Boehly made that decision and it wasn’t just a case of losing to Dinamo Zagreb, it was a case of a whole raft of other things – that’s Todd Boehly’s gift to tell people what that is.
“But it opened my eyes and I would’ve done exactly the same thing as Todd Boehly did which is ‘you can go, mate’.” Boehly may opt to retain professionalism and file the decision under a ‘gradual communications breakdown’, as Express Sport were told at the time.
Though there appears to be far more to that scenario than a simple sacking – especially given that the loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on the evening before the announcement is rarely cited as a factor in the verdict.
And Potter will be desperate to avoid the same scenario having been heavily backed in the transfer market by Boehly, which will only increase the pressure on the Chelsea manager. Time will tell if the pressure gets too much for Potter or whether he can ride it out to be a Stamford Bridge success.
source: https://www.express.co.uk/
