Potter sacked by Chelsea for being ‘too decent’ – would he be safe if he told everyone to f**k off?

Editor F365
Chelsea manager Graham Potter

Graham Potter is right not to ‘indulge in performative anger’ but it also proves the Chelsea job is just too nasty for him and the experts want him gone.

 

Potter than hell
With tinkering but clearly not Leeds-bound Graham Potter on the brink at Chelsea, the Daily Mirror website is hosting the ‘BIG DEBATE: Should Chelsea owner Todd Boehly SACK Graham Potter?’.

It really is about time that ‘experts have their say on the big question at Stamford Bridge’. They have been silenced for far too long.

Mind you, going by the input of David Maddock, you can see why:

‘I’d turn the question around though. Should Potter resign? Given the qualities mentioned above, maybe he has to face a serious decision of whether the club is right for him. He’s clearly a fine coach, and perhaps he’s wasting his time at a club which has never given managers time…or respect.’

For a start, Chelsea might have ‘never given managers time’ but Todd Boehly clearly intends to give Potter time. That much is not really up for debate, BIG or otherwise.

But that is excellent. It’s not a case of whether Potter should be sacked but whether he might resign. From comfortably the biggest job of his entire coaching career. Thus essentially accepting and declaring it is beyond him. And torching his future as a manager at this level in the process.

Shall we move on to the other ‘experts’, such as Ben Husband?

‘It’s not just that results are bad, Potter is stumbling into the very same issues he encountered at Brighton. Nice, but ultimately toothless football.’

‘Stumbling into the very same issues he encountered’ and subsequently sorted at Brighton when given time and patience, you might say.

And then there’s Neil McLeman:

‘Finishing outside the top seven this season would prove the job is too big for him.’

Just like it did when Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta finished eighth with Liverpool and Arsenal?

 

Anger management
‘I ADMIRED Graham Potter’s answer to an excellent question from my colleague Andrew Dillon last week, about whether he has ever got angry,’ writes Dave Kidd in The Sun, setting the bar incredibly low for ‘excellent questions’: Dillon asked Potter what makes him angry, what has made him angry “in the past year or so” and “does anything make you angry?”, because he is a child psychologist trying to interpret a worrying drawing from school, not a middle-aged man talking to a 47-year-old.

‘Potter said he felt a responsibility to himself, his club and the wider game to act in a decent manner,’ Kidd continues. ‘He is staying true to himself and will not indulge in performative anger on the touchline just because it is being demanded of him.’

It’s a refreshing take which contrasts well with the idea that Chelsea have only won two of their last 15 games because their manager is just too nice. Why indeed should he ‘indulge in performative anger… just because it is being demanded of him’ by media types?

Oh but Kidd is not done…

‘Yet when you are Chelsea manager and you lose at home to bottom-club Southampton and don’t sound particularly annoyed by a run of two wins in 14 matches, that also suggests you might simply be too decent a bloke to manage a major club.’

It suggests you are being either deliberately naive or actively foolish to think Potter isn’t ‘particularly annoyed’ by any defeat, bad performance or poor run of form – it is two wins in 15 matches, by the way.

The scale of the job might be beyond even his vast prior experience and capabilities. Time will tell on that front. But it’s absolute nonsense to pretend that he is ‘simply too decent a bloke’ to succeed at the highest level. Would he suddenly be a more suitable Chelsea manager if he screamed at officials, publicly criticised his players and told Andy Dillon to f**k off?

Graham Potter, Chelsea, February 2023

 

Cesar dressing
‘Cesar Azpilicueta breaks silence with Chelsea star still in hospital after being KOd and stretchered off vs Southampton’ – The Sun website.

Does being knocked unconscious count as maintaining a silence?

 

Give them enough Europe…
‘WITH Fulham, Brighton and Brentford all with hopes of playing in Europe, I keep hearing ‘the last thing they need is Thursday night football next season’.

‘Yet Fulham, the only of those three clubs to have played in Europe before, enjoyed some of their most historic nights en route to the Europa League final in 2010.

‘No club should ever shy away from making similar memories’ – Dave Kidd, The Sun.

Has one single actual human person genuinely seriously suggested that Fulham, Brighton and Brentford should avoid qualifying for European competition? Those quote marks would certainly indicate as much but how does Kidd ‘keep hearing’ something no-one has said?

 

Bring on the Moyes
‘David Moyes is set to be sacked if West Ham United lose at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday’ – Gary Jacob, The Times.

‘West Ham’s struggle to identify a suitable replacement for David Moyes could save the manager from the sack, even if they lose to Nottingham Forest on Saturday’ – Jacob Steinberg, The Guardian.

‘West Ham United have no intention of sacking David Moyes despite dropping into the Premier League’s bottom three’ – Jason Burt, Daily Telegraph.

Great gets all round.

 

Hey Jude
‘Jude Bellingham breaks Bundesliga record to show Liverpool what they would be getting’ – Daily Mirror website.

The youngest player to reach 50 goals in Bundesliga history? Think they’re probably more bothered about getting a really good midfielder. And why do certain outlets keep pretending the onus is on Bellingham to ‘show’ teams what he can bring to them? It’s very much the other way around.

 

Ask a simple question
‘Supercomputer predicts Man Utd’s season – is quadruple on as Scholes said?’ – The Sun website.

‘No’ – Mediawatch.

 

Mirror, Mirror

‘SPORTSWASHING’ in block red capitals is a lovely touch, as if the term has never been used before and it is a shock revelation that there might be ulterior motives to owning Man Utd.

Mediawatch Graham Potter

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