Graham Potter, the manager of Chelsea, was relieved of his duties after the club’s loss against Aston Villa, which resulted in Chelsea falling into the bottom half of the Premier League table.
This comes following their embarrassing loss of 2-0 to Aston Villa on Saturday, with Potter just winning 12 of the 31 games he was in charge of during that time.
In a statement released on behalf of the club’s other co-owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said: ‘On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea. We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity, and we are all disappointed in this outcome.
‘Along with our incredible fans, we will all be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season. We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter final ahead. We will put every effort and commitment into every one of those games so that we can end the season on a high.’
Julian Nagelsmann is one of the names that has been bandied about as a possible successor to Potter. This week, Bayern Munich fired him, and oddly, they hired Thomas Tuchel, who had previously managed the Blues, to take his position.
Even though the Blues management regards him, Sky Deutschland claimed over the weekend that he has no interest in succeeding Potter as manager of the Blues. It is said that Nagelsman does not intend to make an immediate return to management and will wait until the summer to decide his future.
Potter leaves Chelsea as the club is on track to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League for the first time in 27 years. They are presently 11th in the table, and it appears they cannot finish in the top four spots.
“I feel for Graham Potter, but it was inevitable,” summarised Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher. “You don’t change Tuchel for Potter. Ridiculous decision to start with.”
Sky Sports
On Tuesday, Chelsea will play home to Liverpool in the Premier League. The following week, on April 12, they will take on Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final. Bruno Saltor, who followed Graham Potter from Brighton to Stamford Bridge to become a member of Potter’s coaching staff, will serve as the team’s temporary manager.
After the dismissal of Brendan Rodgers as manager of Leicester earlier on Sunday, there have been a total of 13 different managers in charge of Premier League teams so far this season.
