Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea sack reasons revealed in an email

Stuart Telford

• 10 Mar 2023 10:17 GMT
• 3 min read

Thomas Tuchel was sacked by Chelsea last September despite leading them to Champions League glory in 2021, and the reasons why have been revealed by his ex-wife.

New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly shocked the footballing world when he sack Tuchel in September, replacing him with Brighton manager Graham Potter.

The American billionaire had seemingly backed Tuchel in that summer's transfer window, signing Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria - all players Tuchel wanted.

READ: Potter in Tuchel dig? Chelsea manager in cryptic pre-season complaint

But days after the window shut, Tuchel was gone. It was a difficult period for the German tactician, who was going through a divorce from his wife - former Suddeutsche Zeitung journalist Sissi - at the time.

'Players lost respect for him'

"Thomas Tuchel 'was sacked by Chelsea for off-field reasons and because the players lost respect for him' - according to an email from his ex-wife," report the Daily Mail.

"The revelation came in a hearing at Munich's district court following the split between Tuchel, 49, and his wife Sissi, 51, last year after 13 years of marriage."

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What those 'off-field' reasons were are as yet undisclosed, but Boehly reportedly found Tuchel a 'pain in the ass' to deal with, with former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has said that he would have done the same thing as the American.

"There's a lot more behind the scenes 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 raft of other things - that's Todd Boehly's gift to tell people what it is," he told talkSPORT.

"But it opened my eyes and I would've done exactly the same thing as Todd Boehly did which is 'you can go mate.'"

Tuchel isn't expected to be out of work for long, with Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi reportedly redady to admit his mistake in sacking him as he considers a replacement for current head coach Christophe Galtier.