Chelsea 'divided' over Graham Potter future

Stuart Telford

• 4 Mar 2023 05:25 CST
• 3 min read

There is disagreement among the Chelsea board as to Graham Potter's future as Blues head coach according to reports.

Potter has endured a difficult start to life as manager of Chelsea.

The English coach had Brighton punching above their weight, but has walked into a tricky situation at Stamford Bridge.

READ: 'Chelsea stars talking behind Potter's back about Aubameyang'

Todd Boehly spent more than €600 million on new players after succeeding Roman Abramovich as owner, but the first of his transfer windows - last summers - was largely done in conjunction with Potter's predecessor Thomas Tuchel.

Potter had a bigger hand in the second - January's - which has been a mixed bag so far. Enzo Fernandez has impressed, as has Joao Felix in spurts, but Mykhailo Mudryk has struggled after his €100m (€70m + €30m in add-ons) arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk.

But sea changes in club personnel or not, there is little escaping the fact that Potter has a win ratio of less than 35 per cent since taking charge.

READ: Revealed: Graham Potter’s fate if Chelsea lose to Leeds

Chelsea's board split'

"Chelsea's board are split over Graham Potter's future with Todd Boehly backing his manager while some doubt he's got the authority to turn their dismal season around ahead of a huge week," report the Daily Mail - one of a number making the same claim.

Potter faces a pair of games that could be make or break for him: Leeds in the Premier League and then Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Potter has admitted to crisis talks ahead of those meetings.

"There is support and, of course, I've spoken to [the board]," he admitted on Friday. "But I'm not going to hide behind that. The results haven't been good enough for us and I'm responsible for that.

When you're a coach, if the results are good you accept the criticism and noise that comes with it. My job is to stay with the team, stay focused, try to prepare the team as well as I can, and win the game tomorrow."