Chelsea fans happy that Coach Potter was sacked
"He is the club's problem," one fan wrote on Twitter after Chelsea's sacking decision on April 2. "The sacking was the right move. He will go down in history as Chelsea's worst manager."
"Potter can now go away with his wits and mediocre work methods," another wrote. "At least he's earned a pension after a short and humiliating stint as Chelsea manager."
Someone even exhorted to press the "like" button on the tweet that fired Potter, if they felt it was the best news of the month. This request received 308 likes in very short time.
Potter was appointed at the start of the season to replace the sacked Thomas Tuchel. Under the guidance of the former Brighton coach, the Stamford Bridge owner won only 12 out of 31 matches. The most recent was a 0-2 defeat at home against Aston Villa on April 1, leading to a fall to 11th place in the Premier League. Chelsea have also left the FA Cup and League Cup from the third round, following defeats to Man City 0-4 and 0-2.
The brightest point of Potter's six months of work is bringing Chelsea into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where they will meet Real Madrid in two matches on April 12 and 18. So some fans still sympathize with Potter. They think that the British military leader has a difficult time with an impatient boss and only knows how to spend money on players that the club absolutely does not need. "Potter needed time to build the team, but never did it with this boss," one fan wrote.
According to the Telegraph, Chelsea players were not informed in advance, and only learned through the club's public announcement. Several players then phoned their representatives in shock.
Before being fired, Potter was still present at Cobham headquarters and took the field to direct the players in training the same day. British media also said that he would still work at least until the end of the season.
According to the Telegraph, sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley were behind the decision to fire Potter. They accelerated this from the afternoon of April 2 and was approved by two Chelsea co-owners - Chairman Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital Fund - approved. Chelsea is said to not have to compensate the entire 68 million salary for the remaining four and a half years of the contract with the 47-year-old coach.
Chelsea appoint Bruno Saltor, Potter's assistant, as interim coach until a new person is found. Bruno only had experience leading the Brighton youth team, before following Potter to Chelsea.
According to bookmakers, former Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann is the number one candidate to replace Potter with odds of 10/11 (put 11 to 10). Then there are former Tottenham and PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino and former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.
