After rising to prominence first in Sweden and now in the Premier League with Brighton & Hove Albion, Graham Potter has now earned a chance at a ‘Big Six’ club.
Following the dismissal of Thomas Tuchel, multiple reports suggested that Potter was the top priority for Chelsea’s new American owner Todd Boehly — indeed, that he had been a target since the takeover this year.
While Mauricio Pochettino was also reportedly in the mix, Potter was confirmed as the next head coach of Chelsea on September 8, signing a five-year contract at Stamford Bridge.
The Sporting News brings you everything you need to know about the new man in the Chelsea hotseat, including his managerial style, career path, and unique techniques for building squad unity.
Chelsea Football Club is delighted to welcome Graham Potter as our new Head Coach! 🤝
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 8, 2022
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Graham Potter managerial style of play
Potter’s style of play has garnered significant praise over the years, from his incredible rise at Swedish club Ostersunds to the Premier League and Brighton. A combination of possessional calm and defensive cohesion made Potter an increasingly wanted man amongst the European elite.
Preferring a 3-4-3 formation, Potter displays a tactical style that would normally be associated with extremely aggressive attacking sides, yet he manages to squeeze defensive acumen out of his squad as well.
At Brighton, Potter used attacking-minded wing-backs such as Solly March to stretch the pitch, bombing forward while on the ball. He prefers his wing-backs to be inverted — that is, a right-footed player on the left, and a left-footed player on the right, to encourage diagonal deliveries from the flanks in towards forwards in the penalty area.
While in possession, ball-playing center-backs — at Brighton, it’s often Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster — are encouraged to step up high into midfield to create multiple passing options and play around an opposition press. There are often many passing options to safely progress forward as the center-backs and midfield pivot create multiple possessional triangles to mitigate an opposition press. They’re also not afraid to deploy long-balls, knowing that any turnovers from that would not come in dangerous areas.
While on the ball, the team transitions into a 4-2-3-1, with one wing-back pushing forward into midfield to create the attacking trio. During the 2021/22 season, this was often Leandro Trossard on the left, especially with Marc Cucurella as his left center-back, who could drift over. The left midfielder drifts centrally to become the No. 10 and allow the wide player to advance forward in support.
Defensively, the team is situated with a 5-3-2 formation, as both wing-backs drop to support the back line. If the opponent looks to progress through the midfield, they are closed down by multiple midfielders, with the goal being to push the opposition wide. This allows Brighton to spring transitional traps as they already have the ball in wide areas should the opponent turn the ball over.
Yves Bissouma was Brighton’s key defensive midfielder during 2021/22, and he was Albion’s best performer so consistently that Tottenham Hotspur came calling for him once the season was over.
Since then, Argentina international Alexis Mac Allister has filled the role impressively and continued to chip in with goals, including penalties and a stunning free-kick in a 5-2 win at home to Leicester.
Potter’s sides do not press hard when the opponent is in sustained possession, but they do deploy a counter-press when turning the ball over. The intent is to immediately win the ball back — but if that fails, they fall back into the defensive structure.
“The objective for us isn’t necessarily to have the most possession, it’s about trying to win the game,” Potter said back in August of 2022. “In football, you can’t guarantee that you’re always going to be attacking. You might want to do that, but it’s impossible, so you have to have an understanding of how you’re defending.
“In football, if you haven’t got that balance, then it’s hard to achieve anything.”
MORE: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Chelsea: Why Thomas Tuchel wanted a reunion with former Dortmund pupil
Graham Potter contract details, salary
Potter initially signed on with Brighton in May of 2019, signing a four-year contract. After just six months in charge, he was handed an extension that locked Potter in with the Seagulls through the summer of 2025.
Reports indicate that Potter earned around £2 million per year at Brighton, whereas Thomas Tuchel was said to have earned around £7 million per year at Chelsea before his dismissal.
According to a host of reports following Tuchel’s departure at Chelsea, including from the Evening Standard, The Independent, and journalist Guillem Balague, Potter’s contract at Brighton included a £16 million release clause that’s slightly more complicated than a simple payment. This would mean that Chelsea would have been required to pay this total to force a move, unless a deal with Brighton was arranged to secure a mutual contract termination.
Potter’s contract with Chelsea is until the end of the 2026/27 season.
Graham Potter clubs managed
After his retirement as a player in the lower divisions in England, Potter worked as a technical director for the Ghana women’s football team at the 2007 Women’s World Cup and managed university teams in the UK.
It was around this time that Potter completed a degree in leadership and emotional intelligence — fields he uses to masterful effect in management.
In January of 2011, Potter got his first managerial job with Swedish club Ostersunds, playing in the fourth tier of Swedish football.
Potter’s first two seasons at Ostersunds were a smashing success, earning two consecutive promotions before extending his contract another three years. In October of 2015, he secured promotion to the Allsvenskan, the Swedish top flight, for the first time in the club’s history, completing the journey from fourth-tier to top flight in just five seasons.
His success in Sweden wouldn’t stop there, winning the domestic cup, the Svenska Cupen, with a 4-1 victory over 13-time domestic league champion and six-time League Cup winners Norrkoping. That earned the club qualification to the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League, where they finished second in their group to advance to the knockout stage, eventually eliminated by Arsenal despite a famous 2-1 first-leg win at the Emirates Stadium.
In June of 2018, Potter was hired by Championship side Swansea City to take over following the club’s relegation from the Premier League. He spent one season with the Swans, finishing 10th in the Championship, before Premier League club Brighton came calling. Potter would join the Seagulls in May of 2019 following the dismissal of Chris Hughton.
Since joining Brighton, Potter’s stock has continued to rise sharply. He finished 16th in his first season, avoiding relegation, and then achieved a ninth-place finish the following year — the club’s highest-ever finish in the top flight. This season, Brighton have started magnificently, with four wins and a draw over the first six Premier League matches, including an opening-day 2-1 victory at Manchester United.
Graham Potter and squad chemistry
It’s well-documented that Graham Potter has some unconventional methods when it comes to building squad chemistry.
At Swedish club Ostersunds, he brought the squad and staff to various team-building events such as acting classes, singing classes, dancing classes, and other unconventional get-togethers hoping to bring the team closer together.
The Guardian produced a 2018 documentary on Potter’s methods, called The Comfort Zone, where it detailed his methods at Ostersunds. In it, footage of these events show players with comical looks on their faces. “The beauty about sport is that if you have an idea of how to create an environment that allows people to grow, then anything’s possible,” Potter said.
“When you introduce the idea that the guys are going to sing in front of people or dance in front of people, players and staff think ‘goodness me, what am I in for? I can’t do that’. There’s players that would probably rather do something else or would feel it’s not something they’re overly happy to do. Like all of us, when you’re challenged in that kind of way, you have to overcome it.
“Fundamentally, I think you’re here to try and entertain people. People pay money to watch you play football and you hope that you can entertain people, and as a result of that I think you need to be natural and be yourself, it shouldn’t be forced. In the performance it should be about how you feel at that time. Of course, we have some tactical objectives and you work to try and improve as a team how things function, but fundamentally you want a player to go out and express themselves and be natural and take responsibility for what they are doing.”
Graham Potter trophies won
While Graham Potter has yet to win trophies in English football, his days at Swedish club Ostersunds are littered with silverware. While elevating the club from the fourth tier of Swedish football to the top flight in just five years, he collected numerous titles.
Potter culminated his Ostersunds success by winning the Swedish domestic cup in 2016/17, the club’s first top-tier trophy in its history.
Ostersunds
Svenska Cupen: 2016/17
Division 1 Norra: 2012
Division 2 Norrland: 2011
Individual
Swedish Football Manager of the Year: 2016, 2017
Graham Potter’s European record
Potter’s arrival at Chelsea will see him thrown into the UEFA Champions League for the first time.
The manager isn’t a complete stranger to European competition, however, and took Ostersunds to the UEFA Europa League in 2017/18.
Potter’s side finished second in their group after only losing one of their six games.
Ostersunds were then beaten 4-2 on aggregate by Arsenal in the round of 32 but did win the second leg at the Emirates 2-1.
Where is Graham Potter from?
Graham Potter was born in Solihull, a town in the West Midlands just southeast of Birmingham.
He joined the Birmingham City academy, graduating as a left-back in 1992, making his first appearance for the senior side at just 17 years old. He would go on to make 25 appearances for the club’s senior side before moving on, playing three-year spells at Stoke City and West Brom with a one-year stop at Southampton sandwiched in between.
Eventually he would land at York City, where he made 114 appearances, the most of any of his clubs. After stints at Boston United, Shrewsbury Town and Macclesfield Town, he hung up his boots in 2005.
It’s not hard to see where Potter’s love for wide areas comes from. “I started off as a winger and then I got too tall and lost any explosiveness I had,” Potter said of his youth days to Wales Online in 2018. “So then I played at the back and was able to run forward a bit more from there. I wasn’t a fantastic defender but I could get forward and cross and play.”
The Graham Potter beard
Graham Potter’s beard has gained him additional notoriety amongst those on social media.
His red-hued scruff has been likened to that of a sea captain, but it’s not the only moment his face garnered publicity.
A freshly-shaven Potter walked into a pre-match press conference in April of 2021 sporting a nasty shiner under his left eye, which he said came from falling down steps at the beach, eventually hitting his head on a metal railing.
Unfortunately, that would be the end of any potential modeling career, although according to Potter, “[Those days] were over a long, long time ago – if ever they started.”
Graham Potter has beaten every bald manager he’s faced in the Premier League. Beard > Shiny Bonce #BHAFC
— We Are Brighton (@wearebrighton) August 7, 2022
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