His biggest mistake is not providing Potter with a pair of helping hands to manage and discipline the players and at the same time skipping a legend who scored 707 and assisted 200+ in around 900 games. His biggest mistake is not bringing in Ronaldo.
Boehly is going to ruin Chelsea (hopefully)
- Thread starter UnitedSofa
- Start date
Never thought I'd see a top team as hopeless as us from the 2021-22 season, especially so quickly. 4-0 with De Bruyne and Haaland rested. Feel sorry for the Chelsea fans - we've been there.
Too much turmoil at Chelsea this season. Injuries, wannabe star owner, sacking of a CL winner and a new manager who is used to Brighton. Feels like an unfortunate situation for Potter to have walked into. Part of me feels as though he should be given next season to prove himself but it seems unlikely
Seems quite self-centered to talk about himself putting some flowers up for Vialli, only just to spring into doing a youtube video about how bad Chelsea are playing. Anything for content, aye
Needs to get an sporting director asap as I don't think he understands football very well.
Barring Ranieri's dream year, the last few managers who won the premier league are Pep, Klopp, Conte, Mourinho, Pellegrini, SAF, Mancini and Ancelotti.
So you kind of reap what you sow when you think a small premier league club manager is likely to step up and make big moves at a large premier club. It has nothing to do with tactics or footballing brains, it is the ability to manage the circus that is a big club in the premier league, something they have no experience in. They've been patted on the backs for doing a great job with limited resources, and that is not testimony that they'll do well with abundant resources.
Poch was the only one who did okay (won nothing tho), but that's because Levy runs a super tight ship and makes sure the squad has no overpaid bloated egos to man manage. Arteta only knows the circus, so he knows what to do to stamp his authority in the changing room and is helped by a board that backs him. But big club inexperience is just blatantly more miss than hit.
So you kind of reap what you sow when you think a small premier league club manager is likely to step up and make big moves at a large premier club. It has nothing to do with tactics or footballing brains, it is the ability to manage the circus that is a big club in the premier league, something they have no experience in. They've been patted on the backs for doing a great job with limited resources, and that is not testimony that they'll do well with abundant resources.
Poch was the only one who did okay (won nothing tho), but that's because Levy runs a super tight ship and makes sure the squad has no overpaid bloated egos to man manage. Arteta only knows the circus, so he knows what to do to stamp his authority in the changing room and is helped by a board that backs him. But big club inexperience is just blatantly more miss than hit.
Typical US owner who doesn’t understand very much about football then decides the club needed an immediate overall. Apparently he and Tuchel fell out because he was expected to constantly attend zoom meetings. When Tuchel complained that he just wanted to coach and suggested that the club appoint a DoF, Boehly sacked him.
That's probably a partial truth. Tuchel's a very good "trainer and tactician" but he's hopeless beyond that and is the very definition of "short termism". Just have a look at Tuchel's major signings where he's spent about 350m:
Lukaku, Auba, Sterling, Cucurella, Fofana, Koulibaly
Out of these, only Sterling is OK. Fofana could still make it if he stays injury free, but the rest of them are abject write offs. That's about 300m down the drain in two transfer windows. On top of this, there is a massive cultural breakdown at Chelsea. Lukaku, Auba etc are not the sort of players you bring in to develop a team.
Sacking Tuchel was not a bad idea, neither was bringing in Potter. The mistake was in not sacking Tuchel earlier & allowing Potter more money to bring in the type of player he wants. Now they're struck with the lot Tuchel brought in and really don't have the money to splurge & rebuild even if they want to due to FFP & have to rely on handing out 8 year contracts to dubious talents no one else wants.
surely they could use Lukaku at this point? they have nothing up front
Boehly should've sacked Tuchel sooner so he could make his dream transfer, Ronaldo. Would be hilarious.
But seriously, there's something wrong with players. As soon as they get close to oppo box, they stop thinking and want either to dribble aimlessly or to take a hail Mary shot, it's like they don't trust teammates enough to make a simple pass. I had seen this since Tuchel days so this problem is deeper than just manager
But seriously, there's something wrong with players. As soon as they get close to oppo box, they stop thinking and want either to dribble aimlessly or to take a hail Mary shot, it's like they don't trust teammates enough to make a simple pass. I had seen this since Tuchel days so this problem is deeper than just manager
Last edited:
Sacking Tuchel was a mistake but letting Cech go so quickly was his sin.
Tuchel was lucky to see out the season under Abramovich, team was in sackable form from January onwards. I'm sure if he had still been owner or gave a shit towards the end of last season, they would've had a new manager in much sooner.
You’d think so, but he’s been poor this season for Inter
Asked in another thread but nobody answered me at the time:
Who did he replace the likes of Cech with in the senior roles? Was it football people?
Who did he replace the likes of Cech with in the senior roles? Was it football people?
Isn't it those analytics guys that everyone raves about?
He's clueless, way out of his depth. Reminds me of Moyes at United.
I said to my mates before the season started that Chelsea wouldn’t finish in the top four and United would. I got ripped into and in fairness, after the first two games I was a bit concerned 
I don’t think anyone would be surprised if they lucked out on a new manager and won another champions league in 18 months though.
I don’t think anyone would be surprised if they lucked out on a new manager and won another champions league in 18 months though.
To point out the obvious; this is a rather self-defeating argument, considering that all of those except Pep were at one point small club managers who were then given jobs at big clubs and succeeded. Where exactly do you think big club managers are going to come from?
Surely that is to take an unreasonably dark view. Lukaku clearly was a mistake, and bringing in Auba looked very much like an obvious brain fart already when it happened. But while Cucurella has struggled, he's hardly a write-off - was terrific last season and was sought by City for a reason. I also don't agree Koulibaly has been that bad. Defensively they've been more than OK - only 3 teams have allowed fewer goals.
I agree with you they would have been better off sacking Tuchel and appointing Potter earlier, but that would have required a level of precognition beyond what you could reasonably expect.
It really isn't and that is why our results collapsed at the end of his tenure. Had to go, wasn't the same Tuchel. He's still a great manager and will show it again once he sorts himself.
We were very fortunate to even have points we had when he left. Bailed out by VAR multiple times.
The combination of our awful transfers, Tuchel problems and now the injury mountain always going to make this a very difficult season.
Maybe a shame Potter has been given the shit sandwich. If he can come through it could be a good manager for us.
It's quite a big if now, needs results in next few games very badly.
He replaced Cech with himself
At this point, EtH has been our best “signing” by far. Good players (hi Casemiro!) obviously helps but ten Hag took over a shit show (egos, toxic culture, no plan on field etc) of much bigger proportions and have dealt with it all exceptionally well to this point.
Not just the new signings (they haven’t all settled in well - Antony can still improve), he’s also gotten the best out of existing players - to up their game and commitment to his philosophy. So yeah, I’d say having EtH (for us), have been way more instrumental than any one particular signing - but having quality players does make it easier of course.
If this is the owner who managed to get government approval to own one of the biggest PL clubs, imagine what the others looked like!
Oh wait, just checked the government in question. As you were.
Oh wait, just checked the government in question. As you were.
I hope for your sake that you are joking.
Seems extremely odd to me that you'd back a manager to spend 250m in a window, and then sack in 4 days after the window closes. Had Tuchel stayed on, fan anger would have been on Tuchel who'd under performed in spite of being backed big & not Boehly/Potter. Boehly's caused so much damage to his reputation now that I don't really see any way back for him in the short to medium term.
It reminds me of Kitchen Nightmares but with football clubs. The owners in kitchen nightmares are always some idiots that made money in a totally different industry then decide it will be fun to own a restaurant and they havnt a fkn clue. Gorden Ramsey comes in and all he does is say keep your kitchen clean and cook good food. You would think it would be obvious. These owners are the same type of idiots. Made money totally unrelated to football and now think the can just run a football club with no fkn clue about football. Its simple. Just appoint the right people, give them the cash and then get the fk out of their way.
Tuchel was good obviously but they were never winning the title under him, something was missing there. I still think he was underwhelming in the league.
I’d like Potter to at least get to start next season, but I’m starting to think that’s a tough ask. They look fecking hopeless.
I’d like Potter to at least get to start next season, but I’m starting to think that’s a tough ask. They look fecking hopeless.
Id echo this from @Ish
EtH has got the team playing a defined way. Still nowhere near where we need to be yet but you can see what he’s doing.
He’s getting more out of a number of the players who were already at the club and under performing (Dalot, Shaw, Rashford etc). They have now become some of our best performers.
Obviously the right signings are important, especially in terms of changing club culture and mentality, but you also need the right manager and coaching set up/structure.
He’s handled so many big club issues too, such as Maguire, Ronaldo and now Sancho.
In the Abramovich regime there was only really Marina Granovskaia as the executive director and Petr Cech as a technical director who handled pretty much everything together. We also had Scott McLachlan as the head scout. All three of them have left.
To replace them the club have recently brought in Christopher Vivell (RB Leipzig) and Laurence Stewart (AS Monaco) as technical directors who between the two of them that should more than cover Cech's responsibilities. Vivell started working some weeks ago but Stewart will only join in February after finishing his duties at Monaco.
The head scout McLachlan was replaced by a group of people including Joe Shields (currently Southampton, formerly of Man City), Paul Winstanley (Brighton) as well as the long-serving academy head Neil Bath being promoted to a role that is still mostly youth-based but is said to have some input in first team matters as well. Of the new hires Joe Shields has yet to start, as he too will have some obligations at Southampton before being released after the January transfer window.
So yeah, the ones who have come in (or have been confirmed to join later) are all definitely 'football people' with long histories at other clubs.
The actual sporting director to lead this team is yet to be hired though, since Christopher Freund of RB Salzburg and Michael Edwards formerly of Liverpool were both unavailable. It's been reported Boehly is still hopeful of persuading Edwards to join later once he's finished his sabbatical so that may have something to do with the role still being vacant. While that search is still on-going Boehly himself has some involvement, which probably isn't a great thing all things considered.
Tuchel points per PL game this season: 1.67
Potter points per PL game this season: 1.25
We also got completely fecked over against Spurs under Tuchel.
I find it absolutely baffling that anyone would blame Tuchel for the situation we're in. It's mind-bogglingly obvious that he's a significantly better manager than Potter. I can't believe that anyone could possibly argue otherwise with a straight face.
I did worry a bit for Chelsea when they appointed Potter. I'm from Brighton and had watched them a fair bit, and whilst he did a commendable job there it was only the end of last season and the beginning of this one they started to click. Before that they were frustratingly inconsistent and faced a relegation battle every season.
I think he's a good coach who can do well at a bigger club, but it obviously takes him a while to get things going and for his team to gel, so was always risky for a club that wants to be challenging for trophies asap. It's an obvious drop from Tuchel, as you point out. I was very nervous when people on here were calling for Potter to be the next Utd manager...
Maybe he'll turn it around, but I do have a nagging feeling that he might be your 'Moyes'; a good manager who gets smaller/mid-sized clubs to overperform based on the sum of their parts, and then when he gets his hands on much better players it all starts to unravel.
I thought at the time (and still think) sacking Tuchel was a perfectly reasonable decision. The football wasn't great, the defenders were doing most of the goalscoring and assisting which just isn't sustainable, they weren't getting much out of the big-money attacking signings and as one Chelsea fan mentioned earlier on this thread he did seem to have mentally checked out.
Sacking Tuchel could have been a great move... for a competent owner. It's become clear that Boehly is not that. So instead of replacing an underperforming manager to take the club to the next level, he's removed a stable pair of hands and sent the club into freefall. A smart board probably pulls off replacing Tuchel just fine IMO.
I mean, you can just imagine the conversation.
Boehly: "Who's the best manager in England right now that we can get?"
Board: "Uh, probably Potter at Brighton, but he doesn't really fit in with our plan-"
Boehly: "Get him. Pay whatever it takes, we only want the best here at Chelsea Soccer Club"
Sacking Tuchel could have been a great move... for a competent owner. It's become clear that Boehly is not that. So instead of replacing an underperforming manager to take the club to the next level, he's removed a stable pair of hands and sent the club into freefall. A smart board probably pulls off replacing Tuchel just fine IMO.
I mean, you can just imagine the conversation.
Boehly: "Who's the best manager in England right now that we can get?"
Board: "Uh, probably Potter at Brighton, but he doesn't really fit in with our plan-"
Boehly: "Get him. Pay whatever it takes, we only want the best here at Chelsea Soccer Club"
Yep, a few of my mates (including United supporters) were puzzled when he "disciplined" Rashford, whilst he was basically scoring most/all of our goals and was/is in the form of his life (it feels that way!) but i absolutely agreed with it. It sets an example and promotes consistency that everyone will be treated the same/fairly and the rules apply to all. Credit to Rashford as well, for taking it on the chin, coming on and making the difference to win us the match! So it's all coming together nicely, with the turnaround in the culture at the club being the most significant change, IMO.
What’s worse is the reasoning why they can’t sack him. Oh we took most of Brightons back room staff with him.
Why are Chelsea so obsessed with becoming Brighton? It never made any sense to me
Long may the Boehly balls up continue!
Just wonder whether it’s actually possible for Boehly to sack himself?
Has stepped down as Sporting Director.
