After all, Todd Boehly, the front man for the Blues’ new ownership, had just sanctioned a record £259.1m in summer transfers, only to ax a popular manager six days after the window closed. 3 Tuchel was sacked by Chelsea on Wednesday morningCredit: Getty 3 Potter looks set to be appointed as Chelsea’s new bossCredit: Getty But while that sacking was straight out of Roman Abramovich’s playbook, Boehly’s decisive approach to Brighton boss Graham Potter was a major departure. Potter is a low-key, low-profile, overachieving British boss, unlike any manager appointed by Chelsea in the previous 20 years – or any of the Premier League’s “Big Six” for the better part of a decade. So his upcoming appointment is interesting. Of course, we still had to stifle laughter at reports that Chelsea sold Potter on the idea of a “long-term project”. Especially given that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a 33-year-old loose cannon, had just been bought by Barcelona according to his old Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel – only to be sacked after 59 minutes of football for his new club. . Boehly is a very different owner to Abramovich – a practical, domestic, attention-seeker. He’s also a Hollywood type, glamorizing celebrity. We know the American had hoped to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, when the aging Galactico wanted out of Manchester United this summer, but he was short handed by Tuchel. CASINO SPECIAL – BEST NEW CUSTOMER SIGN-UP OFFERS So maybe the idea of a “long-term project” is just the latest short-lived idea that came to Boehly’s mind. There was much amusement at the reports, soon after Tuchel’s departure, that Chelsea had drawn up a three-man shortlist which included Potter, Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane. This seemed to sum up Boehly’s approach to managing the club: “Well, the kind of manager we want is an ex-Football League left-back who has come through the Swedish lower leagues and done brilliantly on a shoestring budget in Brighton. . “Either him or one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen, who has won three European Cups but never managed anyone other than Real Madrid. So, yeah, that’s the kind of profile we narrowed it down to.” However, Potter was clearly the #1 choice on this short list. He has enjoyed consistent success in sensible, stable environments at Swedish side Östersunds and Brighton, either side of a season with Swansea City. But now he goes to the most wildly volatile club on the planet. A brief summary of Chelsea Football Club from 2010 says it all — from winning the Double, to collapsing, to winning the Champions League, to collapsing, to winning the Premier League, to completion and utter collapse, to winning the Premier League , in the collapse … From the transfer embargo, to becoming European and world champions, to an owner being sanctioned for links to a land war in Europe, to record summer transfer spending, to the sacking of the manager who selected these players. So it’s fair to say Potter is heading into uncharted territory and it’s no surprise that when he met Chelsea on Wednesday afternoon, Boehly had to sell the job to the Seagulls boss, not the other way around. In the past decade, only one Englishman has been labeled as the boss of the “Big Six” – Frank Lampard. But it was a very different kind of appointment with Potter – a club legend who settled in to reconnect the club with its roots and promote a talented group of young players during a transfer embargo. Potter is appointed entirely on merit and deserves the step. However, this appointment is high-risk for the club and the manager, not least because of the hefty compensation Chelsea will pay Brighton, on top of the huge reward for Tuchel and his staff. 3 Chelsea owner Boehly, right, looks set to replace Tuchel with PotterCredit: PA At the Seagulls, Potter enjoyed the virtues of patience and modest expectations. He did not find immediate success and, throughout his time at the Amex, was able to overcome some poor runs of form, especially at home, where they won just once in 14 games between September and May last season. The 47-year-old Brummies are entering a shark tank – where player power remains a bigger factor than any other big club in England and where the owners, new to football, appear to be fumbling in the dark. Potter doesn’t have the charisma or reputation to command immediate respect. He should win Chelsea players over with the quality of his coaching and man management. It will be fascinating to see how he handles some big egos, especially Aubameyang who was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and bombed by Mikel Arteta. Chelsea have spent £160m on the defensive trio of Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Mark Koukourela from Potter’s Brighton. However, they have not kept a clean sheet in six matches and have conceded ten goals. Potter needs to revive fortunes after a poor start in both the Premier League and Champions League after Tuchel presided over back-to-back away defeats to Southampton, Leeds and Dinamo Zagreb. However, as humble and reasonable as Potter is, he remains ambitious. Had he turned down the chance to manage Chelsea, other big clubs might have shied away. And Boehly’s Blues, for all the early chaos, don’t feel like the ‘same old Chelsea’ of the Abramovich era. The decision to go for Potter suggests that. And if Boehly sticks to his idea of a “long-term project,” then we’ll know a lot.
