Graham Potter fires shots at ‘dysfunctional’ Chelsea & West Ham
Graham Potter has bitten back at a criticism of his management that came via an Instagram post about him doing Pilates.
You may have missed it but since he left the British Isles, Potter has become a beloved figure in Sweden and has taken to showing his appreciation in the form of Instagram videos that come straight out of the High Performance vocabulary.
Filming in the echoiest room we’ve ever heard, Potter likes to give fans his thoughts on football, using hashtags like #Reflection, #Learning, #Leadership and #Teamwork.
But to go full Jake Humphrey, you must start posting photos of yourself training and Potter’s medium of choice is Pilates.
Football managers, though, are never safe and despite the picture having absolutely nothing to do with football, Potter was still getting grief in the comments.
An account called All Things Essex (what this has to do with Essex we don’t know) said “Hopefully you are better at Pilates than you are a football manager” and Potter snapped at the bait.
In came the reply “I’ll try not do Pilates in a dysfunctional place and I will be ok” and so naturally we are going to guess exactly which clubs he’s referring to.
Potter’s first jobs were at Leeds Carnegie and Ostersund, the latter of which he did very well at, so we can rule those out.
His next job was a move back to the UK and Swansea before he was poached by Brighton a year later. Now, the word “dysfunctional” is not one that is commonly used to describe modern-era Brighton, so we are safe in ruling them out too.
Next up, oh look it’s BlueCo Chelsea! Ding, ding, ding, we may have a winner.
Potter didn’t do himself many favours when moving to Chelsea, but he was not helped by the “buy everyone” approach of BlueCo and the bizarre choices they made in their first few months of ownership.
Losing 11 in his first 31 saw Potter unsurprisingly get the boot, but he would probably be really careful about his next choice right? Knowing that a wrong choice could mean the end of his coaching career in England forever?
Nope, he chose West Ham, possibly the one Premier League club more dysfunctional than 2022 Chelsea.
And surprise, surprise, he failed there too. He replaced Julen Lopetegui, a man who could suck the fun out of a party popper, and brought his own style of turgid football.
He won his second game but then proceeded to get just one win in six on the way to a 14th-place finish. The following season started just as slowly and he was sacked with the team in 19th.
Potter was given the boot, not just from West Ham but all of England and retreated to Sweden, a place where he is far more loved, to rebuild his career. Just don’t disturb him when he’s doing his Pilates.
By Sam Cooper
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