Well. Who knew Boehly had the balls to do it.
I would say Potter hate began a few months ago, around the time of our long-stretching streak without a win. At this point calls to sack Potter were, in my oinion, largely baseless, coming down to form reasons. I personally shunned our fanbase and just wished Potter could shake it off and start to win the fans back.
Bear in mind, at the time of his appointment, the deal made sense in many ways. The job was a gamble but a realistic step up for Potter. I think I wrote before about how I'd watched him since Swansea and his subsequent development at Brighton, a team he left in good stead while developing a lot of top talent, the likes of Leandro Trossard and Moises Caicedo.
However. If you can picture a scale, with 'full support' at the top and 'get him out now' at the bottom, my arrow gradually began to sink deeper, and when he was let go, I was less angry, or certainly not as much anger as I would have felt had we sacked him 'Abramovich-style', that is, the second we ran into the poor form.
Yes, we can point fingers at the owners for dumping player after player on top of Potter which left team selections an absolute nightmare, but I think they were brave and made the right call, all things considered. I know Boehly wanted a long-term project manager, but sometimes things don't work out, and he most likely started to see that.
I saw us in a catch-22, where if we stayed with Potter, results would carry on and we'd be on track for our worst PL finish, but if we sacked him, all the effort put into player-coach relationships, tactics, not to mention the price we paid to pry him from Brighton, that would all be set on fire. And, now he's gone, it has. The whole Potter project has been a tremendous waste of money and time, but it was a gamble and a risk, and sometimes in football, you have to take risks.
I wholeheartedly wish Potter all the best. I think it's a shame that things didn't work out, but as a lot of fans have been saying, I predict that a club and squad of this level was just too much. Fingers crossed he can secure a new post sooner rather than later, and that this whole experience hasn't put a mark on his managerial career as a whole.
Some of the fans have been utterly soulless when it came to Potter's departure. Celebration at his sacking, on top of the death threats Potter and his family recieved, chants at the stadium, it's been truly disappointing, and it makes me ashamed to be associated with it.
Potter did look lost in his last few matches, particularly in his last game, with tactics and player selections that simply didn't set us up for success. We run into the same issues where we dominate possession and xG but never look like doing anything with it.
Either way, we're now in the market (again). Interestingly, it seems Bruno Saltor has remained, and at time of writing I believe only Potter and Reid have confirmed their exit. I think the plan is to get a permanent coach in rather than sticking out with Saltor, who hasn't actually managed a first team in any capacity, for example he revealed today that his selected XI against Liverpool will be the first team selection he has performed.
I'll steal the replacement list from an Athletic article which rounds up a handful of good selections.
Julian Nagelsmann - Nagelsmann seems to be the standout pick after being let go by Bayern. I'm not completely convinced, given he's still relatively young, and seemed to have problems behind the scenes at the club. He hasn't put the club in a standout lead in the Bundesliga, with Union Berlin and Dortmund having plotted opportunities to seal the top spot this year. I just feel he will run into the same issues here that he had in Germany. At the moment though, he may look like the man to take the job.
Luis Enrique - Enrique is my personal choice. Coming off of a very strong stint as Spain manager, the man is no nonsense; Athletic described him as an 'old school English manager' who (unlike Potter), 'does not tend to get too close to his players'. At the moment, that's what we need. We need results and motivation ASAP, and Enrique brings that. Combine that with the fact that he speaks very good English and hsa expressed a desire to manage in England, already turning down Tottenham, and we might have a match made in heaven.
Mauricio Pochettino - Thanks, but no thanks. Poch has been out of a job for almost a year now. He didn't really have the best time at PSG, failing to achieve a lot and losing out on the title at his only opportunity. I have no idea if things may be different at Chelsea, but something about him just doesn't convince me.
Oliver Glasner - This is the risky pick, which could pay off. Glasner has worked wonders at Frankfurt, winning a Europa League and losing out in this years CL to an in-form Napoli team that might go all the way to the final. A staunch believer in the 3-2-4-1, Glasner would no doubt get the best out of our wingback wizards, Chilwell and James. The only risk being, Glasner has limited silverware and may struggle to adapt to the force of the Premier League. I won't complain if we go with them, though.
Carlo Ancelotti - I disregard this one as, while I no doubt believe Carlo would bring success fairly quickly with the squad we have, I doubt he'd want to return to the Bridge. Currently at Real Madrid, with reports he might take the Brazil job in the summer, it's a long shot, for sure.
Thomas Frank - Very unlikely, given he is very much in his element at Brentford, and although he may find a good way to get the best out of the squad, he has no European experience whatsoever, and might play out similarly to Potter.
At time of writing reports say we've 'made contact' with Enrique and Nagelsmann, so we'll see what happens over the next few weeks.
So long, Graham, and thanks for all the memes. Here's a personal favourite: