West Ham United manager Graham Potter has reflected on his time with Chelsea and feels that he departed Brighton and Hove Albion “at the wrong time.”
January 2025 saw Graham Potter return to football management, having had almost two years away from the job after being sacked from his position at Chelsea in 2023. The Englishman was drafted in to replace Julen Lopetegui who, despite being backed in the summer transfer window, struggled to find consistency at the London Stadium.
|
Graham Potter at West Ham So Far |
|
|---|---|
|
Appointed |
7th January 2025 |
|
Games |
13 |
|
Wins |
3 |
|
Draws |
3 |
|
Losses |
7 |
|
Points in Premier League |
12 |
|
Points per Game in Premier League |
1.00 |
Potter has, so far at West Ham, been fairly indifferent, but he joined the club in the midst of a disappointing season. Evan Ferguson, who joined on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion, is Potter’s only signing for the Hammers so far and as such, the manager will no doubt have an eye on the summer, a chance for him to shape the squad in his image.
Speaking on the Seaman Says podcast, brought to you by Betway, Potter has reflected on his managerial career in England thus far, touching on his time both with Brighton and with Chelsea.
‘Would I Do Something Different? Who Knows?’
Potter looks back on his stint with the Seagulls
After spending a season with Swansea City in the Championship, Brighton moved to appoint Potter as their manager in 2019. Potter would spend three seasons at the Amex Stadium, during which time he helped take Brighton from a team that consistently battled relegation to a comfortable mid-table side, who could look up the table rather than down, with a recognisable and enjoyable brand of football.
At the time of Potter’s departure from the Seagulls, Brighton were in an exceptional position within the Premier League, given that the manager left soon after the start of the 2022/23 campaign. This is something that, in speaking with David Seaman, Potter reflected on:
“(Leaving was) very difficult. I’d had an opportunity the season before which didn’t feel like the right time. If I went back to the start of why I moved to Brighton, it was to try and get the club into the top 10. That was my remit.
“When we left, we felt the team was probably, pound-for-pound, the best squad in the Premier League in terms of the players that were there. Leandro Trossard, Alexis Mac Allister, Moises Caicedo, Robert Sanchez, Lewis Dunk, Pascal Gross – it was a top team and they were fourth in the table. It was early season, but we had got them into that point.
“In some ways, you want to see out that point, but at the same time, you look through your life and you have these opportunities, and you live and you learn. If I had my time again, would I do something different? Who knows? But the opportunity came up, I liked the sound of what they were trying to do, and it felt like I wanted to give it a go, but it was with a heavy heart and an acknowledgement that it wasn’t brilliant timing.”
‘I Probably Went at The Wrong Time’
Potter acknowledges failings in Chelsea stint
With Chelsea having parted ways with their Champions League-winning manager Thomas Tuchel soon after the 2022/23 season began, they settled on Potter as the man to take them forward. Despite not being beaten until his 10th match in charge of the club, things started to go downhill quite quickly from there.
Potter won just 12 matches of the 31 he managed for Chelsea, with damning losses to the likes of Southampton and being eliminated from the FA Cup in the third round, a fate which Chelsea had not suffered in over two decades. In April, just seven months after his appointment, Potter was dismissed from his post.
Chelsea spent heavily in Potter’s one transfer window at the club, but even that was not enough for him to overturn his fortunes. Potter has detailed the pressure that he felt at Stamford Bridge, something which he had not experienced in his career until arriving in London.
“Until you’ve been at those clubs, you don’t know what it’s like. The Arsenals, Manchester United, the Chelseas and the Liverpools – at these clubs, there’s a different level of expectations, a different level of spotlight. It’s a bit like when you go from the Championship to the Premier League, you can’t get away from that difference. I just look back at it as an incredible learning opportunity.
“I probably went at the wrong time, in terms of where Chelsea were at that point. But again, I’m grateful for that opportunity and the experience. Not so long back I’d lost my mum, I’d lost my dad, so you just realise that life isn’t that easy, it’s precious, and there are only opportunities and you’ve got to look at them.
“I left Brighton in a really good place. If I think back to where the club was and where I left it, I gave everything for three-and-a-half years and the club was in a really good, healthy spot when I left. And then it’s just about, “okay, is it time for another journey?” and Brighton were still in a place where they could move forward. They got a lot of compensation, so there’s a lot of pluses, for sure.”
Now back in management with West Ham, Potter will no doubt hope that his time with the Hammers is more successful than his stint at Chelsea. Should he have the necessary funds to rebuild his squad in the coming transfer window, then it is fair to assume that Potter will succeed in re-establishing himself as a Premier League manager.
(All stats are from Transfermarkt and are correct as of 14/04/2025)
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