Chelsea’s owners now ADMIT sacking Thomas Tuchel might have been wrong
Chelsea owners now admit firing Thomas Tuchel may have been wrong – and that hiring Graham Potter overcompensated a series of mistakes – but Todd Boehly and Co believe keeping Marina Granovskaia was politically impossible
- Thomas Tuchel was fired last September and replaced by Graham Potter
- The former Brighton boss was sacked just seven months later after a disastrous run
- Accepted by the hierarchy that there may have been a mistake in firing Tuchel
The Chelsea owners have accepted that they may have made a mistake in sacking Thomas Tuchel last September, it can be revealed.
Tuchel, 49, was a hugely popular manager among players and supporters, but it was only a matter of playing into Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s tenure that he was dismissed.
It followed an extensive summer rebuild, which saw the likes of Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana all arrive for a significant transfer. fees.
Graham Potter was hired almost immediately after, though his reign lasted barely seven months before he was sacked last month.
While the relationship with Tuchel would never work in the long run, it is believed in retrospect that it might have been better to retain the German coach for a season for a more orderly transition.
It has been revealed that the Chelsea owners have some reservations about their decision to fire Thomas Tuchel
The German unceremoniously lost his job at the start of the season – a decision that hurt him deeply
Graham Potter was called up as his – almost – immediate replacement, although he too was gone not long after
But as new owners, they wanted to start a new era as soon as possible.
After firing Tuchel, with relations pretty bruised on both sides, there’s a feeling they overcompensated by hiring Potter because he was so adept at working with the executives and owners.
It is said Chelsea’s owners still value Potter and believe he may still be able to prove himself at a top club, but the team’s form had eventually deteriorated to the point that they felt they had to step in and change jobs.
The effect of the sanctions on Roman Abramovich’s regime was more debilitating than commonly believed; they led directly to the departure of Antonio Rudiger and allowed the club to catch up in many areas.
While the new owners were criticized for firing Marina Granovskaia, Abramovich’s transfer negotiator, it became clear that it was politically impossible to keep an executive so closely associated with the sanctioned Abramovich given the war in Ukraine.
Petr Cech could have stayed, but he made it clear he wanted to leave when Granovskaia left.
An early attempt to put former Liverpool transfer guru Michael Edwards in charge for the summer fell through due to family commitments, meaning they were initially left without expertise.
It is stressed that de Boehly never wanted to step into that breach as interim sporting director and is now pleased to have stepped back to put Stewart and Winstanley in charge.
The club is poised to appoint former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino as a summer takeover candidate, with the Argentine well aware of the task ahead.
Pochettino will bring along assistant Jesus Perez, as well as his usual coaching team, but will not officially start in the position until the end of the season.
Pochettino and the club’s sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley discuss the improvements to be made to the team, with a striker, midfielder and goalkeeper to be signed in the summer, despite the need to also sell surplus players to balance the books.
Marina Granovskaia’s departure raised eyebrows, although it is believed it would have been seen as political suicide had she stayed
The number of purchases Chelsea have made since the new owner took over has baffled many
Frank Lampard was brought in as interim manager last month but has struggled to ignite the team
Chelsea are currently 11th in the Premier League with 43 points. Should they lose another game this season, it would equal the 1997–98 season for most losses in a season.
After his side’s 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, Lampard again bemoaned his team’s inaction on the ball.
“The second half was ours, the control of the game was ours of course, in terms of possession, but in the first half we weren’t dynamic enough at the top of the field,” he said.
“Everything we talked about at the beginning of the game, it was too slow. Unfortunately it seems to be intrinsic here as we make a lot of passes, but they are not meant to break lines or threaten the opponent at the top of the field.’