03 April 2023 , 21:22
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Gary Neville believes that Graham Potter may have been relieved with Chelsea's decision to sack him after it was confirmed that the former Brighton boss had left Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Potter, 47, was prised away from the south coast to succeed Thomas Tuchel back in September but was axed less than seven months after penning a lucrative five-year contract with the Blues languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League.
24 hours on from Potter's departure, the decision has been queried by various footballing people. And Neville has offered an alternative view on how Potter may have taken the news.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: "I think if you’re Graham Potter, I suspect Graham Potter is a good man. I reckon he’ll have, to be fair, gone home after he’s been sacked - whenever that was - yesterday morning or the night before, and I bet there’s an element of relief. I don’t think he was enjoying it there, I think he’ll have thought ‘it’s been mad.’
"What he’s been used to, in terms of what his view is of football, I think he’ll have seen what was going on behind the scenes, they lost Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia at the start of the season - that wasn’t planned. They lost Tuchel - that wasn’t planned. He’s come into a club that’s in a massive transition, they’ve paid millions of pounds, they don’t know what they’re doing, to be fair, they’re learning on the job and he’s probably just thinking ‘these lot are mad.’
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"Actually the Sporting Director, the briefings in the last 24 hours - Winstanley and Stuart, Winstanley we knew from Brighton - have obviously made the decision to let Graham Potter go. They probably will choose the next manager but just dealing with Graham Potter at this moment in time, I suspect that Graham Potter’s probably gone to Winstanley, he’ll have known him from Brighton, and said ‘get me out of here because it doesn’t suit me.’
Join the debate! Have Chelsea made the right decision in getting rid of Potter? Let us know here.
Gary Neville believes Graham Potter could be relieved after his Chelsea departure (Football Daily)"I don’t think Chelsea were enjoying Graham Potter but I don’t think Graham Potter was enjoying Chelsea, and I, in some ways, should think he should treat it like a little bit of a nightmare, like this season never happened in his life, wake up and basically come back. A little bit like Bobby Ewing, if you remember, from Dallas - remember that from Dallas in the 1980s? Honestly if you don’t remember Bobby Ewing, Bobby Ewing was this character that basically disappeared at the start of one season, came back at the start of the next and it was almost like a nightmare from the previous season, he just woke up and carried on acting.
"Graham Potter should almost feel like this whole season never happened in his life and put it to bed, honestly."
Jamie Carragher also waded in on the debate and questioned whether the club would attempt to change tact after dispensing with Potter's services.
Potter was sacked by Chelsea on Sunday after less than seven months at the helm (Rui Vieira/AP/REX/Shutterstock)He added: "Do they go back to this idea of a young, up and coming coach, like Graham Potter but someone who’s maybe got a bit more of a CV behind them, the players would get behind them a little bit more? But that club is used to bringing in managers and managers are available right now.
"You think off the top of your head Zidane, Enrique, Nagelsmann - managers who’ve managed at the top level. This is what Chelsea have done in the past, I know it was a different owner and I’m not being critical at all - I don’t like some of the criticism Chelsea have got of ‘oh, they’ve sacked another manager’ - it works for them!
"I don’t care, they win trophies, change managers, and when you’ve got a manager going into Chelsea you know what the score is so don’t complain when you actually lose your job because that club has been very successful with that culture."