With Julen Lopetegui’s future still firmly in the balance at West Ham United, the rumours around Graham Potter, simply won’t go away. In my latest article I explore more about the Solihull born manager, and his career so far.
Graham Potter had a 13-year playing career beginning at Birmingham City as a trainee aged 17. During his time at the club he worked with both David Sullivan and Karen Brady and forged a good friendship with Paul Peschisolido, Bradys husband since 1995.
He won an England U-21 cap in 1996, whilst playing for Southampton in the Premier League.
The much travelled left back, played for eleven clubs in total, before finishing his playing career at Macclesfield Town in 2005.
Potter graduated from Open University in 2005 with a degree in Social Sciences and worked as a football development manager for the University of Hull and as a technical director for Ghanas women team in 2007. He then became assistant coach for the England Universities squad before joining Leeds Becket University, completing an MSc Leadership Personal and Professional Development.
In 2008 Potter secured a role as manager of Northern Counties East League Division One team, Carnegie, before joining Osterund in 2011 who played in the Swedish fourth tier. He secured back to back promotions, and then in 2015, the Swedish minnows did the unthinkable and gained promotion to the top flight, playing attractive football on a limited budget.
European cup exploits followed with some big wins against Turkish giants Galatasaray, and Greek side PAOK. His team even had the nerve to beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates stadium, yet lost 4-2 on aggregate.
This caught the attention of Swansea City, who appointed him in 2018 on a three year contract. Despite finishing tenth in his first season, Brighton came calling and paid £3m compensation in order to appoint Potter as their Head Coach in 2019.
A three year spell followed, before Chelsea paid £16m compensation with a further £6m for five of his back room staff to make the move to Stamford Bridge. Despite reaching the quarter finals of the Champions League, Potter was dismissed after 31 games, where his team had lost 11 games, yet were occupying a mid table position in the Premier League, with a 38.71% win rate.
Once thought of as a future England manager, why had his career stalled so abruptly?
His style has won many plaudits, tactically flexible, attacking and possession based are three traits that most clubs would be looking for from a manager. At Swansea he had used ten different formations, and completed the most passes per 90 minutes in the Championship.
Aged 49 he still has a lot to offer and went on record that he deliberately took a step back from football since April 2023 to spend time with his family and reflect.
He is now open to a return to the game he loves, and is reportedly interested in a short term deal at West Ham should Lopetegui leave in the near future. However, there have also been links to Southampton, Wolves and, most recently, RB Leizpig.
The boards stance on West Ham’s Head Coach currently is that performances must improve and Bournemouth will be another must win game. Whether Potter will be available in the near future remains to be seen.
Shouldn’t go any where near potter, nobles my man , sack loopy and let mark noble take over temporarily and see what happens?
I think he has some crucial attributes that many are missing:
1. He’s English. No, I’m not a far right racist. It’s important because English is his first language (which is vital for communicating ideas when so many of our squad aren’t speaking English as their first language). It’s also important because he won’t get homesick, and he understands the culture better than foreign managers, which helps cultivate relationships around the club, and with the Academy players. People can say it doesn’t matter, but being a good manager is all about communication.
2. He’s good with people. Something that I suspect Loppy might lack. I suspect JL came blustering into the dressing room with a bullish arrogance, and that’s ticked a lot of players off, making ‘people management’ more difficult. Don’t underestimate this – it doesn’t matter how much you get paid to do a job, it doesn’t make the job any nicer to do if you don’t get on with your boss.
3. We’re not Chelsea, and aspire to be more like Brighton, where he was a success. He has a relationship already with the board, and I think that stands him in good stead to be a success.
4. Not to mention that he’s proven he’s capable at deploying tactics that work, and working with players who are at the level of our squad right now, and managing at a club with realistic expectations.
I would love to see Nobes by his side in the dugout, and Kilman as captain (freeing Bowen to concentrate on his already amazing game).
I cannot see us taking an awful lot from the Bournemouth and Brighton games, the pressure is likely to be back on Lopetegui big time.
I think it’s less about points, and more about the manner of performance that will dictate his fate. Moyes got points, but it was the manner of the performances that led to his downfall. We want to be entertained!! 🙂
Anyone who thinks Potter will be a success at West Ham is deluded
Can you back up your opinion with a bit more of your wisdom?
What Hammeroo said, because comments like this are ridiculous. Back your point up, or don’t bother making it.
Why?
Thank you Matt for the excellent details about Graham Potter that I was unaware of.
He seems to have an impressive early coaching career.
The issue will be can he handle superstars and their egos.
Hopefully Mark Noble can help him out on this.
Mark noble should be manager ,a born leader we need man management not tactical claptrap, we need someone west ham thru and thru with the ability to connect with the players and the crowd, someone who can gel a load of no hopers into a team with passion and belief in this great club , Mr west hams my man COYI.