So, what’s hot in the world of the Premier League?
Well, there’s rarely a dull moment at the best of times but the controversy/topic (delete as you see fit) this week is the debate being played out in the media, online, in the pubs, in the cafes and that you and I frequent.
The issue you and I could be forgiven for referring to as the managerial merry-go-round.
Indeed, more than half of top flight clubs have parted company with their bosses since the start of the campaign and you would not bet against there being one or two more casualties come season end if their objectives are not met.
Some dismissals were obvious; some only a matter of time but certainly the latest two have contained elements of surprise for very different reasons.
Those within will argue otherwise but, looking in from the outside, it seems there is no club in England which shoots from the hip as Chelsea.
As respected writer Henry Winter acknowledged this week, Chelsea fans had long turned against Potter (Graham), and now so have (co-owners) Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
In luring the 47 year-old away from the stable surroundings of Brighton and a team he had been allowed to build with patience, time and stability, they forgot to tell him he was swapping it for a club where those three commodities are alien concepts.
In some eyes, he was always on a hiding to nothing before a ball was even kicked.
After all, some Chelsea supporters were opposed to losing a coach (Thomas Tuchel) regarded as one of the finest in world football – who had brought them the Champions League in 2021 – with the man who took Brighton to ninth last season, despite his growing reputation.
It was understandable he could not resist the lure of a club with Chelsea’s stature, history and spending power, but even Potter could not have imagined the maelstrom he was walking into.
After being appointed and spending almost £600 million since last summer (how many of those signings were his is unclear), he deserved to be given more time to see if he could develop into the strong, confident manager they yearned with a powerful, consistent vision of how he wanted to play.
If they had such doubts, he should not have been appointed in the first place!
There will be a certain irony if Chelsea can oversee holders Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals this month (as I suspect they won’t) and then face Bayern Munich where Tuchel last week rocked up and made a winning start.
‘See what you had and lost’, would be the clear message from the German who admitted he remains deeply hurt by both his sacking and the manner of it last autumn.
In a joint statement announcing Potter’s dismissal, Chelsea’s co-owners said they had “the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person”.
Yet that wasn’t enough to keep him in post.
An exhaustive search will now surely follow with Mauricio Pochettino (who has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain), former Spain boss Luis Enrique (who lost the Spain job after the World Cup) and Tuchel’s predecessor at Bayern, Julian Nagelsmann, among the names linked with a move to west London.
They cannot wait too long to make an appointment given PSG could be looking for a new manager this summer, while Tottenham are searching for a replacement for Antonio Conte.
The other boss to lose his job on Sunday was Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers and there is something of an irony that Potter could be an ideal long-term fit to replace him.
Rodgers has never been in the top tier of bosses but deserves credit for his work at Celtic and, more impressively, in the east Midlands.
Firstly, he guided Leicester to successive fifth-place finishes in his first two full seasons – but for the Covid-enforced break he would probably have taken them into the Champions League on the first of those occasions too.
He could not maintain those level of Premier League highlight but he will always have Wembley and the FA Cup in 2021 – his place in the club’s history long assured.
Needing to cashing in on the club’s most valuable assets to meet financial fair play regulations meant a downturn in fortunes for the Foxes was inevitable and it may prove difficult for anyone to better his record if the slide cannot be reversed.
Like Potter, he will be back – if there were the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds on it I’d wager a good amount. After all, the managerial merry-go-round in football ensures that no-one is ever out of work for too long should they wish to return!
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