Graham Potter's one personal gripe with Chelsea sacking – 'I can't lie, it mattered'

Graham Potter has revealed the major regret from his time at Chelsea was being denied the chance to lead the club against Real Madrid.

The 49-year-old was appointed as Thomas Tuchel’s successor in September 2022. Potter had gained plaudits for his work with Brighton, with the Seagulls sitting in the Champions League places by the time he left for Stamford Bridge.

Upon his arrival at Chelsea, Potter was greeted by a team in flux, with plenty of summer signings needing time to gel. The task of juggling his squad was made more difficult, though, when the Blues continued to splash the cash in the January window, including a £106million move for Enzo Fernandez.

Potter enjoyed a brief honeymoon phase, going unbeaten in his first nine games, but amassed just 28 points in 22 league matches. However, it was a different story in the Champions League as Chelsea navigated their way past Borussia Dortmund to set up a tie with Real Madrid - but Potter had been sacked by the time the quarter-finals rolled around, much to his frustration.

“I can’t lie, of course, it mattered to me – it’s Real Madrid in the last eight of the Champions League,” Potter told The Telegraph. “It was like, ‘what a game’. We actually felt we could do something. So that was disappointing.”

New interim boss Frank Lampard took the reins for the games against Real Madrid in his second stint in charge of Chelsea. The Blues were defeated 2-0 in both legs and there was no quick-fix for their indifferent league form either. Sitting 11th at the time of Potter’s dismissal, Chelsea dropped to 12th by the end of the season, winning just one of their last nine games.

In the following two years, Chelsea have stuck to their transfer strategy and made an eye-watering number of signings, but current boss Enzo Maresca seems to have made progress by cutting players out of his plans. While Potter has waited patiently for the right opportunity since leaving the Blues, the ex-Brighton boss feels he has learned valuable lessons and suggested other factors also contributed to Chelsea’s struggles.

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“I take responsibility for the results,” Potter added. “I’ve never said I’ve ever been perfect and you live and you learn, and you are grateful for the opportunity and grateful for the experience you had there. But there’s probably a context that has appeared.

“The easy solution is Chelsea aren’t winning, so it must be the coach who has never worked at this level before, he’s the problem. That might not be 100 per cent wrong, but it’s not 100 per cent right.”

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