Graham Potter is an ex English professional footballer and current coach of the Chelsea Football Club Men’s team.

Potter has just recently been confirmed as the manager of the Stamford Bridge outfit and we take a look at his journey through the years.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Full Name :  Graham Stephen Potter
Date Of Birth :  20th May 1975
Age :  47 years
Height :  6ft 1″
Playing Position :  Left Back
Current Club :  Chelsea FC
Position :  Head Coach

PLAYING CAREER

Potter’s playing journey spanned a wonderful 13 years as he spent most of his career playing in the lower divisions of the English League.

Graham Potter is a natural left back and donned the shirt of clubs like Birmingham City, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Southampton.

Graham Potter made a total of 307 league appearances and was capped just once at international level for the England U-21 team.

Potter was born in Solihull and started his career as a trainee at Birmingham City he then went on loan to Wycombe Wanderers before representing Southampton in 1996.

He then finished his playing career in 2005 at Macclesfield Town after representing a host of clubs. He played a total of 320 games scoring 16 goals in the process.

PLAYING INFORMATION 

These are the list of clubs Graham Potter played for and goals he scored.

1992-1993 – Birmingham City – 25 Appearances 

1993   Wycombe Wanderers – 3 Appearances 

1993-1996  Stoke City  – 45 Appearances 

1996-1997  Southampton  – 8 Appearances 

1997-2000   West Bromwich Albion  – 43 Appearances 

2000 Northampton Town (Loan) – 3 Appearances

1997-1998   Northampton Town – 1 Appearance 

1999   Reading  (Loan) – 4 Appearances

2000-2003   York City – 114 Appearances

2003-2004   Boston United  – 12 Appearances

2003 Shrewsbury Town (Loan) – 5 Appearances

2004-2005   Macclesfield Town – 57 Appearances

PERSONAL LIFE

Graham Potter is married to his longtime partner, Rachel Potter and they have three sons together. The names of the sons are however not confirmed at the moment.

COACHING CAREER

Graham Potter took a rather unconventional way to become a manager, after finally retiring, the Englishman decided to further his educations in 2005 and graduated from Open University with a degree in social sciences.
Potter went further in his studies and earned a master’s degree in leadership and emotional intelligence at Leeds Metropolitan University.

It was at this university that Potter earned himself some coaching experiences by acting as a football development manager for the University of Hull.

POTTER AT OSTERSUND

In December 2010, Potter moved to Sweden on a three years deal as head coach of Ostersund, who were then playing in the fourth division of Swedish Football League.

He led a revelation as he successfully guided the club back to the top flight, won the Division League and also took them to European competition.

Potter’s team took Europe by surprise as they defeated many top tier teams in the Europa League campaign. What wowed many was how entertaining his team played and even defeated Arsenal once before being knocked out on aggregate.

POTTER AT SWANSEA CITY

Following Swansea’s relegation from the Premier League in 2018, the club offered Potter the chance to lead the next generational project at the club and offer which he didn’t hesitate to grab.
During his press conference, Potter highlighted the need for his Swansea team to posses and idea and an entertaining way of playing, something he clearly did with a young Swansea aide.

In his first season, the club made it to the quarter finals of the 2018-2019 FA Cup but were knocked out by Manchester City. They however finished 10th in the Second Division League.

Having seen what he was capable of doing even in English football, Brighton offered Potter the chance to coach their team and after back and forth disagreement with Swansea who were willing to retain him, he eventually completed his move to Brighton in 2019.

POTTER AT BRIGHTON

Brighton paid Swansea the sum of £3million to secure the services of Graham Potter and he took charge of the team during the 2019/2020 seasons.

Despite amassing a club record of 41 points, his first season with Brighton was too fruitful despite the fact that his style of play was evident from the start. They crashed out of the FA Cup immediately in the first match with a loss to Sheffield Wednesday in 2020.
Brighton would go on to finish 15th that’s season.

2020-2021 SEASON

After losing their first home match to Chelsea this season, Brighton would go on a seven match winning streak, playing an attacking brand of football and putting their opponents on their foot alongside. They would go on to beat Liverpool for the first time in their history that same season.

The second season also ended with a 41 points record but a 16th place finish, narrowly escaping relegation.

2021-2022

Brighton made headlines all over England this season as they ended the campaign with 51 points and finished 9th while defeating the likes of Manchester United, West ham United, Wolves and many others.

2022-2023

 

This season is another to remember for Potter as he led his team to a 2-1 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford before beating Leicester City in the next fixture.

Brighton currently occupy a champions league spot before they announce the departure of their manager with his backroom staff.

Speaking about his departure, Brighton Chairman said :

“I am very disappointed that Graham will be leaving us. He has done exceptionally well over the past three-and-a-bit seasons, he is an exceptional head coach and an exceptional person. He will be hugely missed at our football club”.

It’s been reported that Chelsea paid a compensation fee of around £21.5million to secure a move.

Chelsea confirmed the signing of Graham Stephen Potter on September 8 as a replacement for sacked manager, Thomas Tuchel.

MANAGERIAL STYLE OF PLAY

Graham Potter has made a name for himself when it comes to his team’s style of play as he’s known to live progressive and attacking style of play. Potter stressed how much he believes in his players doing the impossible and leaving their comfort zone.

The gaffer describe his team as “tactically flexible, attacking, [and] possession-based”. Potter is known to be a tactical freak as he experiments with different system in game.

Famous Argentine coach and tactical wizard, Marcelo Biesla has the following to say about Potter in 2018 :

“He’s English, he’s a modern coach, he has new ideas, he brings new ideas. [Swansea is] a team that takes care of how they move the ball… in their style, the goalkeeper and defenders build from the back. And for me it’s the feature that you could underline from Swansea [under Potter].”

Even the great Pep Guadiola confessed to being a fan of Graham Potter. He said :

“Potter’s Brighton are a joy to watch, a joy to analyse” and his “players move with freedom and everyone knows what they have to do. They have the courage to play everywhere.”

MANAGERIAL STATISTICS

Graham Potter has a total of 435 matches coached across all his clubs, wining 190, losing 128 and drawing 117. He has a win ratio of 43.7%

See his Premier League statistics below :

AWARDS AND HONOURS

The Englishman hasn’t won much, these are the few he currently has :

Division 1 Norra : 2012

Division 2 Norraland : 2011

Svenska Cupen : 2016/2017

Swedish Football Awards Manager of the year : 2016
Swedish Sports Award Coach of the Year : 2017

NET WORTH

His five year deal at Chelsea currently makes him the fourth highest paid manager in the Premier League, prior to that, Potter earns a relatively low amount of pay at his other clubs and his current net worth is undetermined at the moment.