Potter joins Chelsea – and takes entire Brighton coaching team

Graham Potter has been confirmed as the new head coach of Chelsea – and he has taken his entire Brighton coaching team with him.

Assistant Billy Reid. Coach Bjorn Hamberg. Coach Bruno “once a Seagull, always a Seagull” Saltor. Goalkeeper coach Ben Roberts. Recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay. All are upping sticks with Potter and moving to Stamford Bridge.

Frankly, it is a surprise that Potter did not try and take Gully, Richard Reynolds, the tea lady and the steward who greets people at the top of the West Stand Upper stairs with him.

Brighton will be compensated to tune of £21 million for losing the six most senior members of first team staff. Less than half of what they received for Ben White.

Under 23s boss Andrew Crofts has been put in interim charge for the weekend trip to Plucky Little Bournemouth. He will be helped by his assistant Shannon Ruth, Adam Lallana and set-piece coach Nick Stanley. Stanley is the only person Potter has left behind.

Potter departs after three-and-a-half seasons at the helm. In that time, he revolutionised the club’s style of play from the pragmatic approach of Chris Hughton into something far more expansive.

The age of the squad was totally overhauled in the process. Brighton under Hughton had one of the oldest average ages in the Premier League.

Under Potter, they became one of youngest and most exciting teams to watch outside the European Super League Elite Six.

Potter is credited with developing academy products like Robert Sanchez, Ben White and Steve Alzate into Premier League regulars.

He helped turn Yves Bissouma from an inconsistent number 10 into one of the finest defensive midfielders in Europe.

Under Potter’s tutelage, Marc Cucurella went from a left wing back who arrived at the Amex speaking very little English to a £62 million defender capable of covering three positions.

Potter wrote his fair share of Brighton history along the way. The ninth place finish achieved in 2021-22 was the highest the Albion have ever recorded.

He oversaw first Brighton wins away at Manchester United, Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa and Preston North End.

Experiences like winning 1-0 at Anfield, taking six points in seven days from Spurs and Arsenal, beating champions Manchester City and hammering United 4-0 at the Amex will live long in the memory.

But it was not all champagne and caviar. Potter set a club-record of 14 home games without a victory between June 2020 and February 2021.

Brighton made their worst ever start to a top flight campaign when winning just two of their opening 18 matches in 2020-21.

Even when finishing ninth, Potter’s Albion went three months without a win, three months without a goal at the Amex and suffered six consecutive defeats.

At any other club in the Premier League, those sequences would have put Potter under a lot of pressure. He certainly will not survive such barren runs of form at Chelsea.

His future at Brighton through those rough patches was never in doubt. That is the thing that makes his walking out on Brighton so disappointing.

Bloom backed him through spells that no other chairman would. A smattering of boos following a 0-0 draw at home to The Leeds United was as bad as crowd unrest got.

That reaction put Potter’s knickers in a right twist, causing him to criticise supporters with those history lesson remarks.

If he did not like 50 Brighton fans booing after three months without a home win, it will be fascinating to see how he handles 40,000 at Stamford Bridge losing their mind when Chelsea are chasing a goal and Mason Mount is moved to left back.

Potter has swapped the most stable club in English football for one that under Roman Abramovich rattled through managers more quickly that Katie Price gets through husbands.

For Potter to succeed at Chelsea, he will need the same sort of patience he has been afforded at Brighton.

It will be a big test of new owner Todd Boehly as to whether he is willing to give Potter time to implement his ideas and approach.

History suggests Potter will do well to last 18 months at Chelsea with their turnover in managers. Let us hope for his sake that abandoning Brighton is not a decision he and the other five live to regret, finding themselves out of a job with their reputations dented.

Brighton will survive the departure of Potter for Chelsea. The Albion have been through much worse in the past and come out the other side.

Managers have come and gone before. What matters is that Tony Bloom remains at the helm. The Albion chairman will have known who he wants to succeed Potter long before this day arrived.

Whilst it is disappointing to lose Potter and co, it is not the end of the world. No man is bigger than the Albion.

Now another head coach – one even better than Potter perhaps – gets to write their story at the helm of our great football club.

Time to bring Mark McGhee home.