A former Chelsea player has made a glaring comparison between Todd Boehly and predecessor Roman Abramovich, explaining what the latter would have done with Graham Potter amid the team’s poor form.
Chelsea have won just once out of 10 matches so far this year. They have drawn four times and lost the other five games.
Both of Chelsea’s last two outings have ended in defeat. On Wednesday night they were beaten 1-0 by Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. Karim Adeyemi scored a brilliant solo goal in the second half which downed Potter’s men.
And the Blues were also defeated by struggling Southampton over the weekend. James Ward-Prowse’s stunning free-kick in first-half injury time proved to be the winner, despite Chelsea having several huge chances to score in the second half.
Fans and pundits alike are becoming frustrated by Chelsea’s poor displays under Potter. Despite this, it seems chairman Boehly will stick with the Englishman at least until next season.
On February 13, David Ornstein of The Athletic tweeted: ‘Chelsea hierarchy intend to judge Graham Potter by years, not months or games. Chelsea expect progress but [are] giving [the] 47-year-old significant time.’
Ornstein added that Potter’s job is safe because of other factors such as joining the Chelsea project mid-season, injury problems and the plethora of new signings made recently.
However, former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has criticised Boehly for allowing the team’s poor run to go on for so long. He reckons previous owner Abramovich would have ruthlessly sacked Potter by now and brought in someone else to take them back up to where they belong.
Abramovich would have sacked Potter three times – pundit
“If Roman Abramovich was still the Chelsea owner, Graham Potter would have been sacked on three different occasions by now,” the pundit wrote for The Times.
“His side’s first-half performance in the 1-0 home defeat by Southampton was abysmal, and losing to the Premier League’s bottom club is simply unacceptable.
“Even with Toddy Boehly’s ownership group now running Chelsea, I cannot see Potter being afforded much more patience. The club have spent more than £500million since last summer, bringing in some of the best talent around.
“Their squad is so deep that when I am at Stamford Bridge for a game, I sometimes bump into players not in the matchday squad that would walk into the starting XI of most teams in the country.
“Boehly is clearly in a hurry to get Chelsea competing for titles again, so why would he be content to allow mediocrity under Potter? I would not be surprised if the head coach was dismissed this week.”
