Christian Heide, sporting director at Mainz, has slammed Chelsea’s decision to sack Thomas Tuchel.
The German was dismissed on Wednesday in a face-to-face meeting with the club’s directors following a 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night.
With Tuchel having won the Club World Cup as recently as December, the news was met with surprise, though Chelsea’s Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership moved swiftly to land a replacement.
On Thursday, Graham Potter was appointed on a five-year contract, with the former Brighton manager bringing five members of his backroom staff with him to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea also hope to appoint a sporting director before November’s World Cup and will involve Potter in that process.
While relations behind the scenes soured towards the end of Tuchel’s tenure, Heide believes the seemingly ruthless decision to sack him shows a lack of understanding from the club’s new ownership.
Heide told BILD: “The sacking is grist to the mill of those who are against investors in football. It was purely an investor’s decision.
“Someone who has no idea about football probably thought that sixth place wasn’t good enough for him and said: ‘Then let’s try another coach.’
“After only six games, I can’t think of any other reason. But Chelsea will bitterly regret this decision – they won’t get such a good coach again so quickly.”
