In the end, Chelsea’s owners felt they had no choice but to dispense with the man they chose to lead their new era at Stamford Bridge.
Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali indicated they wanted to break from the hire-and-fire culture under Roman Abramovich by handing Graham Potter a five-year contract when he was appointed in September.
They gave a £12million-a-year deal to someone who Boehly said “fits our vision”, and vowed to support him through a rebuild they calculated would most likely be painful.
Boehly and Eghbali do not believe sustainable success will come from regularly changing their head coach. They had resisted calls for Potter to be dismissed in recent weeks and wanted to give him time to turn the situation around.
But they could not wait for him to come good and growing concerns behind the scenes have led to another brutal Chelsea sacking.
Potter said earlier this year that he had the hardest job in football as expectations levels remained high despite radical change across the club.
It is hard not to feel sympathy for Potter, who had to deal with difficult circumstances.
But he seemed a coach torn between long-term planning and short-term impact. He failed to settle on a plan amid the chaos at Chelsea and his team has lacked identity.
Boehly and Eghbali had felt Potter was perfect to build a new culture at Chelsea due to his skills as a leader and record of improving players and collaborating with staff.
But he struggled to exert authority over a squad that grew to 32 players after a frantic January that brought seven new signings to the club.
Potter was liked by the Chelsea squad but there were signs of discontent behind the scenes. Some players made Harry Potter references and lacked respect for a manager who had never before managed at elite level.
Analysis meetings at Cobham were said to be very quiet, with leaders in the squad not naturally being vocal or rallying the group. One senior source described how often “everything felt wrong” and that they could not pin down one specific tactical issue to resolve.
His critics will say Potter failed to get the best out of a squad bursting with talent after a more than £600million spending spree. He could argue he was thrown a hospital pass.
The board themselves played their part in Potter’s failure.
Such a large squad could have been unworkable for any manager and some players were surprised to see Boehly and Eghbali around training sessions so often.
Summer signings Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly have all struggled, while January arrivals are understandably still settling into English football.
Only Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix have immediately helped the team, with Mykhailo Mudryk, David Datro Fofana and Noni Madueke all showing signs of promise but needing time to adapt.
There was frustration that new signings were picked despite multiple bad performances, while homegrown or older players were not.
Potter never won over Chelsea fans desperate for an A-list coach.
Replacing a hugely popular manager in Thomas Tuchel was never going to be easy and he showed a misunderstanding of the culture at a club used to winning major trophies.
Potter regularly talked about “suffering” and “pain” but that is not the attitude supporters expect. He has also faced accusations that he has not shown enough emotion on the touchline and in press conferences.
But it has been results on the pitch that have cost Potter his job. He suffered 11 defeats 31 games and Chelsea are languishing down in 11th place in the Premier League.
Potter guided Chelsea to the quarter-finals of the Champions League but, ultimately, sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart reported that the lack of progress had become intolerable to the board and that change was needed.
Focus now switches to appointing a replacement and salvaging a dreadful season, with the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid on April 12.
Hopes of a top-four finish are dead and there is a very real prospect of finishing below Fulham, Brighton and Brentford, and missing out on Europe entirely next season.
But the long-term plan for success remains at Chelsea and will now be built around a new coach.
Boehly and Eghbali have instructed Winstanley and Stewart to begin an exhaustive search for a new manager, with Julian Nagelsmann a leading early contender for the job.
Potter’s successor will arrive at a club still deep in transition.
For now, interim head coach Bruno Saltor takes charge of the team following the latest twist in one of the most chaotic seasons in Chelsea history.
