Todd Boehly tapped into the Roman Abramovich playbook by sacking another Chelsea manager, leaving fans asking a familiar question: who’s next?
That will be the big talking point among supporters at Stamford Bridge when the Blues face Liverpool tonight.
The sacking of Graham Potter was well received by supporters, but it has left the plans of Boehly and the Chelsea owners in tatters. They insisted they were different to Abramovich, but have done something the Russian never did in 19 years at the club: sacked two managers in a season.
That has not been lost on critical pundits, but fans just want to see their team improve on dismal form that has left Chelsea languishing in 11th place in the table.
Potter failed to connect with the supporters. In their eyes, he made too many excuses, lacked the personality of former managers Thomas Tuchel, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, and could not impact games through his substitutions.
They also want a coach able to build towards the club’s core value: winning.
It leaves the decision makers — co-controlling owners Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, and their two new co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart — in a tricky spot.
They will be reluctant to return to an abrasive coach like Tuchel and are looking for someone able to deliver a “collaborative approach”. Their vision is built around developing young players within a planned multi-club model.
Julian Nagelsmann worked in a similar structure at RB Leipzig and looks a good fit. The 35-year-old German is available after being sacked by Bayern Munich, but has a similarly feisty reputation to Tuchel.
Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who was overlooked before the appointment of Potter, feels like the best fit. He is charismatic, has Premier League experience, developed a host of young stars and proved capable of club-building at Spurs and has worked under pressure at Paris Saint-Germain.
Luis Enrique is similarly charismatic and won a treble at Barcelona, but the ex-Spain manager has not worked in club football since 2017. His patient tiki-taka style could frustrate fans after Mauricio Sarri’s tactics proved unpopular. The likes of Eintracht Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner and Sporting boss Ruben Amorim could be seen as foreign versions of Potter in the eyes of many.
Pochettino and, to a lesser extent, Nagelsmann would allow Chelsea to partially bend to the will of the supporters while keeping their long-term strategy alive. They must now convince one of these elite-level coaches to join their project after a bad start.
Starting tonight, interim head coach Bruno Saltor is tasked with ensuring Chelsea do not fade deeper into recession during a recruitment process that could take some time.
The Spaniard only started coaching four years ago under Potter and has never picked a team for a senior match, so the situation is far from ideal, with Chelsea facing the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid next week.
Billy Reid, Potter’s experienced assistant, could have led the team, but rejected a request from Chelsea to stay, while highly-rated coach Anthony Barry is being told to stay away after Tuchel asked him to join him at Bayern Munich.
After Potter and Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers were sacked at the weekend, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp described himself as “the last man standing”. That feels an apt description of Bruno at Chelsea.
