West Ham boss Graham Potter reveals ‘traumatic’ Chelsea sacking might be the BEST thing that’s ever happened to him ahead of Stamford Bridge return

Graham Potter believes getting sacked by Chelsea might be the best thing that ever happened to him.

West Ham boss Potter returns to the Stamford Bridge dugouts on Monday night for the first time since his ‘traumatic’ dismissal nearly two years ago.

Potter was sacked by Chelsea after less than seven months in charge and did not return to management until taking the Hammers job in January.

‘You’re going to get ups and downs and it was a period of time that, of course, I would have wanted it to go better,’ said Potter. 

‘I didn’t want to lose my job. But at the same time I look back now and maybe it’s the best thing that happened to me and, maybe, the next 10-20 years is going to be great because of the experience I’ve had. I just look at it as a learning experience.

‘Sometimes the ones that are more traumatic and the more tough and the more intense, they’re the ones that, if you can allow them to, they’re the ones that can make the biggest difference in terms of growth and development.

Potter was sacked by the Blues after less than seven months in charge in April 2023

‘When I look back on my career, I’ve started off in the ninth tier in English football or the four tier in Swedish football and ended up at Chelsea in the last eight of the Champions League. That was a result of not necessarily being any good or not.

‘It’s just by being “how can I get better, how can I improve? What can I learn?” I think you have to take that with the good and the bad. And it wasn’t all bad, but clearly it ended quickly. So it must have been some bad. But now I’m here and I feel good, I feel happy, I feel motivated.’

Potter’s experience at Chelsea was so brutal, one that saw him sent death threats and also coincided with the club’s new owners spending £300million in the January transfer window and signing so many players some had to sit on the floor, that it left him waiting more than 20 months to return to management.

During his time away from the game, he travelled to the Falklands to give a leadership talk to the British troops. He met with England rugby head coach Steve Borthwick. He went to a Taylor Swift concert. He spent a lot of time in the gym. He learned Spanish. He went to watch matches, inadvertently sparking speculation on then-under-pressure Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson when he was seen sitting in the stands.

Potter believes he has come back a more confident coach and, after a frantic start to life at West Ham following the sacking of Julen Lopetegui, he takes his side to Chelsea on the back of an impressive draw at Aston Villa and a fresh air of positivity around the club.

‘I needed a few months just to allow myself the time to reflect and decompress and deal with it all. 

‘Twelve years of that journey across three countries, Wales and Sweden and England, and some personal things that happened along that time as well, I just felt it was the right time for me as a person and as a coach to not necessarily dive back into something.

‘It was an intense experience and when it doesn’t go how you want it to go you have to question yourself, you have to analyse yourself and ask what could I have done better.

Potter believes he has come back a more confident coach after a frantic start at West Ham

‘There are other factors going on but at the same time you can’t just blame it all on the club, you’ve got to take responsibility for the things that you can do better.

‘I’d like to think I’ve done that and I think that’s made me a better person and more confident wiser person.’