GRAHAM POTTER will NOT be sacked if he fails to make the top four.
Chelsea’s new manager has been told that while Champions League qualification is a massive target this season, it will not be make or break for his job.
This is a huge departure from tradition at Chelsea where it has been recognised as the bare minimum to remain in employment.
But new chairman Todd Boehly and his fellow directors are insistent that they are in it for the long term with Potter and that he will be given time.
The former Brighton chief signed a five-year contract worth over £10million a year and has been told he will get full support from Stamford Bridge bigwigs.
Chelsea have finished outside the top four just twice in the last ten years — in 2016 and 2018.
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Both times the manager was sacked.
Jose Mourinho was axed in December 2015 when the team was spiralling down the table.
Antonio Conte got the push after falling one place and five points short three years later when he was at loggerheads with the board.
Boehly and his pals want to move away from Chelsea’s reputation for hiring and firing managers. Potter is the club’s sixth since Mourinho was axed just under seven years ago.
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But he has been taken on to revamp Chelsea’s style of football and to buy into the “long term” project being introduced from above.
Chelsea are currently sixth in the Premier League after a shaky start in which they have lost two and drawn one of their six games.
Potter’s predecessor Thomas Tuchel was sacked on Wednesday morning just hours after an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Croatian minnows Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
Chelsea were due to face a tough away game at local rivals Fulham today before all football was cancelled due to the death of The Queen.
Potter led his first training session yesterday.
The Blues are currently understood to be preparing as normal for Wednesday’s Champions League clash against RB Salzburg at Stamford Bridge.
Potter, 47, spent Thursday afternoon at Chelsea’s Cobham training base, meeting club staff.
Co-controlling owners Boehly and Behdad Eghbali addressed staff, along with Potter.
Then the coach met his playing squad for the first time yesterday morning at Cobham, before getting down to work on the training field.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
