https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/
potter-on-his-whirlwind-week-and-his-main-focus-in-new-role
Potter on his whirlwind week and his main focus in new role
13 SEP 2022
In his first media conference as Chelsea head coach, Graham Potter has
been reflecting on an eventful six days since he took the reins and
outlined what the main responsibilities will be in his new role.
https://i.imgur.com/Vslv6w2.jpg
Potter was introduced to journalists at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday
afternoon, just over 24 hours before he leads the Blues out for a
Champions League encounter with RB Salzburg.
The remit of the gathering was to preview that clash with the Austrian
champions but inevitably most of the questions fielded by our new manager
centred on his recent arrival in SW6.
'It feels like nine weeks or nine months but it's been brilliant,' he said
of his swift move from Brighton & Hove Albion. 'The beauty of football and
the beauty of life is you never know what's around the corner.
https://i.imgur.com/ByDwyMk.jpg
Potter was all smiles as he took his first session at Cobham
'Things happened incredibly quickly, we had some really intense
conversations with the owners and quickly I realised that they were good,
intelligent people that had made a huge success of their lives outside of
football and wanted to achieve something here.
'It's a really exciting project and they have really exciting ideas about
how to take the club forward so it felt really positive. It has been a
whirlwind in terms of getting to know people, leaving Brighton, learning
about the players and getting to know them but so far it's been really
positive. My first impressions have been really good and I'm really
looking forward to starting.'
Potter discussed the main motivations behind his decision to leave the
Seagulls for the reigning world champions and paid tribute to the club's
new ownership for deciding he was the best man to take the team forward.
'You have to look at the football club here - the tradition, the quality,
the size and ambition of the club, to compete in the Champions League and
at the top of the Premier League,' he explained.
'It's a completely different challenge to the one I've had. I had three
fantastic years at Brighton and it's an amazing football club but I'm very
thankful for the ownership here for putting their trust and belief in me
to work with an exciting group of players, to be competitive and to put a
team on the pitch that our supporters are really proud of.'
The new Chelsea manager also outlined the key duties of his role and how
his backroom staff will be helping take the load away, releasing him to
focus on the players and the coaching.
'Predominantly I've always thought that I'm a head coach and my job is to
help the football club,' he added. 'I was lucky that I had the opportunity
in Sweden to build a football club and what I got from that is the club is
always the most important thing. We're just here to serve the club and do
our best.
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'Kyle [Macaulay] is one of my members of staff who's been with me for 10
years. He's really important in terms of recruitment so a lot of the
conversations that you need between ownership and board can be had via him
because he knows me well.
'He knows how we want to play and he knows the culture and environment.
Those conversations are often time-consuming so he's really important for
me. That's not to say I don't try to help the club in terms of making
decisions around transfers but my main job is to help the players that are
here, to help them improve and put a team on the pitch that our supporters
are proud of.'