Graham Potter on Chelsea ownership, Stamford Bridge & managerial style

Graham Potter has hailed Chelsea’s new ownership’s vision for the club following his appointment as Blues manager.

The former Brighton manager signed a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge last week and conducted an interview at the club’s training ground on his first day on the job.

Here’s what he had to say.

“It’s the start of a really exciting period, I think. New ownership, who I was really excited with and impressed by firstly as people and then for the vision of the club and what they wanted to do. Of course the history of the club speaks for itself, but it’s about trying to create that again, in our own way.”

“My career, I suppose, has gone forward and I had a great time in Sweden and came back to the UK and had fantastic experiences. It’s just nice to be able to take the next step and to be able to work with an exciting group of players that we have here and compete at the top, you know, try and create a winning team and that’s a fantastic opportunity for me.

“It’s an amazing history, fantastic tradition, a historic football club. I mean, growing up with the fantastic teams of Chelsea, of the modern era. You only have to walk around the place here [training facilities] and you see the pictures, you see the trophies, the see the names – it’s incredible. It’s a huge honour, like I said, for me to be part of that now.”

“It’s about creating a team that competes, that has respect for each other, that is honest, that works together so it’s a combination of, I would say, football and human values that we try to work with.

“I think that you have to understand that they’re human beings first, and the key thing is to try and understand them, understand what motivates them and understand what they’re like as people and then, from that, try to come to some sort of common ground, try to build relationships, to try to communicate effectively on a daily basis and build respect, trust and honesty. My starting point would always be the person first.”

“It’s one of those places that fills you with an incredible excitement when you come as an away team. The crowd are always very, very passionate, they’re always getting behind the home side, it’s a really, really tough place to play so I’m looking forward to being on the other end of that and getting that support with the team because it’s amazing, the atmosphere’s fantastic and it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”