Graham Potter says he hopes Brighton fans will forgive him for moving to Chelsea
Graham Potter has asked fans of his former Premier League side Brighton for their forgiveness in an open letter published on the team's website after he opted to move to Chelsea to succeed former boss Thomas Tuchel after the Champions League winning coach was surprisingly sacked by the club's new ownership group.
Potter, 47, is considered by many to be among the best managerial candidates in Europe after developing an eye-catching playing style with minimal resources in Brighton and had been considered as a likely candidate for one of English football's top jobs if and when one might become available.
Tuchel's surprise sacking, which came just hours after his side's pitiful performance in a 1-0 away defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and following an unconvincing start to the new Premier League season, provided with Potter with that opportunity to sit in the hot seat at a European powerhouse - but as he wrote in the letter published on Sunday, the decision to leave Brighton was a bittersweet one.
“This has been three wonderful years with a club that has changed my life and I want to take a moment to say goodbye to all of you who have made it such a special period of my career,” he wrote.
“I bid farewell to a great club and one that will always mean so much to me and my family. For some I recognise that the change that comes so suddenly in football can be hard to accept.
“I may not be able to persuade you all to forgive my departure – but I would at least like to take the chance to say thank you.”
Potter's influence at Brighton will take quite a while to fade. Last season he guided them to their highest ever finish in English football's top flight - ninth - and leaves them in fourth place in the current season, with four wins from their six games so far.
But while Potter's decision to step away from the club who's identity he has helped shape in recent seasons will grate, he said that he hopes that supporters understand why he felt he had to take the chance offered to him by Chelsea.
“I hope that you will understand that at this stage of my career, I felt I had to grasp a new opportunity. I would like to thank [the chairman] Tony Bloom, [the chief executive] Paul Barber and the directors for the opportunity they gave me three years ago and then the unswerving support that came with it. My gratitude also to Dan Ashworth and David Weir, two first-class technical directors.”
He also noted some of his biggest successes with the Seagulls: wins against the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and others, but reserved his final words to the club's fans.
“The squad are playing at a high level and will get better,” he wrote.
“Most of all, the supporters will get behind the team home and away. To everyone at Brighton & Hove Albion: thank you. It has been a pleasure and honor to serve the club over the last three years. I wish you every success going forward.”
