Times are tough at Chelsea. If Graham Potter didn't fully realise the enormity of the task before he signed on the dotted line, he absolutely does now. With eight defeats in the past 14 games there has been innumerable chatter about the future of the current Blues boss from fans and pundits alike , with opinions very split.
Chelsea splashed out £20million to lure Potter away from Brighton and football.london understands that Todd Boehly continues to back his investment, despite the current run of form. However, with a gargantuan outlay of £300million on eight new arrivals in January, results will need to turn around quickly for Potter to remain.
It is vital for the Blues that they have Champions League football due to their incredible splurge and it is looking increasingly unlikely that they will be amongst Europe's elite next season. Should the under pressure coach not be able to reverse current fortunes, Boehly and co. will have to face the inevitable and search for a replacement.
football.london readers were asked who they want to be the next Chelsea manager and with almost 5,000 responses there was one clear winner. He delivered the most sought after prize in club football for Chelsea and guided them through a tumultuous period of ownership chaos and uncertainty to a third place finish.
That's right, the man Potter replaced is the man Blues fans want to see replace Potter. Clearly there is still plenty of love in SW6 for Thomas Tuchel after he was relieved of duties by the new ownership back in September of last year. The overwhelming favourite for Chelsea fans to make a return, as he received around 43% of the vote to be the next Chelsea manager.
Tuchel has often spoken of his pride and joy at being Chelsea manager and would surely relish the chance to right some wrongs at the club where he felt at home. It would require quite a climbdown from the ownership after implying Tuchel was not a coach that wanted to collaborate with their vision, but stranger things have happened in football.
The next closest candidate was French icon Zinedine Zidane who has been out of management since departing his second stint with Real Madrid. Receiving nearly 20% of the votes, he was not nearly as popular a choice as Tuchel but far and away the second choice for Blues fans.
Having worked his way into top tier management via the Real Madrid B team, Zizou may fit the Boehly bill more than Tuchel did. With the American's desire to bring the different parts of Chelsea together into one club, Zidane's experience in working with young players and bringing them through could be highly attractive in a new manager search.
That is of course without mentioning his unprecedented success in Europe, and a couple of La Liga titles to his name. The Frenchman has recently stated his desire to return to coaching , so if Potter were to depart Zidane's name will certainly be one near the top of the list.
With 'Keep Graham Potter' receiving just 8% of the vote, this suggests that Chelsea fans don't agree with Boehly's backing of the current head coach. The Blues hierarchy maybe looking across at London rivals who went through a similar poor patch but backed their coach and are now reaping the rewards.
The key difference in that situation though is that Mikel Arteta did not have thousands of fans baying for his head during poor results due to Covid restrictions at the time, which may well have saved him.
Whether Potter and Boehly can ride out the toxic atmosphere emanating at Stamford Bridge until results improve remains to be seen. With a massive game this weekend against bitter rivals Spurs, a win could signal the turn around that Potter desperately needs. But another loss could be the breaking point in this short tenure.
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