UK Edition
Brighton insist hiring Graham Potter on four-year deal is 'not a gamble'
Graham Potter’s appointment as Brighton head coach is not “a gamble,” the club’s owner, Tony Bloom, maintained after the former Swansea manager secured his first Premier League job a week after Chris Hughton’s sacking.
Dan Ashworth, Brighton’s technical director, was the most influential advocate for Potter after tracking his progress while working at the Football Association as director of elite development. But Bloom, who was criticised for firing Hughton after Brighton narrowly avoided relegation, is also a student of next-wave coaches.
On his 44th birthday, Potter signed a four-year deal after Brighton agreed compensation with Swansea and is believed to have been chosen ahead of Steve Clarke, who has taken the Scotland job. Rui Faria, Jose Mourinho’s former assistant, was among the fringe candidates.
“I certainly don't think it's a gamble,” Bloom said at Brighton’s training ground. “Once we'd made a decision to get a new manager in – we'd done a lot of work previously on potential head coaches – he became the outstanding candidate very quickly. He did an outstanding job at Swansea in difficult circumstances. Making no choice is a bigger gamble. He's the right man for this club at this moment of time.”
Potter was flanked at the unveiling by Ashworth, Bloom and Paul Barber, the chief executive, in a show of unity. His appointment continues a remarkable ascent for a manager who is highly regarded throughout the game following eight successful years at Ostersund in Sweden, where he took the team from the fourth tier to the first, and a promising first campaign at Swansea, who finished 10th under mounting financial constraints.
After a 13-year playing career Potter graduated from the Open University with a social sciences degree before completing a masters in leadership and emotional intelligence at Leeds Metropolitan University. Prior to moving to Sweden in 2010, he was football development manager at the University of Hull, technical director for the Ghana women’s team at the 2007 World Cup and a coach for Combined Universities and Leeds Metropolitan.
Brighton have banked on this upward trajectory continuing. Potter inherits from Hughton a strong defensive base but will be under pressure to deliver a more attacking style with a squad where recruitment errors were made last summer in the forward areas. With Ashworth’s No 1 recruitment role beyond challenge, Potter has persuaded Brighton to allow him to bring three assistants and allies: Bjorn Hamberg, Kyle Macauley and Billy Reid.
Potter described them thus: “Billy, who has been my assistant since Ostersunds, [Bjorn] Hamberg, who helps around details of training and match planning, and [Kyle] Macauley, who helps on recruitment. They'll step into the structure we have here. We're all really excited.” A squeeze appears to be on for Paul Winstanley, the current head of recruitment, for whom Ashworth’s arrival was already a dilution of influence.
“Any player who comes into the first-team squad will have a final sign off by Graham,” Ashworth said. “That’s what the majority of clubs work to. You highlight the needs of the squad, go through the recruitment process and find options, then he has final sign-off.”
Potter is not anticipating sweeping change to Hughton’s squad. He said: “I'm not expecting massive amounts. A lot of good work has already been done. Any club will look to the window to try and improve.” Potter paid tribute to Hughton: “Chris did a fantastic job at this club. I've not met him personally, but everyone I've spoken to about him - we’re talking about a top human-being. I'm very fortunate and looking forward to trying to improve that.”
He was also modest about his own playing career, which featured stops at Boston, Macclesfield, York and Shrewsbury as well as West Brom, Southampton and Stoke: “I’ve worked very hard to get to this point. My unglittering football career came to a halt at the age at 30, and I had to embark on a coaching career: 14 years of hard work and sacrifice, learning and mistakes.”
In Sweden he challenged players with theatre and music projects and earned recognition as a coach of people as well as players. “I don't think you can be as extreme as I was at Ostersunds,” he said of his new job. “They players will be happy to hear that on their sunbeds. But the concept that it's important to understand the individual and the person, as well as the footballer, is a helpful concept, regardless of the competition. Football is quite easy when you're doing well and winning games. It's when things aren't so good and they get tough, that's when the character and attitude stand up.”
Ashworth backed him to make the leap from the Championship. “The Premier League is a tough, unforgiving league, but one Graham is fully aware of - following it from Sweden, playing Europa League games, and playing Manchester City in the Cup at Swansea,” Ashworth said. “So it’s not a totally alien league, that’s for sure.”
Potter left the Brighton training ground with time to study his new squad before they return for pre-season. He sounded sure of his ground. He said: “I'm proud of the journey I've been on, but hopefully there's another 14 years [in coaching] ahead of me. I'll need to improve. So will everyone connected to the club. That's what I liked: the desire and need to get better.”