Graham Potter has checked in at a troubled West Ham with the message that only a united approach will keep them afloat in a “ruthless” Premier League.
Weeks of speculation over Julen Lopetegui’s future ended on Wednesday with his replacement by Potter, who returns to management after 21 months away. Potter was sacked by Chelsea in April 2023 and joins what is, on the face of things, a similarly turbulent West Ham environment. The technical director, Tim Steidten, who would in theory be expected to work closely with Potter, could leave amid unhappiness about his transfer record and fraught relationships with previous managers.
Steidten fell out with Lopetegui and David Moyes during a period in which West Ham have failed to kick on. Potter was asked at his unveiling on Thursday whether he would be able to form a working relationship with the German and responded with a more general plea for harmony.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said. “I met everybody on the board. Really, really positive. I’ve only been here a few hours so you’ve got to give me a bit of time to develop relationships. But I can only say from the last 12, 13 years of my career, that’s what I’ve tried to do everywhere I’ve gone. It’s important we have that togetherness, that alignment, that we’re going in the same direction. As soon as you start going off in different ways, the Premier League is ruthless. So the more together we are, the more aligned we are, the better.”
Leading from the front with a candid approach will, he feels, bring everyone on to the same page. “There has to be clarity from me about how the team wants to play: how does that provide the direction for everybody around to make decisions, whether it’s recruitment or whatever,” he said. “Then it’s about having open, respectful dialogue. No one’s got all the answers, no one knows everything.
“This is a club that’s had recent success. I’m here now, so there’s a disappointment that’s been recent but there’s a lot of good here, there’s a lot of positive here.”
Potter enthused that his comeback “feels like Christmas Day”, although some of the presents left at the 14th-placed club’s training ground may not be to his liking. West Ham are not out of the relegation picture and a disjointed squad, pockmarked with some expensively assembled flops, could do with surgery this month. He expects resources to be available if the right additions become within reach in a notoriously tricky window.
“The challenge is to make some quick decisions and learn around what we have,” he said. “The January window is not the most easy, it can be complicated. My focus is on the team that we’ve got. And then at the same time, always be aware of opportunities that can come.”
The trajectory of Potter’s career, which ignited in a remarkable tenure at Östersund before impressive spells at Swansea and Brighton, flatlined badly when he left Chelsea six months after his appointment. He accepts there will be sceptics to win over.
“When I listen to Pep Guardiola, he says he’s got something to prove,” he said. “If he’s got something to prove then we all have, it’s the reality.
“I’m comfortable in my own skin, I’m comfortable with who I am and what I’ve done. Clearly no one’s perfect. Life is about taking the successes, accepting the setbacks and accepting the defeats. Accepting the mistakes, dealing with it and making you stronger. I think I’m a better person now for the experience [at Chelsea], a better coach for the experience and well rested.”
Potter was not short of offers to cut short his extended break but explained it had been important to “step back and see what’s happening, analyse your own thinking, your own thoughts”. He said: “I’ve learned that I’m pretty competent, to be honest. I’ve learned to not worry too much about what people from the outside think of me.” His first chance to form opinions at West Ham will arrive on Friday evening when they contest an FA Cup third-round tie at Aston Villa.
