ROB DRAPER: Chelsea’s owners are as COMMITTED to Graham Potter as when they first appointed him

Chelsea’s owners are just as committed to Graham Potter as their head coach as they were on his appointment and consider themselves ‘collectively responsible’ for the recent poor form, which has seen the club win one in eight Premier League games.   

There is no sense that Potter’s job will be in jeopardy, even if Chelsea failed to make the top four this season, because Todd Boehly, Behdad Egbahali and Jose Feliciano want to drive long-term cultural change at the club and will accept the pain of short-term setbacks in order to make the club challengers for the Premier League title again.

Finishing fourth, while clearly important financially, isn’t the ultimate goal, which is winning the Premier League title. 

Chelsea’s owners say they are just as committed to Graham Potter as when he was appointed

Todd Boehly and the board claim they are taking ‘collective responsibility’ for club’s poor form

Whilst respectful of what Roman Abramovich achieved on the pitch at Chelsea, their analysis was that the club had fallen well behind Manchester City and Liverpool in terms of challenging for the title, despite winning the 2021 Champions League. 

And that it couldn’t continue to be run as a benefactor club, running up losses and with negligible financial transparency. 

The turnaround under Potter is expected to take time and short-term issues, such as the current injuries, the interruption of the World Cup and the difficulty of negotiating a transfer window immediately after the sale of club, which was done so under previous manager Thomas Tuchel, all explain the current situation.

Chelsea have now dropped to tenth in the league and pressure has been mounting on Potter

Boehly and his partners are doubling down on their policy of long term investments in young talent, having offered a seven-year deal to new signing Benoit Badiashile.

It is understood the long-term deals progress year on year so the bulk of this cost comes later in the contract and will be partially dependent on performance.

Boehly, Egbahli and Felciano were all at Chelsea’s defeat against Manchester City on Thursday and were encouraged despite the defeat. 

Specifically, the fact that Potter turned to 19 year old Carney Chukwuemeka to replace Raheem Sterling after five minutes, and that the young player responded with such a commanding performance, is seen as being in sync with their ideas for the club. 

His time at the club has been exacerbated by injuries and that has worsened this week

Raheem Sterling (R) was came off during Chelsea’s loss to Manchester City with an injury

Christian Pulisic (L) also became one of the ten injured players on Chelsea’s books

Also the fact that Potter entrusted Omari Hutchinson, 19, and Lewis Hall, 18, to chase the game on Thursday, the former making his senior debut, the latter only his fourth senior appearance, will have pleased the owners. 

Christopher Nkunku will join in the summer from RB Leipzig and there is an understanding that Potter needs the right signings to fit his and the owners collective vision. 

It is an exciting time for the club who are investing in future talent including Benoit Badiashile

Promising star Omari Hutchinson (L) got some game time under his belt against Man City

And Carney Chukwuemeka, 19, put on a commanding performance in place of injured Sterling

Neil Bath, Director of Football Development, is now fully integrated into the transfer strategy and recruitment, so that pathways from the academy aren’t blocked by unnecessary signings.

With Director of Global Talent Paul Winstanley, technical directors Lawrence Stewart, Christopher Vivell, Co-director of recruitment Joe Shields and Kyle Macauley, who came with Potter from Brighton to assist with recruitment, the ownership believe the club now has the infrastructure to compete better in the transfer market and support Potter in the players he needs, which will be evident in results going forward.