Graham Potter explains biggest mistake he made as Chelsea manager - 'The world was closing in'

Graham Potter admits he was naive to think that the new ownership at Chelsea would change the club's demanding culture - which ultimately led to him getting the sack.

The Englishman had impressed for several years at Brighton and became the first appointment of the Todd Boehly era, which had followed on from Roman Abramovich's ruthless two-decade tenure. The Russian was known for his lack of patience - firing numerous managers.

That became a trend but Potter felt that the new owners would take a different approach, but quickly discovered that the winning demands had remained. The Blues lost three games on the bounce prior to the World Cup break and the new boss could feel the pressure mounting.

Upon the resumption of the Premier League Chelsea continued to struggle for results and Potter was sacked in the April. The ex-Brighton boss also admits his lack of top level experience was perhaps held against him.

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He told Sky Sports: "The mistake I made was thinking that new ownership means there's a chance of a change of culture. But actually culture runs a lot deeper than that. Before the World Cup we only lost three matches - Arsenal, Newcastle and Brighton but already the world was closing in, it was close to crisis.

"Perspective is sometimes not so easy to get, Chelsea were used to winning and it was an easy thing to think 'we're not winning, it must be the coach who's not worked at that level, maybe he's the problem' and I can understand why they think that because the results weren't what they expected."

In pursuit of victory Boehly and co have shown that they are equally happy to hire and fire managers. The man who replaced Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, was only given a season before he was axed with Enzo Maresca now the man at the helm.

Potter has remained out of management since his Chelsea dismissal despite being linked with the likes of Manchester United and England. The 49-year-old has taken the time to reflect after what was the most scarring experience of his managerial career.

He said: "It's never nice when you lose your job, but you have to treat it as a learning experience, you have to treat it as an opportunity to grow and improve. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had and grateful for the experience. It was tough and it was challenging, but there were some highlights as well."

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