It’s hard to tell much about Potter’s level as a manager, from his stint at Chelsea.
So many other factors to consider, including the ridiculous recruitment of players. I can’t imagine Potter had much to do with that.
There was no sense of a team emerging, or players being brought in to fit the manager’s requirement. Instead, it was a circus.
Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t do well with the hand he was dealt, and even with all the issues you would have to think Chelsea would be at least threatening a top four spot.
Still, Potter gets a pass on that one, for me.
He might well turn out to be a very good manager. Brighton was good. Chelsea was bad. So the jury is out, but I think there’s a bit more to the fella than the Chelsea debacle might indicate.
I definitely would not write him off - the experience may prove valuable for his development. At a place like Brighton, looking at Chelsea he would have had a keen sense of the advantages, now he has learned about some of the corresponding challenges.
The fact that he is not rushing to take the Leicester position suggests he wants time to think it all through.
I like that Stevie G has been written off but Potter will learn from it.
Stevie G should have effectively out performed Brighton at Villa he effectively did the same job Rodgers did at Celtic and that was without the job Rodgers did at Swansea.
Rodgers does seem to be a 3 season manager type mind.
Gerrard hit problems at Villa, more comparable to Brighton than Chelsea. I would not write Gerrard’s future as a manager either, but he has not even had the opportunity fail at that higher level.
That said, I was never that optimistic about Gerrard’s prospects as a manager. He was so uniquely gifted as a player, his intuitive sense of the game is probably not that easy to translate into coaching insight for lesser talents. Unlike Zidane, he didn’t get the good fortune to start at the top working with elite talents.
I get you but often managers fail a few times or don’t do great early on in their career before coming good (Rafa springs to mind). Whether anyone will get that patience nowadays is another matter.
Emm Rafa worked his way up to get a go at Valencia where his excellence got him noticed by us. Gerrard got a handout at Rangers because of his big name player reputation despite only having ~18 months ‘experience’ as an under18 coach. I think his mistake was believing the BS about being a ‘future Liverpool manager’ who thought he could just move up to better things before actually learning his craft. He should have stayed for 5+ years at Rangers and if he still wants to make it as a manager he should be looking to the likes of Belgium, France etc and looking to build a decent foundation. CF to Patrick Vieira for instance who had three stints over about 7 years before taking a PL job.
Benitez took a La Liga job after coaching Madrid’s youth sides. Was fired from Real Valladolid for 3 wins in 23, then went to Osasuna and was fired after 1 win in 9.
Then he got Extremadura promoted to La Liga but quit after they were relegated again the next year. It wasn’t really until his year at Tenerife - and his media appearances - that he got the attention of Valencia.
Managerial stories are often stories of failure that eventually lead to the good coaches figuring out who they are, what their vision for the game is and how to get the best out of players.
Gerrard may be a good manager, he may be a terrible one - we have yet to find out but its extremely early in his post-playing career to decide one way or the other. Taking missteps, going to the wrong club, learning from mistakes… its all part of the journey.
I don’t think staying at Rangers for 5 years wpuld have helped him though, to be honest. He brought them their first title in a decade, also gave them a couple pf good runs in the Europa League. Not much else to achieve there and not much scope to make mistakes that actually matter either. Not much incentive to improve if the rest of the league is so bad you can make mistakes and it doesn’t really matter.
He probably learned more about himself in his time at Villa than he did at Rangers. I hope he takes those experience and tries to get a Championship side promoted now.
They looked fresher on the limited highlights I watched but they spunked the GDP of a small country and still lie 4 points behind us.
Rafa had always been a thinker (sometimes an over thinker) whereas by all accounts Stevie G didn’t think much about the game (CF Xabi Alonso or Mikel Arteta of the same generation) or even get his badges until he had almost retired.
There most impressive signing seems to be the loan one.
He is always on the ground … 
Yeah they are different people with different paths but there are lessons to take from it. Rafa was out of professional football by the age of 26, and didn’t have a successful time as a first team manager until he was 38.
Gerrard was captaining one of the biggest clubs in the world in his late 30s - the fact he didn’t go after his coaching badges, which are easily attainable after he retires, is a weak stick to beat him with.
I’m ambivilent on the idea of Gerrard as a manager. Honestly the post-playing career path of a multi-millionaire is low on my list of concerns, but I’m just expressing that if Benitez having the same career now his tenures at Valladolid and Osasuna would be seen as career ending failures not just difficult steps on his career ladder.
And yet.
I have to say im not impressed with any but it’s the risk to bring in so many in January.
I assume they will do it again somehow in the summer.
Taking the Villa job for Gerrard and taking the Chelsea job for Potter are actually the same mistake. For both, they needed to move up a level to advance their career, but picked the wrong club for that. Chelsea just isn’t a place that you stick around for long and learn how to step up. You win (or not), you get fired, you move on.
I’m looking forward to seeing Enrique in England. He’s been preparing for that move, learning English in the last few years. It was said that he wants a project, so not sure if Chelsea is the best for him. But he’s a quality manager, his stock is high these days.
After pissing on football for a good decade or so, now all that influence might give us more and more new Spanish coaches.
what do you mean by ‘pissing on football’?