Graham Potter

Graham Stephen Potter (born 20 May 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a left back. He is the head coach of Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion.

Graham Potter
Potter as manager of Östersund in 2017
Personal information
Full name Graham Stephen Potter[1]
Date of birth (1975-05-20) 20 May 1975[1]
Place of birth Solihull, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Playing position(s) Left back[1]
Club information
Current team
 Brighton & Hove Albion (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1993 Birmingham City 25 (2)
1993 → Wycombe Wanderers (loan) 3 (0)
1993–1996 Stoke City 45 (1)
1996–1997 Southampton 8 (0)
1997–2000 West Bromwich Albion 43 (0)
1997 → Northampton Town (loan) 3 (0)
1997–1998 → Northampton Town (loan) 1 (0)
1999 → Reading (loan) 4 (0)
2000–2003 York City 114 (5)
2003–2004 Boston United 12 (0)
2003 → Shrewsbury Town (loan) 5 (0)
2004–2005 Macclesfield Town 57 (8)
Total 320 (16)
National team
1996 England U21 1 (0)
Teams managed
2010–2018 Östersund
2018–2019 Swansea City
2019– Brighton & Hove Albion
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

In a 13-year playing career, he made 307 appearances in the Football League. He also played in the Premier League for Southampton and the Football Conference for Shrewsbury Town. At international level, he was capped once for England at under-21 level.

Potter started his managerial career in December 2010 with Swedish club Östersund. He won three promotions and the Svenska Cupen with Östersund, leading them to the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League knockout stage. He was appointed manager of Championship club Swansea City in June 2018, and moved on to Brighton & Hove Albion a year later.

Playing career

Born in Solihull, West Midlands, Potter began his career as a trainee at Birmingham City.[1] After a loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers, he moved on to Stoke City, then to Southampton,[3] where he played in the 6–3 win over Manchester United in 1996.[4] While a Southampton player, he was capped for England U21s in a European Championships qualifier against Moldova.[5]

He joined West Bromwich Albion in 1997, and after three-and-a-half years, which included loan spells at Northampton Town and Reading, he signed for York City.[3]

Potter moved from York City to Boston United in the summer of 2003.[6] He joined Shrewsbury Town on loan in November 2003.[7] In 2004, he moved on a free transfer to Macclesfield Town, where he finished his senior playing career.[3]

Coaching and managerial career

Early career

With support from the Professional Footballers' Association, Potter graduated from the Open University in December 2005 with a degree in Social Sciences.[8] He worked as a football development manager for the University of Hull and as technical director for the Ghana women's team at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.[9] He became assistant coach for the England Universities Squad,[10] before joining Leeds Metropolitan University in a similar role; while at Leeds, he completed a master's in leadership and emotional intelligence.[9]

Östersund

In December 2010, Potter signed a three-year contract as coach of Östersund, who were then playing in the fourth tier of Swedish football.[11] Potter was offered the job after Graeme Jones, his friend and assistant to Roberto Martínez at Swansea City, recommended him to chairman Daniel Kindberg after their pre-season friendly with Swansea.[12]

In 2013, after two successive promotions, Potter extended his contract with the club for another three years.[13] On 27 October 2015, Östersund secured promotion to the Swedish top flight, Allsvenskan, for the first time in their history following a second-place finish in the 2015 Superettan.[14] Östersund finished their debut season in eighth place, winning plaudits for their "slick passing game" and competing on a limited budget.[15][16]

On 13 April 2017, Potter's Östersund team won the Svenska Cupen, beating Norrköping 4–1 in the final.[17] This granted the team a place in the second qualifying round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League where they defeated Galatasaray 3–1 on aggregate.[18][19] In the third round they defeated Fola Esch 3–1 on aggregate[20] and in the play-offs they knocked out PAOK (3–3 on aggregate with more away goals), thus securing a historic entry into the Europa League group stage.[21][15] They finished second in their group, level on points with Athletic Bilbao.[22] Despite beating Arsenal 2–1 at the Emirates Stadium, they were eliminated from the competition after losing 4–2 on aggregate.[23] Östersund finished their domestic league season in fifth place.[18]

Swansea City
Potter as manager of Swansea City in 2018

Potter was appointed manager of newly relegated Championship club Swansea City on 11 June 2018 on a three-year contract.[24] He was joined by assistant manager Billy Reid and recruitment analyst Kyle Macaulay.[24] On his appointment, Potter said "This is a Premier League club from the last seven years and it wants to try to get back, but get back in a way that there is an identity and an understanding of what they want to be on the pitch. That was the interesting thing for me – the chance to build something".[25]

Potter won his first match as Swansea boss with a 2–1 victory over Sheffield United, with goals from striker Oli McBurnie and former Liverpool youngster Yan Dhanda.[26] His first game at Swansea's Liberty Stadium was a 1–0 win against Preston North End.[27] In his first season at the club, Swansea reached the quarter-finals of the 2018–19 FA Cup, where they hosted Manchester City. They initially led the Premier League champions 2–0 after 30 minutes but three goals in the last 20 minutes, one from Bernardo Silva, an own goal from Kristoffer Nordfeldt and a late winner from Sergio Agüero defeated Potter's side.[28] They finished 10th in the league, after a strong end of season run gave Swansea a slim chance of making the play-offs going into the last three matches of the season.[29][30]

After Chris Hughton was dismissed as Brighton & Hove Albion manager at the end of the 2018–19 season, Potter was heavily linked with the managerial vacancy, with Albion making an official approach for his services which Swansea initially rejected.[31] However, several days later, Potter informed Swansea of his desire to leave the club and bring several of his backroom staff with him to Brighton. Swansea initially offered Potter a new contract to remain at the club, which would have made him one of the Championship's highest earning managers.[32] However, the club eventually granted permission for Potter to begin talks with Brighton, who would reportedly pay Swansea about £3m in compensation for Potter and his backroom staff.[33]

Brighton & Hove Albion

Potter was appointed head coach of Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion on 20 May 2019, signing a four-year contract.[34][35] Brighton were victorious in Potter's first match, defeating Watford in a 3–0 away victory in what was also his first game in charge of a Premier League side.[36] Potter's first official home game in charge of Brighton came on 17 August against West Ham where a Leandro Trossard goal was correctly ruled out for offside by VAR which denied Brighton the lead. However, he later went on to score an equaliser to make it 1–1 shortly after Javier Hernández put West Ham a goal up.[37] His first defeat in the Premier League came on 24 August coming at Falmer Stadium against south coast rivals, Southampton where they lost 2–0 with Florin Andone receiving a straight red card for a poorly judged tackle on Yan Valery.[38] His second win Brighton manager came at Bristol Rovers where they won 2–1 in the EFL Cup.[39] They went on to lose in the next round on 25 September, losing 3–1 at home to Aston Villa where Potter gave 10 Brighton players their debuts in the youthful side of an average age of just over 21.[40] After without a league win since the opening game of season Brighton were starting to drop down the table sitting in 16th after 7 games. On 5 October, the 8th league game of the season Brighton claimed a 3–0 home win over Tottenham Hotspur where Aaron Connolly – who has benefited in game time under Potter – scored 2 goals in his first ever Premier League start.[41]

Managerial style
He's English, he's a modern coach, he has new ideas, he brings new ideas. [Swansea is] a team that takes care of how they move the ball... in their style, the goalkeeper and defenders build from the back. And for me it's the feature that you could underline from Swansea [under Potter].

—Argentinian coach Marcelo Bielsa on facing Graham Potter's Swansea City team, 20 August 2018.[42]

Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods.[43][44] At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions designed to take them out of their comfort zone.[44]

Potter describes his teams as "tactically flexible, attacking, [and] possession-based".[43] At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2 formation centred on ball possession.[45][46] Former Celtic and Barcelona player Henrik Larsson commented on Potter's pattern of play, stating he "played all different kinds of systems, starting off a match one way, and then halfway through they started playing a different system, and then they ended up with a third system. And all the players knew exactly what they were doing."[47]

At Swansea, Potter used ten different formations and his team completed the most passes per 90 minutes in the Championship.[48]

As a young coach, Potter studied the training methods of Roberto Martínez at Swansea and became inspired by his possession-based approach, along with the "holistic" training principles he observed during his travels to Spain.[49] Potter also cites the philosophy of Pep Guardiola and Raymond Verheijen's periodisation model among his influences.[49]

Career statistics
Source:[50]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Birmingham City 1992–93 First Division 18210004[lower-alpha 1]0232
1993–94 First Division 7000002[lower-alpha 2]090
Total 252100060322
Wycombe Wanderers (loan) 1993–94 Third Division 3000101[lower-alpha 3]050
Stoke City 1993–94 First Division 3020000[lower-alpha 4]050
1994–95 First Division 1000100[lower-alpha 5]020
1995–96 First Division 41120305[lower-alpha 6]0511
Total 451204050581
Southampton 1996–97 Premier League 800020—100
West Bromwich Albion 1996–97 First Division 600000—60
1997–98 First Division 500000—50
1998–99 First Division 2201010—240
1999–2000 First Division 1000020—120
Total 430103000470
Northampton Town (loan) 1997–98 Second Division 4000001[lower-alpha 7]050
Reading (loan) 1999–2000 Second Division 4000001[lower-alpha 8]050
York City 2000–01 Third Division 38241200[lower-alpha 9]0443
2001–02 Third Division 37262100[lower-alpha 10]0444
2002–03 Third Division 39120101[lower-alpha 11]0431
Total 114512340101318
Boston United 2003–04 Third Division 12010101[lower-alpha 12]0150
Shrewsbury Town (loan) 2003–04[51] Football Conference 50—50
Macclesfield Town 2003–04 Third Division 16200000[lower-alpha 13]0162
2004–05 League Two 41630103[lower-alpha 14]0486
Total 578301030648
Career total 3201622316019037719
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup and Football League Trophy.
  1. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
  2. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
  3. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  4. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
  5. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
  6. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
  7. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  8. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  9. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  10. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  11. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  12. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  13. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  14. Appearances in Football League Trophy

Managerial statistics
As of match played 23 June 2020
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref.
PWDLWin %
Östersund 23 December 2010 11 June 2018 249 127 60 62 051.0 [11][24][52]
Swansea City 11 June 2018 20 May 2019 51 21 11 19 041.2 [53]
Brighton & Hove Albion 20 May 2019 Present 34 8 12 14 023.5 [53]
Total 334 156 83 95 046.7

Honours

As a manager

Östersund

Individual

References
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  2. "Graham Potter". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  3. "Graham Potter". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  4. "Southampton 6–3 Manchester United". Sky Sports. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
    Ogden, Mark (18 October 2013). "Flashback: Southampton 6 Manchester United 3 – Egil Ostenstad scores hat-trick as United humbled at The Dell". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  5. "England's matches: The under 21's: 1990–2000". England Football Online. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  6. "Boston sign Potter". BBC Sport. 8 July 2003. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  7. "Shrews sign Potter on loan". BBC Sport. 22 November 2003. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  8. Clarkson, Ian (18 January 2006). "Careers after football: Graham Potter used 'the old grey matter' to get his degree – thanks to the PFA!". Professional Footballers' Association. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011.
  9. Taylor, Louise (2 April 2016). "From Solihull to sold-out stadiums and success in Sweden's Winter City". The Observer. London. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  10. "Hull football star scores national coaching role". University of Hull. 14 April 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008.
  11. "En fantastisk Julklapp till ÖFK" [A fantastic Christmas present for ÖFK] (in Swedish). Östersunds FK. 23 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
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  13. "Graham Potter stannar i ÖFK" [Graham Potter is staying at ÖFK!]. SvenskaFans.com (in Swedish). 6 November 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
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  50. Graham Potter at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
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