The controlling owner of Chelsea, Todd Boehly claimed that he and other decision-makers at the club sacked coach Thomas Tuchel because the coach’s vision didn’t align with the management’s vision.
On September 7, 2022, the world was stunned when Chelsea announced that they have parted company with coach Thomas Tuchel, a beloved coach of the club between 2021 and 2022.
Though Thomas Tuchel started the 2022-2023 season struggling in all competitions after the club had spent over £260million in the 2022 summer transfer window, most fans of the club weren’t ready to see him leave.
Recall that in 18 months, Tuchel helped Chelsea to win their second UEFA Champions League trophy. The 49-year-old German tactician didn’t stop there, he helped Chelsea to win the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
On the domestic front, he took Chelsea to the final of the English FA Cup, and the Carabao Cup, and also ensured that Chelsea finished in the top four in the seasons he was in charge of the club.
After suffering 2 defeats and a draw in 6 Premier League games this season, pundits began to speculate about his sack. When Chelsea lost this season’s Champions League opener to Dinamo Zagreb on September 6, many pundits assumed that the pressure on Thomas Tuchel would skyrocket.
Lo and behold, Todd Boehly sacked the German tactician the following day making many believe that Chelsea sacked Tuchel due to the shocking defeat at the hands of the Croatian team.
Amid that, some pundits speculated that Boehly started having an issue with Tuchel when the coach refused to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in the last transfer window even though Boehly was very interested in the 37-year-old Portuguese icon.
Contrary to those speculations, Boehly who described Tuchel as an “extremely talented” coach revealed that the club had to let the German tactician leave because there was no shared vision between the coach and the club’s new management.
Speaking at the SALT Conference in New York on Tuesday, September 12, Todd Boehly said: “When you take over any business, you just have to make sure that you are aligned with the people who are operating the business.
“Tuchel is, obviously, extremely talented and someone who had great success at Chelsea.
“Our vision for the club was finding a manager who wanted to collaborate with us. There are a lot of walls to break down at Chelsea and before, the first team and the academy didn’t share data about where the top players were coming from.
“Our goal is to bring a team together, with the academy, with the first team, with the incremental clubs that we want to acquire and develop. All of that needs to be a well-oiled machine.
“The reality of our decision was that we just weren’t sure Thomas saw it the same way we saw it. No one is right or wrong, it’s just that we didn’t have a shared vision for the future.
“It wasn’t about Zagreb, it was really about the shared vision for what we wanted Chelsea Football Club to look like. It wasn’t a decision that was made as a result of a single win or loss. It was a decision that was made about the right vision for the club.”
Todd Boehly on Thomas Tuchel’s sacking: pic.twitter.com/LvddjmETAc
— ⭐️ Chels HQ ⭐️ (@Chels_HQ) September 13, 2022
Todd Boehly replaced Thomas Tuchel with Graham Potter
Days after Chelsea sacked coach Thomas Tuchel, the club succeeded in convincing Graham Potter to leave 4th placed Brighton for 6th placed Chelsea.
Potter left Brighton after over three seasons to a club where he might not enjoy the kind of job security he enjoyed at Brighton.
Recall that before Todd Boehly and his consortium took over Chelsea earlier this year from Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire sacked fourteen coaches in his 19 years reign at the club.
Todd Boehly’s sacking of Thomas Tuchel after 100 days of taking over the ownership of the club made many believe that the American billionaire is more or less like Abramovich who was never patient with the club’s managers during his reign.
However, Todd Boehly proved his critics wrong by giving Graham Potter a 5-year deal. If the English tactician stays at Stamford Bridge until the end of the 5-year deal, Potter will become Chelsea’s longest-serving manager after Dave Sexton who spent seven years at the club before he left in 1974.
While reacting to Chelsea’s tradition of being impatient with coaches, especially under the reign of Abramovich, Potter stressed that Todd Boehly-led consortium would create its history.
“I don’t like answering ifs,” Potter said. “It’s not fair to compare.
“The history of Chelsea and the previous ownership is fantastic. Our job is to create our own history, our own path.”
Thomas Tuchel speaking about his working relationship with Chelsea owner Todd Boehly in August 👇
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 7, 2022
Tuchel 🗣 "They have never owned a football club."
❓ "Do you feel like you're teaching them?"
Tuchel 🗣 "I try to, but don't tell them that." pic.twitter.com/G4SNMtPeYE
