Chelsea stars copied 'disgusting' Man Utd players as Graham Potter nicknames come to light after sacking

Graham Potter lacked the respect of some members of his squad and was given nicknames relating to his surname, it has been claimed.

On Sunday, Potter was dismissed by Chelsea after less than seven months in charge of the west London side.

Potter’s last act in the Stamford Bridge dugout was to oversee a 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa. It was the Englishman’s 11th loss in 31 games since replacing Thomas Tuchel as Blues boss on September 8.

Such form sees Chelsea languishing in 11th in the Premier League, 12 points outside the top four having spent more than £550m on new players this season.

Chelsea's decision to sack Tuchel raised plenty of eyebrows and according to a range of reports Potter struggled to gain the required respect from a contingent of Blues players.

According to the Independent, some players in the Chelsea dressing room were not even familiar with Potter upon his arrival in west London, despite him having spent years at Premier League rivals Brighton.

The report claims some of the squad needed to look Potter up on the internet to realise who the 47-year-old was.

Meanwhile, it is said that at least one Chelsea player - who was completely unaware of Potter as a manager - gave the Englishman an unflattering nickname during the early stages of his tenure at Stamford Bridge.

Moreover, the Evening Standard claimed that the former Brighton boss was frequently the subject of Harry Potter references, and was the butt of several jokes based on his shared surname.

Chelsea stars copy Man Utd players

Chelsea's players are not the first to have reportedly given their under-fire coach a nickname.

ESPN claimed during Ralf Rangnick’s tenure at United that the club’s players were becoming frustrated by "old-fashioned” training methods and were bemused that the German had left the bulk of the coaching sessions to assistant, Chris Armas.

In turn, some players on the training ground had allegedly jokingly likened New Yorker Armas to hapless fictional coach Ted Lasso - an American manager parachuted in to manage AFC Richmond.

At the time former United captain Gary Neville labelled Armas’ alleged nickname as “disgusting”.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Podcast, Neville said: "I didn't find it funny at all the fact they were describing the number two of Ralf Rangnick as Ted Lasso.

"I didn't find it funny at all, I found it disrespectful, disgusting. In fact, it summed up what I think of them that they are disrespectful.

"If I was Ralf Rangnick and his number two I'd take strength from that because I wouldn't want to be on the same page as some of the players leaking that story, those types of stories.

“It never happened in my time [leaks of manager discontent], we had the greatest level of stability."

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Chelsea, Graham Potter, Ralf Rangnick, Premier League, Gary Neville

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.