Gary Neville has explained what Manchester United must prove to Graham Potter

Many were surprised when Todd Boehly hired Graham Potter at Chelsea.

In football, Potter was becoming well-known, and his work at Brighton & Hove Albion would set the groundwork for Roberto De Zerbi’s future success. But in all of his prior positions, he had developed a culture over time; Chelsea has never been a club that can afford such luxury.

Potter was held to high standards despite this, and regrettably, after seven months, he was shown the door. The Englishman’s decline from grace posed a threat to his reputation.

However, Gary Neville thought Potter might have asked for the sack afterward. “If you are Graham Potter, I believe you to be a decent man. He said to Sky Sports in April, “I think he’ll have, to be fair, gone home after he’s been sacked – whenever that was – yesterday morning or the night before, and I bet there’s an element of relief.”

“I don’t think he was having fun there; I think he probably thought it was crazy.” In terms of his perspective on football, I believe he will have witnessed what was happening behind the scenes when they unexpectedly lost Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia at the beginning of the season.

“That wasn’t planned—they lost [Thomas] Tuchel. He has entered a club that is undergoing a significant change; they have invested millions of pounds, but they are inexperienced and, to be fair, are still learning on the job. He is probably simply thinking, “These guys are crazy.”

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“In actuality, the sporting director has clearly decided to let Graham Potter go based on the briefings he received in the last 24 hours from [Paul] Winstanley and [Laurence] Stuart, Winstanley whom he knew from Brighton. They will most likely select the next manager, but in terms of Graham Potter right now, I believe that he has moved on to Winstanley. Having known him from Brighton, Graham Potter may have said, “Get me out of here because it doesn’t suit me.”

In December of that year, Potter is rumored to be joining United. According to reports in the national press, INEOS met with him before considering a possible dismissal of Erik ten Hag.

Potter has the admiration of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and Sir Dave Brailsford worked tirelessly to get Potter the job as Nice boss this summer. Considering Ten Hag’s dismal second season, it makes sense that they might have crossed paths with him even though there’s no indication the Dutchman will be fired when INEOS show up.

If this is the direction United wishes to take, they will have to provide a lot of evidence of their development. Selecting United as his next employer would be like jumping from a frying pan into a fire, if Neville’s assumption is accurate.

The Reds appear to have no intention of fixing many of the shortcomings we are seeing on the field, and they are a complete mess behind the scenes. Potter’s philosophy does not align with their haphazard approach to transfers, and we witnessed how disastrously his time at Stamford Bridge ended.

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If this is United’s post-Ten Hag strategy, they will ultimately have to convince Potter that they are prepared to alter their current methods. If not, there’s even less justification for firing their current employee.