For the first 10 days, Graham Potter couldn’t even go home. So chaotic was life as the new West Ham manager that Potter lived out of his hotel room in Stratford, around the corner from the London Stadium, and barely wore anything other than his club tracksuit.
A frantic unveiling after Julen Lopetegui’s sacking, three matches and a handful of training sessions all crammed into the former Chelsea and Brighton boss’s first week and a half in the job.
Eventually, after the Hammers’ defeat at home to Crystal Palace on January 18, he went back to Brighton. Even when he got back to his wife Rachel, and his three children, he still spent six hours a day on the phone. It’s the January transfer window, after all.
‘It wasn’t Sunday dinner with a glass of wine watching Eastenders,’ was how Potter phrased it.
At last, things have begun to settle. Not completely, of course, because this is West Ham and they have one day left to sign players while transfer chief Tim Steidten is on his way out of the club and has had his access to their systems revoked.
But Potter has had the time now to get, to use his phrase, ‘under the bonnet’ of his squad and put his spanners to work. West Ham are a enjoying a smoother ride because of it.
Graham Potter lived out of a hotel room for the first 10 days of his West Ham managerial tenure
After a frantic unveiling, Potter had three matches and a handful of training sessions all crammed into the former Chelsea and Brighton boss’s first week and a half in the job
His first full week on the training pitch led to an impressive draw at Aston Villa, a game they should really have won, where they looked a team transformed as Potter now heads back to Chelsea for the first time as a manager since his sacking nearly two years ago.
Mail Sport has spoken to numerous sources inside West Ham and they all spoke of how Potter’s methods, both on the training pitch and around their base at Rush Green, has made the club start to feel united again.
‘It feels like the club is pulling in the same direction,’ one insider told Mail Sport. ‘It’s been a positive change, it’s a better place for it,’ said another.
Those close to Potter insist he has not done anything too dramatic. He has just kept it simple, kept his messaging clear and tried not to overload his players with bundles of information.
His first training session ran for 90 minutes, a quarter of an hour longer than it usually had under predecessor Julen Lopetegui. It focussed on pressing, set pieces and the opposition’s threats.
Potter took his West Ham side to Aston Villa in the FA Cup one day, and one session, after his appointment. They lost but inside the first few minutes you could see a set of players trying to enact a tactical plan.
That’s been one of the key differences to life under Lopetegui. The players talk of an influx of ‘new ideas’. Sessions are much more varied, much more tactical, with Potter drawing up specific plans to deal with the individual strengths and weaknesses and systems of their opponents.
He shows his players lots of video clips and then takes those scenarios on to the training pitch to work on his plans. Against Palace, he worked with his squad on playing in a back three to mirror their system.
Potter took his side to Aston Villa in the FA Cup one day, and one session, after his appointment
They lost but inside the first few minutes you could see a set of players trying to enact a tactical plan – something that was missing during Julen Lopetegui’s time in charge
The biggest change of all, though, is in how Potter communicates. Not long after he took charge, Potter held a clear-the-air talk with his squad to get their views on what was going wrong.
He frequently has one-to-one conversations with his players, making it clear to them where they fit into his plans and where he wants them to improve. Some players say they have already had three such meetings.
The players feel they know, at last, what’s being asked of them. They feel a part of something.
Few have benefitted from that as much as Lucas Paqueta. The Brazilian playmaker had gone from matchwinner under Moyes to a near liability under Lopetegui but has already returned to being a key figure under Potter.
Potter has played Paqueta as a makeshift centre-forward instead of using the club’s only fit striker Danny Ings and returned two goals already for his new manager.
Behind the scenes, Potter has made a point of telling Paqueta how important he sees him. He’s making him feel wanted.
Other sources say there’s already been more communication and sharing of ideas between departments. Academy staff have been immediately introduced to members of Potter’s backroom team when visiting Rush Green, something they say would not have happened under previous regimes. Those at academy base Chadwell Heath already feel more part of it all.
One of the biggest issues facing West Ham before Potter’s arrival was the lack of academy products coming through. This is a club that won the FA Youth Cup two years ago but struggled under Moyes and Lopetegui for their starlets to get a chance.
Behind the scenes, Potter has made a point of telling Lucas Paqueta how important he sees him
It’s something Potter has made a point of trying to fix. ‘The academy has to be central in what we’re doing here,’ he said.
So far, he’s being true to his word. He’s moved academy full-back Oliver Scarles into the first-team dressing room to join fellow young defender Kaelan Casey. He handed Lewis Orford his first-team debut.
For the first time in a long time, there’s an air of togetherness and positivity around the place. There’ll be an even bigger one if Potter can return to Stamford Bridge on Monday night and get a result.
Potter insists he doesn’t need closure, though privately he will relish the chance to prove himself again against the club that sacked him after less than seven months.
That experience was a brutal one and led Potter to take more than 20 months before accepting another job in management.
He needed time to clear his head, figure out what he’d done wrong, what was out of his control – the club spending £300m in the January transfer window and having so many players that some needed to sit on the floor, for example – and to remind himself that he was a Premier League manager at heart.
Potter gave a leadership talk to the British troops in the Falklands and met with England rugby head coach Steve Borthwick. He enjoyed a Taylor Swift concert, spent a lot of time in the gym and learned Spanish.
He’s come back refreshed and already putting his stamp on West Ham in the same way he was able to at Brighton but never could at Chelsea.
Potter was sacked by Chelsea after less than seven months in charge in April 2023
Potter is reuniting with Evan Ferguson – who he handed his Brighton debut to – at West Ham
To make Monday night even more interesting, Potter has to juggle an emotional return to the site of his toughest managerial period with the closing of the transfer window.
West Ham got their primary target in on Sunday, signing Brighton striker Evan Ferguson, to whom Potter gave his debut at the Seagulls, the primary target.
Potter would rather do nothing in the window than splash the cash on players for the sake of it. West Ham have done that many times in recent years and Potter has seen first-hand at Chelsea the damage that can do.
‘It’s important not to take what happened in Chelsea two years ago in January as how we should act here, because we’re a different context in a different club,’ said Potter.
‘I remember speaking to someone years ago about recruitment and even if you bring one player in it changes the dynamic because the current players think “okay, well how does that affect me?” What does that do to everybody and how does it work?
‘It’s a team sport, football, so how people interact with each other and communicate with each other is important. Sometimes we focus on individuals to solve problems but, actually, the team is the foundation.’
And in doing just that, it seems Potter is well on the way to helping West Ham solve theirs.
