The five things Chelsea need from their next manager

Chelsea sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley on Monday started work on finding the leading candidate to permanently succeed Graham Potter as the club’s next head coach.

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, Chelsea will attempt to interview at least five candidates in what they believe will be an exhaustive process to get the man who best fits their needs.

Stewart and Winstanley are leading the process, supported by co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, and, here, Telegraph Sport looks at the vital qualities Chelsea’s next head coach must possess.

Big club experience

Potter is not the first coach to be chewed up and spat out by the Chelsea machine and he probably will not be the last. Although the club is now run very differently to the Roman Abramovich era, it is still one of the big beasts of European football and the pressures that come with the job are pretty unique. Potter seemed surprised by the fact that he faced scrutiny from the start and Chelsea’s next head coach needs experience of what it is like to be in charge at one of Europe’s largest clubs.

Potter admitted at his first Chelsea press conference that he had never been to a Champions League game, let alone managed one, and the Blues cannot afford to go for someone who needs to learn on the job given the position they are in. That might rule out going for the next big thing in the coaching world, but Chelsea need a man who can address the here and now, as well as help set the club up for the future.

Clear vision

Given the size and make up of the squad, this is a tough one for any coach, but Chelsea have been devoid of an identity this season and Potter failed with a variety of different approaches. Whether it was changing personnel or formation, or both, nothing really stuck and Chelsea now need a coach who can give the club a clear vision for the short and medium term.

On his appointment, Thomas Tuchel immediately declared that he wanted to make Chelsea a team that other clubs would not enjoy facing and quickly devised a formula to do that. Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho were also coaches who achieved success by sticking to a plan. However much some at Stamford Bridge might crave flowing football and flexibility, Chelsea look like a squad that need telling what to do and how to do it.

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Inspiring communicator

This is not a call for the next Chelsea manager to come roaring into his first press conference and announce himself as the latest Special One, but the club do need somebody who can pull players and fans along with what they say, as well as what they do. Potter is not a demonstrative character and should be credited for not trying to be somebody who he is not, but his understated and considered style did not play well with many supporters and even some players.

Chelsea do not just need a coach who can eventually go toe-to-toe with the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola on the touchline, but also need somebody who can quickly form a connection with the Stamford Bridge faithful and the club’s global supporters. It is no coincidence that Chelsea’s most successful managers of the modern era, Mourinho, Conte, Tuchel and, possibly to a lesser extent, Carlo Ancelotti, have all been charismatic communicators.

Ability to improve young players

The average age of the Chelsea team has already dropped dramatically since the Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover, with the new owners committed to buying up what they believe is the best young talent across the globe and developing it at Chelsea. There is simply no point or sense in now appointing a coach who is not inclined to trust young players or work hard with them on the training ground to improve.

Unfortunately for him, Potter did not get the time to improve Chelsea’s young talents and it may be that it is the next coach who really gets to take advantage of the unlocked talent within the club’s squad. The biggest difficulty is combining an ability to develop young players while also achieving good results and not casting aside older stars who can be of immediate use.

Open to ideas

It is hard to talk to anybody at Chelsea these days without the word ‘collaboration’ being used and it even got referenced in the statement in which the club released to confirm the sacking of Potter. Apparently, it was collaborative of the now former head coach to allow the majority of his staff to stay on in his absence and Chelsea’s owners will demand that Potter’s replacement continues to work closely with all departments at the club.

Tuchel was deemed to be not collaborative enough, while Potter may now regret being quite so collaborative. Chelsea have two controlling owners, two sporting directors, a technical director, a director of recruitment and talent, and a recruitment analyst. That’s a lot of opinions and a lot of people to talk to, but the owners are committed to and confident in the sporting model they have put together, so the next coach will have to buy into it.