John Obi Mikel has laughed at the idea of Graham Potter in charge of Chelsea during the Roman Abramovich era.
The former Nigeria international and Chelsea midfielder played for the Blues from 2006-07 to 2015-16, playing under some of the club’s most charismatic managers in his decade-long spell.
Chelsea parted ways with Potter after a 31-game spell in charge having taken over from Thomas Tuchel last September.
Speaking to Dubai Eye radio station, Mikel said he felt Potter had been given enough time in charge of the team, saying the club made the right decision in the end.
‘When you look at that, was he given enough time?’ he asked. ‘I think so. I think where you look at where the club is now, what is it, 11th in the table?
‘So when you look at it, I think he’s been given enough time. If it was the Roman Abramovich era…’
He added: ‘So was he given enough time? I think the club made the right decision.’
Mikel went on to suggest that the club might have been ‘too big’ for him to manage.
‘Was the club too big for him to manage? Maybe. Because when I look at him sometimes on the touchline he doesn’t really know what to do.
‘He’s not communicating to the players, he doesn’t tell them what to do on the pitch.’
Asked whether or not he enjoyed having a manager who was vocal on the touchline, Mikel responded: ‘I like a manager who is always motivated, who wants to… who is passionate on the touchline.
‘When they scream at you, they are telling you what to do. Sometimes players need a kick up the backside, to wake up. With Graham, I wasn’t seeing that.’
However, he added that he saw similar shortcomings in Lampard’s managerial style during his first stint with the club, which ended in January 2021.
‘Also with Frank, I wasn’t seeing that. I hope now he’s back, he will be more of a [Jurgen] Klopp or Pep [Guardiola], we see this managers who are always emotional, it’s like they want to be on the pitch. I want to see that with Frank when he comes back.’
Potter himself faced such accusations while he was at the helm, not least following the club’s draw with West Ham in mid-February.
Defending himself from accusations that he was not passionate or angry enough to be a success in the job, Potter cited his own record in climbing from the ninth tier of English football to managing one of the country’s true giants as evidence of such.
‘If you think that you can start a coaching career in the ninth tier of English football in the Northern Counties Division One and get to this point now as the Chelsea coach in the Champions League without getting angry or being nice then I suggest you don’t know anything about anything,’ he said.
‘I want to be careful not to get into discussion through the media. Of course I get angry, I am a human being. It’s just that I choose to conduct myself the way I think is the right way to conduct myself on the side.
‘The same media are talking about me being angry and then running stories about problems with referees at grassroots football and they don’t see the connection.
‘That’s not to say we don’t all lose our temper because we do. It’s an emotional thing but also I have a responsibility to myself, to Chelsea and to the game to act in the way I think is the right way for me, not for anyone else but for me.’
