Brighton & Hove Albion have this afternoon completed a four year deal to secure Swansea City boss Graham Potter as their new manager.
The new man was the head coach of Swedish Allsvenskan club Östersunds FK between 2010 and 2018.
In December 2010, Potter signed a three-year contract as coach of Östersunds FK, who were then playing in the fourth tier of Swedish football. Potter was offered the job after Graeme Jones, his friend and assistant to Roberto Martínez at Swansea City, recommended him to chairman Daniel Kindberg after their pre-season friendly with Swansea.
In 2013, after two successive promotions, Potter extended his contract with the club for another three years. On 27 October 2015, Östersunds FK secured promotion to the Swedish top flight, Allsvenskan, for the first time in their history. On 13 April 2017 he won his first title as Östersund won the Swedish Cup. This granted the team a place in the second qualifying round of the 2017–18 Europa League where they defeated Galatasaray 3–1 on aggregate. In the third round they defeated Fola Esch 3–1 on aggregate and in the play-offs they knocked out PAOK (3–3 on aggregate with more away goals), thus securing a historic entry into the Europa League group stage. Despite beating Arsenal 2–1 at the Emirates, they exited the competition after losing 4–2 on aggregate.
He was appointed at Swansea in June 2018 and guided them to a 10th place finish in the Championship, with a win percentage of 41.
Bookies made him the favourite for the Brighton job on Tuesday the 14th of May though Swansea rejected the Seagulls’ approach for him. However he has since opted for a move to the south coast side instead.
✍️ The club are delighted to announce the appointment of Graham Potter as the new manager of the football club.#BHAFC ?⚪️
? Breaking news brought to you by @eToro pic.twitter.com/Bk0Sv80AAX
— Brighton & Hove Albion ⚽️ (@OfficialBHAFC) May 20, 2019
Swansea City chairman, Trevor Birch, said: “We received a request from Brighton last week to speak to Graham over the vacant managerial position at the club.
“We had absolutely no desire to lose the services of Graham after the excellent work he had done over the course of his debut season. We therefore declined Brighton’s initial request to speak to him.
“We then spoke to Graham in length over the request. These discussions included the offer of a new, improved contract and certain assurances regarding future squad strengthening. These assurances would have had to sit within our current financial budget, but we were confident that by working together we could build on the excellent progress the team made last season.
“Unfortunately, following those amicable discussions, Graham expressed a desire to challenge himself in the Premier League and we reluctantly allowed him to speak to Brighton after agreeing a compensation package.
“It goes without saying that we are very disappointed to lose Graham and members of his backroom staff, but we would like to thank him for the excellent work he did during our first season of transition and we wish him well at Brighton.
“We will endeavour to keep supporters aware of any developments.’’
Following the announcement of Graham Potter’s appointment at Brighton, leaving Swansea without a manager, fans of both clubs took to social media to give their reaction – find out what was said on the next page.
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