Graham Potter

Born in Solihull, West Midlands, Potter began his footballing career at the age of 17 as a trainee at Birmingham City. After a loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers, the young left-back then moved on to Stoke City, then to Southampton in the Premier League, where he played in the famous 6–3 win over Manchester United in 1996. While a Southampton player, he was capped for England U21s in a European Championships qualifier against Moldova. Potter joined West Bromwich Albion in 1997, and after three and a half years, which also included loan spells at Northampton Town and Reading, he signed for York City. Potter moved from York City to Boston United in the summer of 2003. Potter would go on to make over 100 appearances for York City, before joining Shrewsbury Town on loan in November 2003. In the closing chapter of his playing career, in 2004, he moved on a free transfer to Macclesfield Town, where he finished his senior playing career.

Early career

With support from the Professional Footballers' Association, Potter graduated from the Open University in December 2005 with a degree in Social Sciences. He worked as a football development manager for the University of Hull and as technical director for the Ghana women's team at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. He became assistant coach for the England Universities squad, before joining Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett University) in a similar role; while at Leeds, he completed an MSc Leadership: Personal & Professional Development, which focused on using emotional intelligence.

Leeds Carnegie

In 2008, Potter was appointed manager of Northern Counties East League Division One side Leeds Carnegie. During his time at the club, Potter led the team to the third round of the FA Vase and third place in the 2009–10 Northern Counties East League season, before departing Leeds Carnegie on 12 January 2011.

Östersund

In December 2010, Potter signed a three-year contract as coach of Östersund, who were then playing in the fourth tier of Swedish football, starting on 24 January 2011. 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 Östersund's 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, Östersund secured…

Tactics

Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods. At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions designed to take them out of their comfort zone. Potter describes his teams as "tactically flexible, attacking, [and] possession-based". At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2, 4–4–2, 4–3–3 formation centered on ball possession. At Swansea, Potter used ten different formations and his team completed the most passes per 90 minutes in the Championship. As a young coach, Potter studied the training methods of Roberto Martínez at Swansea and became inspired by his possession-based approach, along with the "holistic" training principles he observed during his travels to Spain. Potter also cites the philosophy of Pep Guardiola and Raymond Verheijen's periodisation model among his influences.

Reception

Former Celtic and Barcelona player Henrik Larsson commented on Potter's pattern of play, stating he "played all different kinds of systems, starting off a match one way, and then halfway through they started playing a different system, and then they ended up with a third system. And all the players knew exactly what they were doing." Guardiola admitted that he was a "big fan" of Potter, saying that Potter's "Brighton are a joy to watch, a joy to analyse" and that his "players move with freedom and everyone knows what they have to…

Potter is married to Rachel Potter. They have three sons.