Graham Potter makes thinly-veiled dig at Chelsea and West Ham after fan mocks his Pilates exercise

Ex-Chelsea and West Ham boss Graham Potter appeared to take aim at ‘dysfunctional’ former clubs after a fan mocked his Pilates exercise on Instagram.

Potter is currently head coach of the Swedish national team after taking charge last October.

The 51-year-old had salvaged Sweden’s World Cup qualifying campaign to guide them to the finals, where they were eventually knocked out in the round of 32.

Sweden’s performance at the World Cup had helped Potter bounce back from underwhelming spells at Chelsea and West Ham.

Potter was sacked by Chelsea in 2023 after less than seven months in charge, having won just 12 of 31 matches.

He returned to management with West Ham in 2025, but was sacked just five games into last season.

Potter appeared to take aim at ‘dysfunctional’ former clubs after the fan hit out at his management ability

West Ham were ultimately relegated at the end of last season, with current boss Nuno Espirito Santo having overseen the majority of the campaign.

Potter had shared photos of himself on Instagram doing a Pilates session, writing ‘Pilates session update! I have a lot of work to do!!’

One football fan responded with the jibe ‘Hopefully you are better at Pilates than you are a football manager.’

Potter responded: ‘I’ll try not to do Pilates in a dysfunctional place and I will be okay.’

In response to a follow-up by a Hammers fan, Potter added: ‘Easy tiger. I never mentioned West Ham or any club.’

When told to ‘ignore the haters’ in another comment, Potter conceded: ‘Of course I am responsible for my part but unfortunately lots happen at football clubs to determine success or failure not just one man! COYI.’

Potter’s spells at both Chelsea and West Ham came at times of boardroom upheaval at both clubs.

He had previously described his ill-fated spell at Chelsea as being the ‘perfect storm’, citing a fixture pile-up ahead of the winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022, before the club’s new owners invested heavily during a staggering January transfer window.

Potter’s brief spell at Chelsea came in the first season under the club’s new ownership

West Ham fans had protested against their owners during Potter’s ill-fated spell at the club

‘If you are spending £300m on players coming from outside the Premier League, from countries having a mid-season break, then the reality is you can’t just imagine they are going to hit the ground running and everything’s going to be fine,’ Potter said in 2024.

‘But, obviously, if you spend £300m, the pressure on the team goes up and the pressure on the coach goes up.

‘And people go: “Come on then, you’ve spent all this money.” I think if I’d have spent it on Harry Kane and Declan Rice, fair enough, but at the time that was the decision.

‘We tried to support it as best we could, but it left us with a challenge of a lot of players after January and then they can’t go anywhere.’

Potter’s spell at West Ham also came at a time with fans regularly staging protests against David Sullivan’s ownership and former vice-chair Karren Brady.