Potter not scarred by his ordeal at Bridge

NEW HAMMERS BOSS IS WISER FOR EXPERIENCE

- Alan Smith

GRAHAM POTTER may have been chewed up and spat out by Chelsea. But the West Ham head coach returns to his old club tonight wiser for the experience.

In seven chaotic months, interrupted by the World Cup, Potter took charge of 31 games and was a bystander for the most outlandish of January transfer windows.

By bringing in a raft of young players on longer deals than ever seen before, Chelsea's new owners were trying to reshape how the entire market works.

Potter said: "Chelsea made a decision I supported as best I could and respected."

But it is impossible not to feel he was handed an impossible task despite his insistence he is "grateful" to have managed there.

The ordeal, Potter says, was like being inside "a washing machine" and it left him in need of a break.