FORMER York City defender Graham Potter has been sacked by Chelsea following defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday that dropped them into the bottom half of the Premier League table.

The 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge drew angry calls from home supporters for the manager to go after the team’s poor run of form extended to just four wins from 19 games in the league.

Potter played for York from the years 2000 to 2003, making 114 appearances and scoring 5 goals from left-back.

Potter had briefly looked to have revived his ailing tenure with three-consecutive wins before the international break, including victory against Borussia Dortmund that saw the side reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

It lent weight to the backing the former Brighton boss had enjoyed from owner Todd Boehly and his Clearlake Capital consortium.

However, confidence that he was the right man for the job was tested to its limit by the loss to Villa, which yet again saw Chelsea struggle to live up to expectations set by Boehly’s mammoth £566million transfer spend.

Coach Bruno Saltor, who was taken to Chelsea from Brighton when Potter took the job, will take charge of the first team in the immediate term starting with Tuesday’s home game against Liverpool.

He is likely to remain in charge for both legs of the Champions League last-eight meeting with Real Madrid whilst recruitment chiefs Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart conduct the search for a successor.

The PA news agency understands the decision to remove Potter was taken on Sunday by Winstanley and Stewart with the unanimous backing of Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali.

The lack of progress evident in recent performances is believed to have been the catalyst for the board to move after weeks of pressure from supporters.

Despite a willingness to give the 47-year-old the time he needed to get results out of the club’s expensively-assembled recruits, it was felt that patience ultimately could no longer be justified.