Brighton & Hove Albion technical director Ashworth was all smiles as he posed alongside Potter and his backroom team yesterday afternoon, after the quartet signed contract extensions until 2025 with the club.
The smiles weren’t just for the camera. Ashworth has been delighted with Potter’s first few months with Albion, but he feels there is still plenty more progress to be made under the former Ostersunds and Swansea City coach.
Ashworth said, “Whenever you have a new coach, nobody is ever quite sure how they're going to make the transition over to a new club, new players, and a new league. From my perspective, it's been a delight to work with Graham and his staff.
“They're very good people, really good to work with and have set an environment for staff and players which enables people to fulfil their potential and he's made that positive transition to a new club so far.
“There has been some really exciting performances, and we've picked up a reasonable number of points. I know Tony [Bloom], Paul [Barber] and the board are keen to keep Graham and his group of staff together and with us for a long period of time, hence the contract extension.”
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Albion currently lie 12th in the table, ahead of tough fixtures at Liverpool and Arsenal, and Ashworth has been particularly impressed by performances under Potter.
“You don't always get what you deserve in professional sport, and sometimes you get more than you deserve.
“The league is so tight, and as we stand, we're 12th, but a point either way makes a big difference to your league position at this stage, there's eight teams separated by three points.
“We've got three or four new players, a new coaching team and staff, but the performances have been encouraging. We're probably about where we should be.
“We've had a couple of games where you think we could've got a bit more. Burnley got a late equaliser against us and Villa got a late winner. We probably did enough to win the game against Newcastle, and then a couple of games where it's gone for us.
“Everton at home, people would say the penalty incident swung it and changed it in our favour and the momentum of the game.
“Some would say that we were a bit fortunate to pick up all three points in that game, but over the course of the season, performances have been encouraging and we're there or thereabouts.”
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Albion chairman Tony Bloom announced a long-term vision for the club in the summer, but made clear the first priority is to secure Premier League status — a view shared by Ashworth.
“Ultimately for us staying in the Premier League and being a Premier League team, is our primary objective. But in the summer, Tony and the board communicated an ambitious vision to become a top-ten Premier League team.
”It’s a long term target but it is where we'd like to get to, and we hope that Graham and his staff can fulfil our ambition to become a top-ten Premier League club. We know some clubs will have more resources than us but we can achieve the vision by everyone at the club continuing to pull together, on and off the field.
“It's about Graham and his coaching team getting the best out of a group of players to get enough points, but then it's also about Paul Winstanley and the recruitment team signing the right players.
“It's about Adam Brett and the medical team getting those players fit for purpose. It's for our academy manager John Morling supplementing the first team with the likes of Steve Alzate and Aaron Connolly and David Weir helping loan players such as Ben White to be a first-team player.
“Across the board, if everyone is pulling their weight and doing an excellent job, then it will hopefully give Graham a better chance to keep us in the Premier League for many years to come, and ultimately achieve the club’s vision.”