Barbie / XFootball manager Graham Potter’s tough start as West Ham head coach in the Premier League has sparked a bizarre trend online, with users editing his face onto a range of famous figures, and just about anyone else too.
The meme first gained traction among West Ham supporters frustrated by the team’s early Premier League results.
At the start, Potter’s face was placed on dictators and notorious figures, a jab at his unpopular opening run in charge. This isn’t anything new, either, as other Premier League managers like Mikel Arteta have faced similar online mockery.
Potter faceswap trend explained
But with Potter, the trend quickly snowballed, and now his likeness is being photoshopped onto everything from the King of England to TV characters, movie stars, and even nurses.
Social media has since run wild with the joke, with countless variations appearing across X/Twitter and other platforms. For many fans, the fun is in how far from football the images can stretch, and how strange Potter looks when dropped into such unlikely scenarios.
The meme has become one of the most viral football jokes of the season, with dozens of fan accounts producing new edits daily. Some posts rack up thousands of likes and shares as users compete to find the funniest or most absurd placement for the West Ham coach’s face.
Graham Potter responds to faceswap trend
Potter has now commented on the meme. Ahead of West Ham’s next game, away to Everton on September 29, he spoke about it in his pre-match conference.
“It made my 15-year-old son laugh a lot,” he said. “You have to accept what comes with it, which is part of criticism, at times ridicule, but that’s just the environment we’re in, and it is what it is.”
For now, the joke continues to spread, making Potter one of the most unlikely faces to ever dominate social media.
