Liam Rosenior is surely grateful he never found time to go house-hunting in Surrey during his 106 days in charge of Chelsea, though he may check out of his hotel by their Cobham training ground feeling a little like he had been living in Fawlty Towers.
There is always drama at Chelsea, and usually a dash of comedy alongside it, with some utterly unserious episodes written amid Rosenior’s fleeting era at Stamford Bridge.
The one where Chelsea’s players huddled around the referee, Paul Tierney, before being beaten by Newcastle, with Rosenior telling us that they simply wished to ‘respect the ball’. They did not score so much as a single goal in the Premier League from then on.
The one where both of Chelsea’s starting line-ups versus Paris Saint-Germain were leaked, which kickstarted an in-house game of Whac-A-Mole to identify the culprit responsible. They lost 8-2 on aggregate in those Champions League last-16 legs, with Pedro Neto criticised for shoving a Parisian ball boy and Filip Jorgensen fluffing his big opportunity after replacing Robert Sanchez.
The one where Enzo Fernandez openly flirted with Real Madrid, was banned for two games by his own club, and then wore the captain’s armband again.
The one where Rosenior did not take kindly to an Arsenal coach invading Chelsea’s half during their warm-up, and he miscontrolled a ball dropping from the heavens during that defeat.
Liam Rosenior endured a calamitous 106 days in charge of Chelsea before he was sacked
The Blues did not score a single Premier League goal after apparently ‘respecting the ball’ when Paul Tierney was caught in their huddle
The one where Marc Cucurella’s barber – yes, he has one – revealed the team news before Tuesday’s trip to Brighton. We can only imagine this particular chap thought Cucurella said ‘share the sides’ rather than ‘shave the sides’ because, as we now know, it was defining for Rosenior.
We could go on naming the silly side stories that were both inflicted upon and caused by Rosenior, but that trip to the Amex Stadium was where it all imploded internally, with Chelsea’s sporting leadership team led by Behdad Eghbali watching stony-faced from the stands.
Before then, club sources had been insisting Rosenior would stick around, even if he failed to secure Champions League football. BlueCo had brought him in from Strasbourg, where he was still learning, at the risk of upsetting the other club they own and their supporters. They had sympathy for the fact he had not overseen a pre-season and inherited a challenging situation, which included several key players picking up injuries.
However, Brighton knew in advance that the visitors would be without Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro, thanks to Cucurella’s barber. Rosenior switched to a back-five system – the last act of many a desperate manager – and Chelsea’s performance was tellingly pathetic.
From the outside looking in, it smacked of players no longer playing for their head coach. The away end had been singing for Rosenior to ‘f*** off’ and at full-time, Fernandez stood and stared at those travelling supporters while others headed towards the tunnel.
It was a tad performative from the Argentinian, but we now know sections of the changing room found Rosenior’s tactical instructions tough to follow, per sources. It is also believed some of the squad did not take kindly to Fernandez being told he was suspended for the visit of Manchester City because of what he said during the international break. That does not excuse the fact they have been out-run in all 34 of their Premier League fixtures this season, mind, so Rosenior may have had a point as he went down swinging with his post-match interviews at the Amex.
Rosenior practically accused certain players of chucking it and that 3-0 beating by Brighton – their fifth successive league loss without scoring, equalling a record from 1912 – was enough to convince those above the Englishman they handed a six-and-a-half year contract that this job was too big and too soon for him to succeed. His position had become untenable with Chelsea sources claiming they were left with no choice. They could have handed him more time, of course, but this is a results game and they were in relegation form. Tottenham in disguise, as the song goes.
When Rosenior was first appointed, the fixtures came so fast that he hardly had time for meaningful training sessions. He decided not to rip up Enzo Maresca’s tactics out of fear that it would confuse the squad. It was once Chelsea finally started to have the odd free midweek that Rosenior infused his own ideas, but that only coincided with their disastrous downturn which has left them facing a season away from Europe’s top table at least.
The former Blues boss was told to ‘f*** off’ by his own fans during Chelsea’s Brighton defeat
Sections of Chelsea’s dressing room found their now-ex-manager’s instructions hard to follow – and some took exception to Enzo Fernandez’s ban
Rosenior ultimately underperformed but Chelsea have chewed and spewed bigger names than his, and he also had the online mocking of his mannerisms for dealing with, which would have weighed heavy on anyone. Rosenior is a good person. He protected Chelsea’s players when, at times, they arguably did not deserve to be coddled. He will hopefully enjoy a happy career elsewhere.
Indeed, if Rosenior is seeking some optimism, he need only look at his predecessors. Thomas Tuchel will be leading England at this summer’s World Cup. Graham Potter will be leading Sweden. Mauricio Pochettino will be leading the United States. Frank Lampard has taken Coventry to the Premier League for next season. Maresca is widely rumoured to be replacing Pep Guardiola at Manchester City this summer once he has finished enjoying time with the family.
Calum McFarlane, whom Rosenior added to his first-team coaching staff upon being appointed, will take temporary charge for the remainder of the season while the club focus on finding the perfect replacement. Daily Mail Sport has been told by someone close to John Terry that he would have loved to work with Chelsea’s squad, and that the feeling might even be mutual inside the changing room. But it will be the softly-spoken McFarlane taking charge in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final showdown with Leeds, and he too is said to be respected by the squad.
Chelsea have already indicated they are ready to tweak their strategy by focusing on signing proven players as of this summer. Now they need to identify an experienced manager after their gamble on Rosenior ended in another quick, and presumably expensive, exit.
