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By the end of March Igor Tudor, who was appointed around the same time at Liam Rosenior, had parted ways with Tottenham Hotspur and now a few weeks later the young English manager has followed suit. After signing a 6-and-a-half-year deal with The Blues in January of this year, Chelsea have already decided to cut ties with the former Strasbourg manager and have appointed Calum McFarlane as the interim manager until the end of the season.
Why was Rosenior sacked?
Liam Rosenior was off to a promising start to life at Chelsea with The Blues winning 7 of their first 10 games in all competitions under the new Head Coach. There were setbacks such as being knocked out the EFL Cup by Arsenal however Chelsea were on a 6-game unbeaten run in the Premier League as well as still in the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League competitions. The problems and the likely reason for Rosenior’s dismissal was the run of the bad form that followed in early March as Chelsea was set to face the reigning Champions League title holders Paris Saint-Germain and The Blues were utterly humiliated in a 5-2 demolition. From then on, Chelsea went on a losing streak where Liam Resenior’s men went on to win 1 game in the last 8 in all competitions.
Chelsea’s barren run included being knocked out of the Champions League after losing both legs against PSG with an aggregate score of 8-2 (Chelsea lost 3-0 at home to PSG in the 2nd leg), losing 1-0 at home to Newcastle United, losing 3-0 away to Everton, losing 3-0 at home to Manchester City, losing 1-0 at home to Manchester United and the final straw was losing 3-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion. The run was made worse as Chelsea had failed to score any goals in their 5 consecutive defeats in the Premier League against the previously mentioned teams. The timing of the run also could not have come at a worst time as the season is nearing its end and Chelsea and struggling to climb into the top 6 for European qualification.
Was this the right call?
Many will feel this call was a bit harsh and that the English coach should have been allowed more time considering the fact that he was appointed midway through the season as well as even though Chelsea are still ways away from finishing in the top 6, they still have the FA Cup as a way to get into Europe. As mentioned already, Liam Rosenior was off to a winning start to life at Chelsea and had just run into his first set of obstacles as head coach, some feel he wasn’t given enough time to coach his way out of Chelsea’s difficult spell.
Others feel the sacking could not have come soon enough as this is the most crucial part of any season where results really matter the most in the grand scheme of the season and Chelsea are sitting 8th while 7 points away from top 4. With 4 games left of the season as well as FA Cup Semi-Final still to play, some think now was the perfect time to sack Rosenior before Chelsea could potentially finish the season with nothing to show for it. There are still questions to be asked however of the appointment of Calum McFarlane, as the interim manager, as the English coach did have temporary caretaker ownership of Chelsea before Rosenior’s arrival and Chelsea did not win any of their 2 league games against Fulham and City when McFarlane was in charge.
Was sacking Enzo Maresca the right decision?
With Liam Rosenior’s early departure, the questions now go back to Chelsea’s previous and successful Head Coach in recent times, Enzo Maresca. The Italian coach has been Chelsea’s most successful manager since Todd Boehly’s takeover in 2022 and it was quite the surprise in late December when Maresca was publicly addressing the issues he was having with the Chelsea management which later led to his departure. Maresca, in his first season in charge of Chelsea, led the club to a 4th place league finish along with winning the club’s first UEFA Europa Conference League title and capped off 2025 by winning the FIFA Club World Cup in its new format. With a run like that, you would expect the Head Coach to have the full backing of the Chelsea management however as mentioned previously Enzo Maresca had publicly mentioned his frustrations with the Chelsea higher ups and not financially backing the recruitment that he required. In hindsight, it is starting to look like Chelsea maybe regretting not giving their full support to the Italian coach.
Is Chelsea’s ownership to blame?
Since Chelsea’s takeover in 2022, the club has spent over a billion pounds on new signings and the recruitment strategy does not look like one with a project for the long-term future of the club in mind. Most of Chelsea’s signings seems random and most of the time these signings do not stay at the club for very long if the higher ups are not satisfised with their immediate performances. One could say the club runs its transfer business purely on resale value as to not have any financial loses on their books. Sign a player for a reasonable price and then sell the player at a higher profit if the signing is considered a “failure” within a season or two. To also ensure the players leave for a profitable price, Chelsea tends to make their new signings sign lengthy long-term deals which gives them the advantage in negotiations however this kind of business model can cause an inconsistent environment as we have already seen.
Chelsea have a lot of players on their books that they are struggling to offload as well as mentioned previously, they do not prioritize the signings their Head Coach require which can and has caused tensions between club and coach. The appointment of Liam Rosenior was also a decision that did not seem like a well thought out one on paper as Rosenior was the manager of Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg FC, a club that Chelsea has done quite a bit of business with that many see to be as unethical due to both clubs being under the same ownership. Chelsea have had a recent history of signing young players only to loan them out to Strasbourg immediately after for their development and they have even loaned out players that they are struggling to get off their books to Strasbourg as well which has caused the French club to look like a “feeder” club to The Blues. So the appointment of Liam Rosenior can be seen as Chelsea using the French club to find solutions to their problems once again.
What’s Next for the Blues?
As mentioned plenty of times already, Chelsea still have 4 games left of the Premier League season to try and push for European qualification along with still playing in the FA Cup competition so it is up to Calum McFarlane to try and end this turbulent season on a high. Depending on his performance, McFarlane maybe considered for the full-time job however the likelihood would be that Chelsea are already scouting for potential top name replacements to take the permanent job and as of recent times, there are plenty of available as well as soon to be available names on the market come June 2026.
