Wednesday’s sacking of Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior came as a surprise to absolutely no one, especially not to fans of the club.
While it was perhaps unexpected that the Blues were prepared to act so decisively and pull the trigger on the 41-year-old after just 23 games – or 106 days – in charge, the fact that Rosenior lost his job was not really a shock.
The writing had been on the wall. Tuesday’s abject 3-0 loss to Brighton, the fifth consecutive Premier League defeat without scoring, was the clearest sign yet that Rosenior had lost the support of the players.
For once, Chelsea’s sporting leadership drew the correct conclusions. By Wednesday afternoon, following several emergency meetings, Rosenior was gone, sacked unceremoniously just three months after being appointed.
Rosenior had replaced Enzo Maresca, a man who had his shortcomings, but who was fairly popular with the players. His departure caused discontent in the squad as players grew disillusioned with the lack of progress and stability of the Chelsea “project.”
Chelsea fans knew this was coming
Rosenior, viewed as a company man and an ally of the owners after coming over from sister club Strasbourg, faced an uphill battle from the jump. It is perhaps not surprising that the players quickly lost faith in him, given that – at least some of them – have lost faith in the owners.
That does not absolve him of blame, of course. His disastrous recent results have left the Blues at serious risk of missing out on the Champions League, and it increasingly looked as though he had already run out of ideas on how to get a tune out of the squad.
Chelsea supporters knew that Rosenior would not fulfil his six-and-a-half-year contract from the day he was hired. In a way, his appointment on 6 January could hardly have been timed worse.
That same day, the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust released the results of a survey carried out among club members regarding the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. The results were predictably pessimistic.
As FootballTransfers reported at the time, a whopping 90.6% of those questioned responded negatively when asked about their level of confidence in “the ownership group’s football-related decision-making.”
Chelsea fans knew BlueCo would get this appointment wrong, and they were right. It was the closest thing to a vote of no confidence that is permitted in the context of the Premier League’s restricted fan agency and involvement.
The other results of the survey didn’t make for any prettier reading. Just 7.7% showed any semblance of belief that Chelsea are “currently being run in a way that will deliver sustained on-pitch success over the next 3–5 years.”
43.2% agreed that Chelsea’s sporting structure is “not fit for purpose.” 42.69% believed that it has “significant weaknesses.” An overwhelming majority – 88.67%! – disagreed that the club has “a clear and effective plan for its football leadership, including head coach appointments and succession.”
The fact that Chelsea are once again in this position highlights what fans have known all along: the owners don’t have a clue, and evidently, neither do the club’s sporting directors, all five of them.
The owners’ willingness and ambition to be innovative should be commended, but it is clear that their unorthodox strategy has been an unmitigated disaster. The more money is being pumped into Chelsea – it’s almost €2 billion now – the more they seem to regress.
There needs to be a major reckoning to break this vicious cycle.
Football transfer news headlines today
Transfer Rumours: Chelsea in ‘epic’ €60m five-club battle as bid ‘promised’
Arsenal Transfer News Today: Arteta wants Bernardo Silva as Gunners surge into pole position
Chelsea Transfer News Today: Rosenior sacked as €60m clause to be triggered
Man Utd Transfer News Today: Real Madrid move confirmed as Rashford saga takes new twist
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