And just over 100 days after coming into Stamford Bridge, Liam Rosenior has departed Chelsea, just three-and-a-half months into his six-and-a-half-year contract.
He was already an unknown quantity when he came over in January, and we sure learned plenty about him, from saying managers ‘age men’ to talking about his players ‘respecting the ball.’
Rosenior came into the job as one of the most exciting English managers around, and leaves somewhat with his tail between his legs as he’ll go down as yet another manager who received the boot at Stamford Bridge.
At 41, Rosenior still has a long career ahead of him, and could very likely go on to have a successful career after this stint. He’s shown to be a capable manager in the past; let’s have a look at how he got here.
Inside the career of Liam Rosenior after Chelsea sacking
Rosenior was born in Wandsworth, South London, on July 9 1984, and is the son of football league manager Leory Rosenior, who is most famous for having the shortest managerial tenure on record as he was manager of Torquay United for 10 minutes back in 2007.
He came through the academy of Bristol City, making his debut in 2002 before moving to Premier League side Fulham a year later. At the Cottagers, Rosenior slowly became the regular right back for the side, playing in every Premier League game for the side in the 2006-07 season.
He would go on to have a somewhat journeyman career after that, playing for the likes of Reading, Ipswich Town and Hull City, where he started in the 2014 FA Cup final against Arsenal, where the Tigers went 2-0 up but ended up losing 3-2 to the Gunners at Wembley.
After retiring, he initially went into punditry on Sky Sports, covering a lot of EFL as well as writing columns in the Guardian before joining Philip Cocu’s coaching staff at Derby County in 2019.
He became an Assistant Manager in 2021 after Cocu’s sacking, working under Wayne Rooney, who credited Rosenior with a bulk of the tactical work done at the Rams. Rosenior would become interim boss at Derby after Rooney’s resignation in 2022, before moving on in September that year.
His work there would earn him his first permanent top job at one of his former sides, Hull City. Rosenior did an admirable job at Hull, bringing a side that was on the brink of relegation to within a few points of the playoffs, and he would be nominated for Championship manager of the season.
However, he was surprisingly sacked by the club for failing to make the playoffs. He wouldn’t be out of a job for long as he was quickly hired for the top job at Strasbourg, who are owned by BlueCo, which also owns Chelsea.
While there, Rosenior was credited for his work with young players as BlueCo used Strasbourg as a feeder club for Chelsea’s young players. They finished 7th in Ligue 1, the club’s best season in over 40 years.
He left Strasbourg in 7th just this season as he moved back to England, signing a six-and-a-half-year deal with Chelsea to replace Enzo Maresca, who himself was controversially sacked after falling out with the board.
And things started out brightly for the 41-year-old Rosenior, as he won 7 out of his first 9 games in charge, only losing to the at the time table toppers Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
However, after losing once again to Arsenal in the league in March, the Blues would go on a horrid run, losing 7 of their next 10, including going five games without scoring in the league.
The 3-0 loss to Brighton on Tuesday night was the final straw for BlueCo, and Rosenior became Chelsea’s fifth managerial sacking since BlueCo took over in 2022. Managers never seem to last long at Stamford Bridge, and Rosenior is now the latest name to be added to that long list.
