Liam Rosenior has been sacked and honestly it is something Chelsea should have done a long time ago. Losing 3-0 to Brighton was the final nail in the coffin but the writing has been on the wall for weeks.
Chelsea are a huge club. One of the biggest in the world. And since the new ownership came in people genuinely thought they would bring stability, consistency, a proper plan. Instead what we have got is chaos. Constant change. No direction. And they are rapidly becoming the new Tottenham. I said it.
Now we still do not know the full story with Maresca. Did they sack him or did he walk because he was fed up of the ownership meddling, telling him who to play, who not to play, not giving him the freedom he needed, not even the players he actually wanted. Whatever happened there it set the tone for everything that followed.
And then they went and got Liam Rosenior. A manager nobody outside of Championship circles had really heard of. A huge club like Chelsea with the Palmers and the Caicedos of the world in their squad and this is who they go for. They should have gone for De Zerbi. They should have gone for a top manager with presence, with a track record, with an aura that commands respect from elite players. Instead they went for Rosenior.
At least Chelsea will not be paying through the nose for this mistake. Fabrizio Romano confirmed there was a break clause in the contract Rosenior signed in January, reporting that "Chelsea are not going to pay the full salary for the long term contract" and that "financially for Chelsea it's not going to be as bad as it would have been without this clause." Small mercies. But it does tell you something that they were already building an exit clause into his contract before he had even properly started. Even they were not fully convinced.
And here is the thing about managing elite players. You can be young, you can be inexperienced, and players will still respect you if you have the knowledge and the aura to back it up. Players respect what they see and what they hear. But when you are coming out with things like this, and I am not making this up, "In English, manage, if you split the two words, it's man. Age. You're ageing men." You are not inspiring anyone. You are meme material. The Caicedos of the world are not going to run through a wall for someone saying things like that. You are going to get buried.
He should not have gotten the job in the first place. That is not being harsh, that is just honest.
Chelsea are a sinking ship right now. The talent is there, the money has been spent, the squad on paper should be competing for the top four comfortably. But without stability, without the right manager, without an ownership that trusts someone and lets them do their job, none of that matters. It will not be impossible to turn around but it will be very very difficult.
Whoever comes in next needs full backing, full freedom and a proper plan. Chelsea fans deserve that much at least.