When Liam Rosenior was unceremoniously sacked by Hull in May 2024, there was a good chance Liam Rosenior would become Chelsea’s head coach within two years.
But just as Strasbourg has become a feeder club for Bruco to develop players before moving them to Chelsea, it appears they have decided to do the same for management with Rosenior being the frontrunner to replace Enzo Maresca.
A club realistically aspiring to return to a Premier League or Champions League title challenge may not make such a move, but this is the model Chelsea are looking to adopt. Maresca’s final squad was the youngest to be named by any Premier League team over the course of the season, and his potential successor will now become the third-youngest manager in the division.
That doesn’t mean Rosenior will be joining without experience. He has managed over 150 games and previously spent three years as a coach. It’s more than enough to dig into his management style and playing philosophy.
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Manager Clinton Morrison has paid tribute to Strasbourg head coach Liam Rosenior and believes he could be a good asset for Chelsea.
It was also more than enough time for Hull’s owner Akun Ilikari to decide that his style of play was not a good fit for the club when he sacked him despite leading the club to seventh place in the Championship.
Immediately after his sacking, Illikari told BBC Sport: “Liam is a very good coach and will be a huge success. He’s young and a very good person who is loved by the team.” “His football philosophy is very good and could be successful, but I didn’t think it suited our future personality.”
At Strasbourg, his style of controlling and passing the ball has evolved to incorporate higher pressing off the ball, making him the sixth best in Ligue 1 this season, and Maresca’s philosophy won’t need to be drastically uprooted if he takes to the training pitch next week.
Rosenior (left) played against Maresca (right) in the Championship match between Hull and Leicester.
While this may disappoint some Chelsea fans, the problem with Maresca is not the hierarchy, which has little to do with his style of play.
There is a method to why they appointed Rosenior beyond convenience. There are many unanswered questions about Rosenior’s ability at the top level, but those bringing him in know that they will be appointing someone who can and already does fit more willingly into the structure of the organization than his predecessor.
Maresca’s reign came crashing down as he clashed with the medical team over the signing of experienced big players, but Rosenior’s debut in the Strasbourg dugout made him the first all-French, all-U23 outfield in Ligue 1 history. For reference, Chelsea’s average age against Bournemouth was just 23 years and 157 days old. This season he led the club to their second top seven finish. Since 1981.
Liam Rosenior’s achievements as Strasbourg manager
Last season’s fifth-highest spend in Ligue 1 and three loans from Chelsea helped, but in his first season as a manager in top-flight football, Rosenior faced and met heightened expectations.
He has long been regarded as a natural manager and, despite half-serious, half-joking suggestions from Derby fans, he was the ‘brains’ of the operation during his 18-month spell as Wayne Rooney’s assistant at Pride Park, the closest he had come to the top job at that point.
“If it wasn’t for that experience with Wayne, I don’t think I would be the manager I am today,” he recently told The Athletic, but judging by the trajectory of their careers since then, one certainly benefited more than the other.
It remains surprising that less than six months later, Rosenior is about to be appointed manager of a club that won the Club World Cup, given that the pair parted ways just three-and-a-half years ago following Derby’s relegation from League One.
But Rosenior has established a reputation for being not only motivating, but also smart and insightful.
He may admit it came sooner than he expected, but he knew once he joined BlueCo that this opportunity could eventually come his way.
