Liam Rosenior is a little-known English coach who looks certain to be thrust into a fierce spotlight as Chelsea’s new manager.
If Rosenior becomes the latest coach on the Chelsea carousel to replace the departed Enzo Maresca, he will have benefited from the Blues’ owners’ multi-club model to earn promotion from Ligue 1’s Strasbourg to the upper echelons of the Premier League.
And while he may never have coached in the Premier League, he comes with a glowing reference from former Manchester United and England great Wayne Rooney. After a short spell in charge of Brighton’s under-23s, Rosenior, 41, began his senior coaching career in 2019 at Derby County, first under Philiip Cocu and then as assistant to Rooney.
“He’s taken chances, and hopefully that pays off because I think Liam is as good a coach as I’ve ever worked with,” Rooney said on his BBC podcast.
“He was incredible in his coaching ability,” added Rooney, highlighting Rosenior’s attention to detail.
Rosenior briefly replaced Rooney on an interim basis in 2022 and later that year took over as manager of Hull City in the Championship. After just over 18 months in charge, he was sacked and in July 2024 was appointed by Strasbourg, the French club who are owned by Chelsea’s parent company BlueCo, That link appears to be the main reason the west Londoners are considering Rosenior, given his relative dearth of top-flight experience. Strasbourg are currently seventh in Ligue 1.
But according to Rooney, “he’s done his apprenticeship... so he’ll have no doubts in his mind that he’s capable of doing that job.”
He would become only the fourth English manager in the current Premier League. In an interview with AFP last year, Rosenior spelled out his coaching philosophy.
“For me, regardless of style of play, tactics, systems, how fit your team is, I think football is played by people,” he said. “People have emotions and are complex. They have good days and bad. My job is actually to get the best out of people.”
