Liam Rosenior has described his 107-day spell as Chelsea head coach as “the best and hardest experience of my life” and hit back at how he was portrayed “in a country where tolerance is an important value”.
Rosenior was appointed as Chelsea's permanent replacement for Enzo Maresca in January after an impressive spell in charge of BlueCo sister club Strasbourg. He lasted only four months and was sacked in April after Chelsea lost five consecutive league games without scoring for the first time since 1912.
Media scrutiny and a 'snowball effect'
During his time at the helm, Rosenior faced criticism from pundits, columnists and on social media for his approach. Chelsea fans were initially split on his appointment, and support dwindled as results worsened.
Speaking to French outlet So Foot, Rosenior addressed his time at Stamford Bridge at length for the first time since his sacking, having returned to France and begun thriving in a new role at high-flying Paris FC. “It was the best experience of my life, and the hardest too,” he said, per Sport Witness. “It was fantastic, even though it only lasted four months.”
He added: “I don't want to go into details now; I'll talk about it one day, when the time is right. But in a country where tolerance is an important value, what happened there has nothing to do with football.”
Garnacho note and public perception
Rosenior said the moment that worried him most came at the beginning of his tenure, during a five-game winning streak. “Any club would have been happy with such a run, but not Chelsea,” he said. “You get good results and you're in the spotlight. Then, there was a kind of snowball effect in the media.”
He referenced specific incidents that drew mockery, including instructions he gave to Alejandro Garnacho on a scrap of paper when Chelsea were down to 10 men against PSG. “The clothes I wore became a joke, the way I spoke too. I'm not a joke,” he said. “You're the first people I'm talking to about this, and probably the last for a long time, but one day, I'll tell you what really happened.”
Lesson for coaches worldwide
Rosenior also spoke about preconceptions around Premier League coaches. “In England, there is this preconceived notion of what a Premier League coach should be, how he should behave. You have to conform to that standard. People who know me know that I'm someone who tries to be sincere and authentic,” he said.
He concluded that the biggest lesson from his time at Chelsea was understanding the influence of media and social media. “What I've understood now, and this is important for all coaches worldwide, is that social media, or the media in general, can dictate public opinion about the quality of a player or a coach,” he said. “This isn't new, of course, but the biggest lesson from my time at Chelsea is knowing that they are also capable of constructing the entire narrative around a club's trajectory.”
