REVEALED: LIAM ROSENIOR’S "DUCKING" STRATEGY WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE STAMFORD BRIDGE ROLE
Liam Rosenior breaks his silence on the vacant Chelsea manager job. Read why the Strasbourg boss won't commit to his future in France.
With rumors flying about Liam Rosenior potentially replacing Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge, he has finally spoken up about the now open Chelsea job. The club said on Thursday that Maresca was leaving, just two days after their 2-2 draw with AFC Bournemouth.
Maresca got the team into the Club World Cup and Conference League during his first season, and he also got them back into the Champions League. Rosenior is now a possible replacement for the Italian, thanks to his good work at Strasbourg, which is also owned by BlueCo.
Sources say that the 41-year-old has impressed the people in charge at Chelsea during his time in France. Last season, the former Hull City coach guided Strasbourg to the Conference League with a team of good young players.
Rosenior has often led his team to big wins against Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, and Marseille. It's not clear yet if he will be named as Maresca's permanent successor.
On Friday, Rosenior spoke to the media in France before Strasbourg's Ligue 1 game against OGC Nice. The 41-year-old avoided questions about a move to London, saying, I'm going to talk about Nice because that's what I'm here to do.
He added, There's a lot of talk, a lot of guesses, but if a coach pays attention to that, they won't succeed. My job is here, and I like this club.
No, I haven't talked to the players about it. There's no need; they're connected, and I've made a few jokes. But we've been focused on our work. The goal is to keep doing great things here.
In life, nothing is certain. You never know what will happen tomorrow. I'm just doing my job. There's been talk already. I don't want to promise how long I'll be here, but I enjoy being here every day. I plan to keep doing that while I'm here. I love this club, but I can't promise anything. No one can.
Rosenior also said, I want to do my job here; it's that simple. Right now, I'm the manager of Strasbourg, and I'm focused on my job.
"We talk because we're part of the same group," he admitted. I'm being honest; you can't control everything in life. I could say I'm going to stay here for years and then get fired.
However, if he gets the job, Rosenior has shared his thoughts on Chelsea's past way of treating managers and what it takes to do well at the club, according to Football London.
In 2019, Rosenior appeared on Sky Sports' 'The Debate' and made it clear what he would need to take over a club like Chelsea. He said that managers need time to make their vision happen and that constantly firing them doesn't help.
We talk about Antonio Conte's frustration with transfers and getting the players he wants to play the way he wants, he said.
He was very open about his frustration at the time. Now you bring in another manager [Maurizio Sarri] with a completely different style. Are you going to support him? Or will it be another case of, 'It's not working; let's get the next manager'?
Another manager comes in and wants this player and that player. It's not going to work that way. There will be a time when you have to go through some tough times to achieve success in the long run.
It's very difficult. The Chelsea board needs to decide, 'Is this the guy we're going to support for the long term?' Supporting the board isn't just about the transfer budget.
The club's history shows that if things go wrong and not as we want, we change the manager. That puts pressure on Sarri. For me, there comes a point where you say, 'That's our manager for the next two years, and we hired him to build something.'
Right now, Chelsea are behind Manchester City and Liverpool. So what do you expect them to do?
He said this while Roman Abramovich owned the club. The Russian sold the team to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in May 2022 for a huge £4.25 billion, but the quick changes in managers have continued.
Thomas Tuchel was in charge when the takeover happened, but he was fired early in the 2022/23 season. Graham Potter's time lasted less than seven months before Frank Lampard filled in temporarily.
Mauricio Pochettino was in charge at Chelsea for only one season, and Maresca's one-and-a-half-year stay is the longest under the current owners. The Italian was hired after just one season at Leicester City.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.