*Name McFarlane Interim Manager
REACTIONS trail the sacking of Liam Rosenior as Chelsea’s head coach, on Wednesday, April 22, less than four months on the job and on the back of losing five consecutive Premier League matches without scoring for the first time since 1912.
Rosenior had managed Hull City and French side, Strasbourg, before being appointed by Chelsea.
He arrived at Stamford Bridge in January this year, signing a five-and-a-half-year deal, but has won just 11 of his 23 games across all competitions.
After Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton, Rosenior said the performance was “indefensible” and “unacceptable” as he faced angry chants from the travelling supporters.
The club subsequently slipped to seventh in the Premier League standings in a further blow to their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
“Liam has always conducted himself with the highest integrity and professionalism following his appointment midway through the season,” Chelsea said.
“This has not been a decision the club has taken lightly. However, recent results and performances have fallen below the necessary standards, with still so much more to play for this season.”
Sources told BBC Sport that Bournemouth manager, Andoni Iraola, Fulham head coach, Marco Silva, and former Dortmund boss, Edin Terzic, are under consideration as possible replacements for Rosenior.
Iraola, 43, announced last week that he will leave Bournemouth at the end of the season, while Silva’s contract at rivals Fulham is due to expire in July. Terzic, meanwhile, was under consideration by Tottenham to replace Thomas Frank when the Dane was sacked earlier this season.
Calum McFarlane will take over as interim manager until the season of the season.
McFarlane, who was Rosenior’s assistant, was in charge for a 1-1 draw against Manchester City and a defeat at Fulham in January after previous boss, Enzo Maresca, was sacked.
“As the club works to bring stability to the head coach position, we will undertake a process of self-reflection to make the right long-term appointment,” Chelsea added.
Rosenior won five of his 13 games in the Premier League and led the Blues to four victories in the FA Cup, all against lower-league opposition, to reach the semi-finals.
His 23 matches in charge of Chelsea featured an instant impact followed by sharp decline.
When the 41-year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge, the club was on a four-game winless run in the Premier League, having picked up just three points from a possible 12.
Previous boss, Enzo Maresca, left his role on New Year’s Day and while the managerless Blues kicked off 2026 with a 1-1 draw at Manchester City, led by under-21s coach, Calum Macfarlane, the club’s owners moved quickly to bring in Rosenior.
The former Hull City manager made the switch after a successful 63 games in charge of Ligue 1 side, Strasbourg, which is part of the same Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital-owned BlueCo multi-club ownership group that controls Chelsea.
He led Chelsea to eight wins and two draws in his opening 12 matches, with Rosenior’s only defeats coming in both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal.
But another defeat to the Gunners at the start of March, this time in the Premier League, sparked a dramatic downturn in form.
Chelsea went on to win just two of Rosenior’s final 11 games in charge, culminating in a fifth consecutive league defeat without scoring at Brighton, which proved to be the Englishman’s last act as Blues boss.
Chelsea fans turned on Rosenior at Amex Stadium, while the head coach publicly criticised his players after the loss.
He said his his team’s performance in the defeat by Brighton – a fifth successive league loss without scoring, which is their worst run for 114 years – was both “indefensible” and “unacceptable.”
Chelsea are seventh in the Premier League, five points adrift of a top-five spot and Champions League qualification, with four matches remaining.
They face Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday.
McFarlane’s first game in charge comes on Sunday, April 26, when Chelsea face Leeds at Wembley for a place in the FA Cup final.
In their reactions, Geoff, from South Africa, said: “The people making these appointments need to be held accountable too, it’s just become a joke,” while Matthew, from Wrexham, added: “The Chelsea powers that be need to sack themselves. At least give the manager you picked a decent chance! Embarrassing behaviour from them.”
“It’s the sporting directors that should be sacked. Poor recruitment of players and managers, paid too much for injury prone, average players,”noted Peter, from London, and Nizaar Kinsella added: “Chelsea job has ‘eaten Rosenior up.
“I don’t think this is a surprise, especially for those of us who watched the damaging 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Tuesday. It was one way traffic for the south coast team.
“[His appointment] felt like a sensible decision, but you could have said, ‘he might know the system inside Chelsea, but he’d only managed Strasbroug, Hull City and Derby County.’ Did he have the experience to handle a club like Chelsea?
“I think the owners would have thought he could learn it on the job and develop, but it has eaten him up. Ultimately, it shows you might need a bit of gravitas to manage a club at the top of English football.”
“Everybody knew Rosenior wasn’t going to work out, everybody aside from the Chelsea top dogs,” stated Eddy, in Southamptom.
“Whomever appointed him should go as well. It was obvious from day one that he was in over his head,” noted Alex, in Suffolk.
“Probably the worst managerial appointment ever. Way, way, way out of his depth,” said Adam, from Tunbridge Wells.
