Chelsea showed Enzo Maresca the exit door this week, less than six months after the Italian manager had guided them to Club World Cup glory with a 3-0 win over PSG in the final. The decision leaves the Blues in an unstable situation once again. That is pretty much becoming the norm under this new ownership group, and a lot of supporters' patience is now starting to run out.
Yes, there had been plenty of managerial changes during the Roman Abramovich era as well. There had been historic success to justify those methods though.
There has been little success for Chelsea under this Clearlake-Boehly ownership. But they seem to operate the club as if their structure, which has failed so far, is the be-all and end-all.
Liam Rosenior is being viewed as the favourite to replace Maresca as manager of the club. He is already the Strasbourg manager, and knows what it takes to work in this BlueCo model. And for a Chelsea ownership that seems to be taking their confusing methods more seriously than success, that might be the most important thing. Naturally, most fans thought it was a foregone conclusion that he would get the job. Surprisingly, the situation is not as advanced as we first thought, though.
Liam Rosenior to Chelsea saga takes last-minute twist
Rosenior has himself confirmed that he has not discussed anything yet. As reported by The Athletic, he said:
"Things aren’t concrete, there may be interest, we’ll see. And at the end of the day, I want to focus on Strasbourg and not other things at the moment.
“I haven’t discussed anything at this point. I know that they’re (Chelsea) looking for a manager.
“Obviously, it’s our sister club. Other than that, I really want to focus on this club, because this club has given me so much, so many good memories, so many good times, the players, the fans, it’s a great city. Like I said before, if something happens, it happens. At the moment, nothing has happened, and that’s all I can say on the matter."
Of course, it might not take long for things to accelerate once this gameweek is done. The fact that Rosenior has not ruled out the possibility is a clear indication that he might be open to the prospect.
It might end up derailing Strasbourg's season. But it looks like BlueCo might not be too concerned about that, if some reports coming out in the French media are correct. It is not hard to understand why their fans are also unhappy with the ownership despite the positive results.
On the other hand, it is also possible that Rosenior is just one of the candidates on Chelsea's radar. If so, it is curious that no other names have come out in the media so far.