Why Chelsea had to sack Liam Rosenior and the true scale of the mess left behind

It’s the sort of story that always comes out when a manager goes, but actually tends to indicate doom long before then. Even weeks before Liam Rosenior left Chelsea - a decision eventually confirmed on Wednesday evening - some players couldn’t help indulging in some of the unfair commentary. Sources say some comments surrounded Liam Rosenoir’s decision not to wear his glasses at the training ground.

One or two even joked about whether it was to look tougher. This fed into a huge reason why the 41-year-old has now gone, and why Chelsea now face up to an FA Cup semi-final with Calum McFarlane again a stand-in. Rosenior never had full authority over that dressing room, in a development that was all too predictable.

A promising young coach just wasn’t ready for this job, at this time, as anyone could have told the hierarchy. Even the considerable number of players who were sympathetic to Rosenior sensed a change in him around the same time. They felt he wasn’t as sure of himself as in January, that he became too forced, even with the tactical insights that he does display a talent for.

The increasing penchant for “manager speak” became worse. It didn’t help that some insiders were openly talking about how his instructions weren’t being followed, and that people were joking about the "LinkedIn" language. “Marking assignments” has probably entered the football vernacular for the wrong reasons Chelsea sources have been keen to insist that this decision wasn’t down to any rupture in relationships, and it is true that he had the backing of many people at the club.