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Liam Rosenior has been fired as Chelsea manager after a desperate run of five Premier League defeats without scoring a goal.
Chelsea confirmed his departure on Wednesday, less than four months after taking office and just four days before playing an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Deputy Calum McFarlane will act as interim manager until the end of the season.
“This has not been a decision the club has taken lightly, but recent results and performances have fallen below the necessary standards and there is still much to play for this season,” Chelsea said in a statement.
The team that won last year’s Club World Cup now faces missing out on next season’s Champions League. It would mean a huge financial hit for a club that has spent billions of dollars under American owners Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly.
This five-game losing streak is the worst since 1912 – the same year the Titanic sank.
Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton was the final straw for Rosenior, an inexperienced coach at the top level who was hired by Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg in January. This is the club’s seventh defeat in eight matches in all competitions.
Chelsea have won one of their last nine league games, are seventh in the table and seven points behind the top five, all qualified for the Champions League.
Rosenior, 41, turned on his players after the Brighton game, saying the performance was “indefensible” and “something needs to change dramatically”.
The club’s hierarchy clearly agreed, although Rosenior had “always behaved with the utmost integrity and professionalism”.
Rosenior replaced Club World Cup-winning coach Enzo Maresca in January and managed just 23 matches.
They started impressively with a run of six wins in seven games, but things have quickly gone downhill in recent weeks, including elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
His tenure ended despite Chelsea preparing for their FA Cup semi-final against Leeds on Sunday.
Rosenior becomes the fifth permanent manager to lose his job since Clearlake and Boehly bought one of English football’s most successful clubs in 2022. A sixth is now being sought to try to bring lasting success.
“As the club works to bring stability to the head coaching position, we will undertake a process of self-reflection to make the right appointment for the long term,” Chelsea said.
Rosenior’s departure comes after fans of the two-time Champions League winner and six-time English champion began protesting against the American owners.
Although there were trophies, the Club World Cup and the Europa Conference League last season, this could be the third campaign in four in which they have failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Under former owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea were one of the most dominant teams in Europe, winning numerous trophies, including two Champions Leagues and five Premier League titles.
He last won the Champions League in 2021, the year before Abramovich was forced to sell the club after being sanctioned by the British government following Russia’s war with Ukraine.
