Water under the Bridge. There is life after Chelsea. Frank Lampard shows that.
Liam Rosenior needs to reflect and go again
A year’s compensation, perhaps touching £5m, probably softens the blow for Liam Rosenior but his pride will be wounded, his reputation damaged. To borrow the phrase of the club he leaves behind, it will be a period of “self-reflection”. While Chelsea reflect on their structural and leadership shortcomings, Rosenior should talk to friends and managerial peers about what occurred, how much was his responsibility, and how much was simply the madness of modern Chelsea. Rosenior should also reflect on what he achieved at Derby County, Hull City and Strasbourg, how he was building a promising career before being parachuted into Chelsea by BlueCo. He can rebuild his career – with a little help.
English football has a duty of care to young coaches like Rosenior, more than that shown by some clubs. It would be good if Dan Ashworth, overseeing the FA’s drive to develop England managers of the future, invited Rosenior into St George’s Park, even if simply for a chat and the offer of some guidance. The experienced Ashworth makes a good sounding board.
Whether there’s a role with the England age-groups is another matter, or whether Rosenior even wants that, but it’s important for coaches to know they are not alone. There should be a support network for them. The League Managers Association offers that. Rosenior could pop upstairs to the LMA office while he’s at St George’s Park.
Rosenior is a good TV pundit, and will doubtless have offers to return to the studio, but the English game needs home-grown coaches. In talking to other managers, Rosenior can reflect on obvious elements he needs to work on such as dealing with powerful players. Messaging is also so important in management. Rosenior’s press conferences were a bit too odd at times. Some of the new-age techniques, the huddle and respecting the ball, again created an image of a manager working from a psychology manual. Rosenior is such an interesting character, who has experienced a lot in life, yet much of his time at Chelsea he seemed to have morphed into someone else. He wasn’t himself, and quickly lost the belief of some players.
The 41-year-old can also reflect that the history of Chelsea managers in their monied era is that dismissals lead only to pauses in careers, not ends. Frank Lampard certainly shows that life goes on. It’s water under the Bridge. It’s Chelsea with its powerful players and inexperienced owners. The clock was always ticking.
⚽ ⚽
All managers and situations are different. Lampard has his playing CV, the memory of a bright start at Derby and Chelsea, and plenty of media support to ensure he continued to get interviews. After his initial stint at Chelsea, Lampard was still out of work for a year before stepping in at Everton and keeping them up in 2022. Chelsea again came calling, this time as caretaker for 11 games, eight lost, and he was gone.