Chelsea sacked Liam Rosenior on Wednesday 22 April. He lasted 107 days. He leaves after one win in the last eight league games, five consecutive matches without scoring, and the club sitting sixth with five games left to save their top-five finish.
The last result was a 3-0 loss at Brighton — Chelsea's worst scoring run in the league since 1912, according to Sky Sports. Calum McFarlane takes over as interim until the end of the season and will be in the dugout for the FA Cup semi-final against Leeds at Wembley.
Five managers in four years
This is Chelsea's fifth managerial sacking since the current owners took over in 2022. Graham Potter, Frank Lampard, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca, now Rosenior. The pattern is consistent enough at this point that it barely needs describing. A manager arrives, gets some backing, results turn, and the clock runs out faster than anyone expected.
Gary Neville said on Sky Sports that the owners do not have a clue and that Chelsea fans will be disgusted. That is a strong thing to say on air. It landed because a lot of people were already thinking it.
What went wrong
Rosenior got the job in January after Maresca was dismissed. The task was simple: stabilise, win some games, get Chelsea into the top five. For a while it looked possible. They were close to fifth and the squad had enough quality on paper. Then they stopped scoring entirely and nothing Rosenior tried could fix it in time.
The underlying problem at Chelsea is not really about the manager. The squad has over 35 contracted players. Decisions about who to buy, sell, and play have been chaotic throughout this ownership period. Rosenior inherited that situation. Whether any manager could have turned it around in 107 days is a fair question.
Who is next?
Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth is being widely reported as the early frontrunner for the summer appointment. He has done well with limited resources at Bournemouth and earned genuine respect around the league. Whether he would want the Chelsea job, given what happened to the last five people who took it, is a question only he can answer.
In the short term, McFarlane needs to somehow drag Chelsea back into the top five. Liverpool are seven points clear in fifth with five games left. It is possible. It would require results Chelsea have been completely unable to produce lately.
The pattern that needs addressing
The same conversation keeps happening at Stamford Bridge. A manager leaves, a new one arrives, the cycle restarts. The common thread in all five departures is not the managers — it is whoever is making the decisions above them. Until that changes, the sixth appointment will probably end the same way.
Club context: Chelsea FC, Premier League, 6th place | Liam Rosenior appointed: January 2026 | Sacked: April 22, 2026 | Duration: 107 days | Record as Chelsea manager: P14 W4 D2 L8 | Goals scored in last 5 league games: 0 | Interim replacement: Calum McFarlane | Next match: FA Cup semi-final vs Leeds, Wembley | Leading managerial candidate (reported): Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth). Source: Sky Sports, Goal.com.
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