‘Judge what you see, not what you hear,’ Rosenior tells Chelsea fans
Liam Rosenior has urged Chelsea fans to judge him by what they see and not what they have read.
The 41-year-old was appointed as head coach this week after an impressive 18-month spell with Strasbourg just two years after being sacked by Hull City – his only experience of managing in English football.
The former Fulham defender admits the only way to quell reservations from supporters about his appointment is to hit the ground running and win games quickly.
Rosenior is the fourth permanent appointment made by the Clearwater Capital Group since they took over the club in 2022, after the club lost patience with Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Maresca.
Frustrations ran high at the Chelsea owners in the away end at Craven Cottage following Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat by Fulham, and although Rosenior understands there will be question marks about his inexperience, he insists he’ll prove the doubters wrong.
Rosenior said: “Everybody starts somewhere. There’s a great quote from Jose Mourinho, who said it took him 20 years to become an overnight success.
“It’s the same for anyone. You’re not a name until you become a name. I’m in a fantastically privileged position that I’m going to do my very best to take advantage of.
“Being a head coach, you talk about football systems and tactics. That’s 10% of the job. The job is to create spirit, energy and culture.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re called a head coach, manager or anything else. The job is the same. My job is to have a team that runs, fights for each other, that plays with spirit and quality. That’s what I’m going to focus on.
“Judge what you see. Don’t judge what you hear. Judge what you see on the pitch. Don’t judge my press conferences. I don’t win any games here. Judge what you see on the pitch.
“Give myself, my staff and my players the chance to prove we are worthy. Judge us and be fair.
“If the performances aren’t good enough, I’ll be the first one to say it’s not good enough. I will hold my hands up. I’m the most accountable person to our performances.”
Chelsea currently have the youngest squad in the Premier League, just like Rosenior’s Strasbourg side were in Ligue 1, and the new Blues boss said his experiences of silencing the doubters in France will hold him in good stead in his new role.
He said: “When I went in at Strasbourg, I was a joke in the media. They said that my team would finish last and I was a nobody from England. We finished three points outside the Champions League.
“The outside noise is just noise. If you focus on the job, you focus on your players and your staff and your process, I feel like you can do amazing things.
“I’m not promising it. I’m working towards it, but I believe very strongly that we can be successful here.
“I was a Manchester United fan as a kid and I am now massively a Chelsea fan, but I remember Sir Alex Ferguson was brave enough to put six, seven players between the ages of 19 and 21 in his team, in a title-winning team, because he believed in them.
“What they did is they grew and they won trophy after trophy after trophy. It was an amazing period in that club’s history. Without that bravery, that does not happen. There is potential for that here.
“I’m not trying to say I’m going to deliver that and it will definitely happen. But I will not limit the ambition of the club.
“I’ve shown at Strasbourg, I can work with young players, I can improve them and win games at the same time. There is no reason why I can’t do that here.”
