Former Brighton and Hove Albion defender Liam Rosenior has taken charge of Chelsea, the club’s owners said today (Tuesday 6 January)
Rosenior, 41, spent three years at the Amex from 2015. He was a member of the promotion-winning squad and featured three times in his final season, 2017-18, with Albion back in the top flight.
The London club have given Rosenior a six-year contract, until 2032, although the last manager to last that long left the club more than 50 years ago in October 1974.
Rosenior announced his move this morning at a farewell press conference at Ligue 1 club Strasbourg, saying that he had “agreed verbally” to replace Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge.
The deal was rubber-stamped soon after – and he returns to English football following previous spells in charge at Derby County and Hull City.
Rosenior said: “I am extremely humbled and honoured to be appointed head coach of Chelsea Football Club. This is a club with a unique spirit and a proud history of winning trophies.
“My job is to protect that identity and create a team that reflects these values in every game we play as we continue winning trophies.
“To be entrusted with this role means the world to me and I want to thank all involved for the opportunity and faith in undertaking this job. I will give everything to bring the success this club deserves.”
Rosenior becomes Chelsea’s fourth permanent boss since owner BlueCo took control of the club in 2022. Maresca was sacked on New Year’s Day.
The next day Rosenior was landed with a four-figure bill for speeding last summer, having missed a speed awareness course last month.
At Derby Magistrates’ Court, he was given three penalty points on his driving licence and ordered to pay a £666 fine, £120 in costs and a £266 victim surcharge, making £1,052 in all.
Rosenior is not the first former Seagull to take the helm at Chelsea, with the Blues poaching Graham Potter in September 2022. He was sacked after seven months in the following April.
Liam Rosenior – Picture by Steve Walsh / PA
After another seven-month spell as a club manager – at West Ham United last year – Potter is now head coach of the Sweden national team.
He was followed briefly by Bruno Saltor. The former Albion defender took charge for just four days – and one match – in April 2023
The first manager to guide Chelsea to a European trophy, Dave Sexton, played for Brighton in the 1957-58 promotion-winning season.
He was an inside forward at the Goldstone when the club went up from the Third Division South to Division Two – now branded the Championship.
In a seven-year stint, Sexton led the Blues when they won the FA Cup in 1970 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1971.
He was sacked in October 1974 after a poor start to the campaign. Chelsea were relegated from the top flight at the end of the season.
Sexton died in 2012 at the age of 82.