Chelsea take on Hull in the FA Cup tomorrow night, making a perfect chance to look back at Liam Rosenior’s time as the Tigers’ manager.
Nizaar Kinsella had a great chat with the club’s former vice chairman, who had appointed Rosenior:
“I remember telling [Hull owner] Acun Ilicali: we’re speaking to top international coaches, but this young coach has something special,” Kesler said.
“Acun comes from the entertainment world – he owns rights to reality shows like The Voice and Survivor. I told him Liam could be someone we bring into the limelight by giving him an opportunity.
“Liam spoke very well and we hoped he could apply his ideas. Finally, I asked him in our first meeting over coffee where he saw himself in five years.
“Knowing Championship coaches have short lifespans, I wanted to see if he was pragmatic or really ambitious. He said: ‘I see myself coaching in the Champions League’. We took a risk – a calculated risk, not a crazy one.”
That certainly matches the ambition we’ve seen from Rosenior since.
Rosenior’s trick for communicating with young players
Liam Rosenior in training with Moises Caicedo.
Liam Rosenior in training with Moises Caicedo. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)
What we really liked was the message from Acun about exactly how and why Rosenior was so good at connecting with young players.
“Liam focuses on communication and delivers what he needs to say in a very short period. That’s key for young players with short attention spans.”
That is some real insight, and we can see it working already at Chelsea.
In other news…
Liam Delap’s summer move to Chelsea has been criticised by Jamie Carragher, who said that it had been a mistake for the striker to go somewhere where it was always going to be very difficult to play regular minutes.
Bart Verbruggen is being heavily linked with a massive money move to Chelsea this summer, but for a number of reasons we simply can’t see it happening.
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Alan Shearer doing punditry for Amazon Prime.
Liam Rosenior in his press conference.
Mamadou Sarr in Chelsea training.