Hapless Chelsea owners have built a monument to chaos and declinepublished at 10:39 BST
Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer
Liam Rosenior actually deserves a measure of sympathy after what has been a harrowing few months before being put out of his misery.
The end result is another BlueCo-created crisis that has resulted in a revolving door of managers, a toxic relationship between the owners and Chelsea’s fanbase, as well as the biggest pre-tax losses in Premier League history, announced as £262m at the start of April.
When the group took control of Chelsea in a £4.25bn deal in succession to Roman Abramovich in May 2022, Chelsea had just finished third in the Premier League under current England head coach Thomas Tuchel and had not been outside the top five in seven years. They had won the Champions League one year previously.
Now, they face a fight to secure any kind of European football next season, with the heavy financial hit that would bring.
Calum McFarlane returns in the role of safety net between now and the end of the season, the former Under-21 coach having bridged the gap between Maresca and Rosenior earlier this season.
He must navigate an FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United at Wembley on Sunday before trying to make sure Chelsea at least earn a place in Europe.
And then, after that period of “self-reflection”, Chelsea will start work – in their words – “to bring stability to the head coach position.”
