The Football Reporters: How Maresca’s Chelsea tenure unravelled

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0:37James Olley:welcome to the football reporters obviously there's never a dull moment with football in 2026 started off with a bang and its first managerial casualty um james you've been reporting on enzo mreska's departure from chelsea just before we start what are the key points and And how has this happened? Happy New Year.

0:55Rob Dawson:Happy New Year to everyone. Nice, quiet start in the world of sports journalism. Yeah, so, look, I mean, obviously this only came to light on the first day of 2026. But in reality, this has been going on for a while. And things have kind of come to a head as a result of the last 20 days or so. So basically, ever since he made that comment, Maresca, publicly, that he had the worst 48 hours of his Chelsea career just before they beat Everton 2-0. And the thing about that whole circumstance was that they'd won a game, it was their first win in five. Here was an opportunity for a kind of easy post-match press conference.

1:38Rob Dawson:Finally, a bit of relief from the scrutiny and the spotlight that had been on the club and on Maresca in particular. And yet he chose right at the end of his press activity, I think literally the final question of the day for him, an innocuous question that was nothing to do with the answer. He decided to sort of say, look, this is the worst 48 hours I've had at the club and I feel a lack of support from people around me. ever since that comment things have escalated behind the scenes and I think from what I'm told the ownership and and the sporting directors have tried to salvage the relationship have tried to sort of discuss with Maresca a way forward and both parties have come to the conclusion that actually it would be better if they parted company and they moved on now there's varying conflicting briefings going on at the moment about whether Mareska walked or whether he was sacked that all comes down to compensation legally if he walked away then obviously he's not entitled to any kind of payoff that's for the lawyers to to decipher and work out and we've seen this with Chelsea in the past actually they've had managers where these cases have rumbled on for months and months before there's been some sort of conclusion so not necessarily expecting that to happen quickly but essentially what's happened is the working relationship between Maresca and the ownership has broken down and it's all stemmed from there.

3:07James Olley:Well Mark I mean it's obviously unravelled very very quickly I mean you're talking about sort of six months since Chelsea were crowned world champions in the US are you surprised at all that this has happened and the timing of it?

3:19Mark Ogden:I'm not surprised no I mean I think when Maresca got the job in the first place he was he's kind of lucky to get it I mean he had a year at Leicester where he got promotion from the the championship and prior to that he had six months at Parma in Serie B so he was very lucky to get the job in terms of his experience and his credentials so I guess the appointment was made on the basis that this guy is getting ahead of time he might feel kind of grateful fortunate to get the role but when managers win things they tend to become emboldened by the fact they've won something so they either think they can kick on or they think they've got more power by doing so so he did well last season when he got in the Champions League won the Conference League won the Club World Cup but I think he probably misjudged the role at Chelsea in the sense that that he felt that it gave him more power to call for different sorts of players, different recruitment.

4:02Mark Ogden:I think he was probably right in that. They do probably need more experience in the squad, but he overplayed his hand. And once you do that by coming out and saying the things he said, as James was saying there about, you know, the worst 48 hours of my life and the strange briefing or the strange kind of emanation of his link from Man City, you're just playing with fire. You know, this isn't the Roma Abramovich, Chelsea, but it's not far off in the sense that you're working with billionaire owners who don't mess around. And I think he just, a bit off more than the consumer. I think from the moment he said that about the worst 48 hours of his career, it was a matter of time.

4:36So, you know, I'm not surprised.

4:38Mark Ogden:These things happen in football, as we know.

4:40James Olley:James, I mean, where do you think, just two questions then. Firstly, where does this leave Chelsea and the structure that they have put in place? Because obviously there's going to be lots of questions about the structure and how Maresca fit into that. And also, where does it leave Maresca? Is his stock high enough to go and get a top job somewhere else? Or is his reputation going to be damaged by this as well?

5:01Rob Dawson:Well, on Chelsea, they won't change anything. They think they have a model that is comparable to Liverpool, is the one that I've sort of heard behind the scenes. They feel as though a kind of support network around a head coach that leaves them impervious to sort of short-term buffeting by bad results or by a managerial, say, a bad managerial appointment that sort of makes them lurch from one style to another, as we've sort of seen with, I guess, Manchester United would be the most obvious example since Sir Alex Ferguson left. So they have a, it's quite an unusual model, though, although they do say they model it a little bit on Liverpool.

5:39Rob Dawson:They have five sporting directors. I mean, it's a lot, right? And they have a technical team around the manager who gives feedback after every game to the head coach. And the other element of this is the medical department is completely independent. It's run separately from everyone else. And when they give advice about players and how they come back from injury or their player load and the amount of minutes that they feel they can cope with, the head coach is told you have to take that advice as gospel. and from what I've been told, Maresca, well, not ignored the advice, but Maresca essentially decided to play players beyond the recommended time from the medical team.

6:29Rob Dawson:Now, that's obviously quite a strong accusation because if you take that to its sort of extreme, you're suggesting that he's jeopardising player welfare and that's something that on the Maresca side has been rejected. But it all kind of leads back to this central point, which is the head coach is merely a cog in a wheel and they feel that they have a structure that will get them to the top of the game and ensure they have stability and consistency and these guys aren't going anywhere these sporting directors are on long-term contracts the two at the top uh Paul Wynn Stanley and Laurence Stewart they're contracted till 2031 you know these are these are long-term appointments just like the players so this structure isn't going to change the question they do have to ask themselves though is Enzo Maresca, as Mark was saying, Enzo Maresca has become frustrated with this.

7:14Rob Dawson:He felt he'd earned the right to have more of a say, more of an input, more of a control over the day-to-day running of the club and transfers and recruitment and all of that. But he became frustrated that that didn't happen and he's left. Mauricio Pochettino, a more experienced manager, was very frustrated with the situation and he left after one season. Thomas Tuchel was the manager they inherited. he became very frustrated with the situation and the circumstances he found himself in and he left and you do have to wonder whether this pattern of managers whether they're established or they gain success in the role and then want more not getting what they want is that are they going to find a manager who is young enough and inexperienced enough to accept that he needs help around him And then when he gets better, still accept that he's merely a cog in the wheel.

8:06Now, it's possible they'll find that, but it doesn't narrow the field quite a lot,

8:11Rob Dawson:which is why I think they're looking at Liam Rossini, because, of course, he's already working for a club in the Blue Co. Banner, he's already working for Strasbourg. He knows how they work, how they operate, what they want from their managers. So I think Chelsea, if anything, are going to double down on the model they've got and not change it because of Maresca. I think from Maresca's side, I think it's difficult, you see. When managers come out of Chelsea, this Chelsea, and even Abramovich's Chelsea actually, there was always, I think, an element of because of the hire and fire nature of that club, how ruthless it was, how no manager really ever lasted beyond two or three years, there was always an element that the reputation, while damaged because you lost your job, was largely actually intact because Chelsea is such a unique case.

8:59Rob Dawson:And I do think there's an element of that here. The speed with which it appears to have unravelled and the reasons behind it, you know, there are a lot of head coaches who would not want to go into that environment at Chelsea. They wouldn't want those constraints. It's why they're not looking for, and I'm not saying any of these managers will take this job, but it's why they're not looking for a Zidane or a Jurgen Klopp or a really big name who's established. They're looking for a younger manager that they can mould. So, Vareska probably feels like he's graduated from that pool, if you like, and he's now looking for a job that will give him more control and more authority and more say in what goes on.

9:36Rob Dawson:And, look, I mean, he had his faults. He never won the fans over. He's been described to be by multiple people as a very emotional guy, and I think he needs to probably handle that side of it a little bit better if he's going to take a truly top job. But I don't think he'll be short of suitors. Whether he's really the right man to replace Guardiola at City, and I guess we'll come on to that later, I'm not sure about that. But I'm sure he will get a decent job, whether it's in England or abroad, before too long.

10:05Mark Ogden:I mean, the point about the characteristics of the coach is really interesting because you go back to the Abramovich Chelsea, and that was a totally different model. It was like Abramovich would appoint the alpha male coach, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Conte, Tuchel, because that model was very kind of streamlined. Owner, Marina Granovsky was the chief exec and the manager. The manager was left to manage and get the best out of the players and it was up to him. Now, the new Chelsea model has gone completely the opposite direction where the manager is not even the manager, he's the coach, he's the head coach.

10:33Mark Ogden:He's almost powerless, as James was saying. If you have to kind of surrender judgment or replace fitness, then you're basically a guy that's just training on the training ground and that isn't what a manager is. And I think, you know, you ask many Chelsea fans and for them, they like a manager of the Mourinho or the Antidiotic kind of a character on the touchline because that reflects the Chelsea certainly Chelsea pre-Clear Lake-Todd-Bowley era of a kind of a brash, kind of strong, arrogant even approach but now Chelsea goes this kind of timid approach where the coach has got no voice apart from the fact that he goes into a press conference and represents the club in that perspective but he has no power and to James' point about finding a coach that will come in and the word that I've been told over the last couple of years is malleable, they want a malleable coach and they all come in, you know, like Mureska initially and I'm sure Liam Rossini, it looks like he's going to come into the job.

11:20Mark Ogden:He will be kind of, in a sense, not rabbit in the headlights, but grateful to be given that position and he will do what he's told initially, but every manager that wins things or gets established wants more power and wants more say and that is never going to happen at Chelsea. So, again, people have been asking me the last couple of days, are they going to go for a big now? Who's the big now? But they're not. That isn't the Chelsea way of doing things now. So the idea that Cesc Fabregas is going to be the next one in, young coach but he's a guy that will want his own say so it's going to take a very strange coach to go in there and say yeah I'm going to come in and I'm going to be part of this committee this holistic approach it won't work there's no way that Chelsea will win Premier League and Champions League with this approach because eventually the manager has to be strong enough to dictate the way the team plays and who plays and that's never going to happen at Chelsea.

12:04Rob Dawson:Well and the other the other difference of course with the Abramovich era is that all those appointments were they will win now appointments. It was this season, no messing about. You're out. Yeah, of course. And that's why the fans accepted it. It was, you know, it was crazy, the turnover, but the mission was clear. No excuses. You come in and you win. What Chelsea have built since Bluco took over has been a different model, as you say, which is based on young players, long contracts, heavily incentivised contracts. And it's all sort of, yeah, well, this team, what do we say about Chelsea whenever we talk about them really we say well they're a young team you can't really expect them to be winning now but maybe in a year or two if they grow with a coach well that's kind of incompatible with the sort of the win now Chelsea fan base that they you know that they're used to seeing you can't really on the one hand sort of say well okay we've got this young group of players they're fantastic some of the best talent in the world under 21 and they've been breaking so many records you know the youngest sort of squads the youngest goal scorers in Champions League history for Chelsea Esteval there was one game where multiple players were breaking that record you know they've obviously got a lot of top talented young players but their oldest player in the first team squad is Tosin at 28 and you need a blend of players that are not just of that very very young age group and you need a coach who's got experience of getting you over the line otherwise you you run the risk of it being a jam tomorrow situation where you know okay this group can grow and we've got a young manager and he'll take on board all this advice and maybe we'll get there but but it's tomorrow it's not now and and that's that I think that's the missing piece in this at the moment is that they need to kind of recalibrate this structure to just give a slightly more experienced head coach the space to grow or a young head coach like Maresca, inexperienced, prepared to take that on.

14:02Rob Dawson:But then when he starts winning things, to be able to give him just a little bit more responsibility. And we're not talking about throwing out the whole structure completely because I can see the merits of it. You can understand why they've put in place what they have. You just feel as though the gap between this, we need to control this manager and give this manager support and have a manager who's experienced and capable and decisive and confident enough to actually deliver silverware, there's a gap between those two, and it's too far at the moment. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.

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15:09James Olley:Let's talk then about the man it looks like is going to replace Maresca, Liam Resenia. He has had an interim spell at Derby. He's had a spell at Hull. Was unlucky to get sacked there, if you speak to their fans. He's now at Strasbourg. He's a very, very young coach, 41, I think. He's got no Premier League experience. You could never imagine another top six side in the Premier League appointing someone like that. He's probably more unproven than even Maresco when he came in. Mark, I'll start with you. I mean, how do you think... I mean, you have to look into your crystal ball a little bit, but how do you think Liam Rossini is going to fare at a club which can appear as volatile as Chelsea sometimes?

15:48Mark Ogden:Well, I mean, I know he's highly rated. He worked with Wayne Rooney for a while at Derby, and the feedback was that he was a very good coach and very good strategist and very good tactically. And it may be all those things. And, you know, we all know Leroy and I've seen his background. He was, you know, his dad Leroy played at Tottenham for a long time. He comes from a football pedigree. I mean, one thing that might go against him, he played for Fulham for a start. I mean, they're Chelsea's near rivals in London. So he's not exactly got a Chelsea pedigree, but you can't really say he did well at Hull.

16:13Mark Ogden:He did, but I mean, that's no qualification to get in the Chelsea job. And he may be a very good coach. And, you know, let's give him a chance. but if or when he's appointed, the Chelsea fans will not be happy. The Chelsea fans will not greet this appointment with any kind of pleasure because they'll feel that their club has been taken away from them. So, you know, we've seen managers over the years get jobs and it's like, why are they getting that job? And it doesn't really fit with the club. And this feels like one of those if Rossini gets it. And that's, you know, he's not going to turn it down.

16:42Mark Ogden:He can't turn down the opportunity to manage a club like Chelsea. So it's kind of unfair on him. He's in a situation he's not really kind of asked himself to be in, apart from the fact that he's taken the Strasbourg job. But listen, even if he turns out to be the best coach anywhere in the next five years, the initial reaction will be one of anger amongst the Chelsea fans.

17:00Rob Dawson:Yeah, it will. I mean, it will be in the sense that it doesn't feel like an upgrade, does it? And normally when you sat your manager, if you're fifth in the table, and there's obviously a lot of reasons behind that as we've been talking about, but it's not just solely results. You've got a lot to work with there. You'd expect the manager who comes in to be just to sort of feel like an upgrade and and with the greatest respect to Liam Rossini that that isn't the case I haven't had a lot of chance to speak to people about him but I had I did speak to somebody this morning who told me that he's a very good uh relationship builder he's very good at managing up and he's very he's a very effective communicator and and those are important skills And putting together the piece for the site about the reasons why Mareska left, I had multiple people coming back to me to sort of say that Mareska was a very emotional guy and that he did let things affect him that top managers shouldn't be affected by.

18:06Rob Dawson:And specifically that was the issue that he had with the supporters. He never really felt the sort of love of the fans. And he used to talk about that quite a lot. and if you remember at the end of last season when he qualified, when he got them into the Champions League at Nottingham Forest, he said F off to the critics and that kind of went down very dimly internally from what I was told and part of the reason being is that you shouldn't really be letting that sort of thing affect you. You should be able to be more calmer and more statesman-like and obviously Liam Rossini has not been exposed to that level of scrutiny But from what I'm told, he has the kind of character and the demeanour that will be able to carry himself better in those sort of circumstances.

18:50Rob Dawson:So I can sort of see the logic behind it. But Mark's right. He's not going to be cheered from the rooftops at his first home game.

18:59Mark Ogden:Rob, just before we kind of wrap up on this, obviously the Marescu situation is kind of triggered by these links with Man City, which I think we were all kind of taken a little bit by surprise because we know he's a promising coach. He's got a Man City background. I've been working with Pep for a couple of years as a coach. but it is a bit odd that a guy that's got such a short kind of experience in the Premier League was being linked with a Man City job. But I've spoken at City, I was at the Sunderland game on New Year's Day and there's a bit of a coyness at City as to the links. They're not kind of knocking them out straight away but they're also not kind of encouraging them.

19:30Mark Ogden:So, I mean, from your perspective, you cover City every week. Do you see Morescu as a potential Man City candidate? Are these links kind of smoke and mirrors? Are they just kind of being used to somebody's advantage or do you think he's a serious candidate? that?

19:41James Olley:I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the conversation. I mean, first and foremost, we need to talk about Pep Guardiola because City will tell you right away that there's no vacancy to talk about at the moment because Pep is there and he's under contract until 2027. The only thing I would say with that is even when Pep signed his latest deal, it was a longer deal than lots of people were expecting because usually it's just gone for a couple of years and this was a bit longer. And one of the explanations that came back from people around the club was that Peper got so sick and tired of constantly asking or being asked these questions about his future that he wanted a little bit of a buffer to prevent these questions from coming around every sort of January time.

20:20James Olley:And even then City or people connected with City were saying, well, he probably wouldn't leave at the end of last season because they had a Club World Cup. It would have been very, very hard for them to do a managerial handover when they had a summer competition. That if there was going to be a handover, it would be a lot easier to do in the summer of 2026 when there was a World Cup. You'd have more time to plan. It would be easier to do it then. So there is a feeling around the club that Pep could possibly leave this summer, a year before his contract is due to end. Now, if that was the case, they would have to be looking already at candidates.

20:53James Olley:And I do think City would quite like the idea of having someone who was within their structure at one point. Obviously, Maresco was at City under Pep Guardiola. City have got a massive group of clubs all around the world. They've signed players from Girona, Savinho came from Girona. They do like the idea of having someone appointed who was within their kind of system already. That being said, I think you're right. I'm not sure that Maresca has done quite enough to be talked about in those circles. Because again, when this has come up, the times where Pep, it looked like he was running out of contract, City have talked about being able now to go in to get the best coaches in the world.

21:32James Olley:There was one conversation, I think I've mentioned on this podcast before, that a few years ago, it looked like Pep might leave and someone around City floated the name of Julian Nagelsmann and he was at Bayern at the time and everyone kind of looked around and went, well, you couldn't possibly go and get Nagelsmann. He's at the biggest club in Germany. And they said, well, yeah, but we're the biggest club in the Premier League. We can go and do anything we want now. And they showed that when they went and got Erling Haaland. So they will feel that that's within them when they come to appoint a replacement for Guardiola.

21:59James Olley:again I mean it goes back to the fans as well would the City fans welcome Enzo Moresca through the door to replace Pep Guardiola after what he's done at Chelsea I'm not so sure I think they would be expecting a far bigger name with a far better pedigree but a world champion what are you

22:15Rob Dawson:on well he's unemployed world champion isn't he I mean one one thing I think we should just explain though is that this isn't you know it's quite unusual that when you make these calls around a managerial departure and you try to get the sort of um you know the color and and the sort of mood music behind the last few days and weeks and months over long the situation's been going on it's quite unusual to be consistently told that that manager was talking to another club that that doesn't happen very often as a journalist I I'm struggling off the top of my head maybe it has happened before but I'm struggling to think of a time where when I've been writing one of these inside departure pieces that that's sort of been quite strongly coming back to me one thing I would ask you Rob is that I've got sort of conflicting suggestions about the nature of that contact.

23:14Now, Mareska's changed agents.