Liam Rosenior Sacked!

0:00Coming up on today's show, he was kind of damned if he did take it and damned if he didn't. That is a bloody hard job to do because it's a bonkers football club. It's run very differently.

0:10Alan Shearer:It's gone from a club that will probably attract any manager in the world to a club where the top managers in the world might think, not sure. I wonder, this is just me throwing one out there as well. Jose Mourinho, Act 3. I think he'd take it. This episode is powered by Fuse Energy. Before we kick off a quick pre-match warm-up from Fuse, a question on the teams and players who make things count. Who has scored the most Premier League goals as a substitute? I know this one. Oh, do you? Oh, Mike, you know. Well, shall we let Alan go first then? Well, I'm going to go for Jermaine Defoe. He's cheating again.

0:52Someone's giving him the answers.

0:54Alan Shearer:Do you think that's the answer then, Mike? That's the correct answer. I knew that because I've seen it at the start of the week. Call it an honourable draw, but whoever gets the right answer for who's second, wins. It's got to be Chikarita, surely. Out, you going? I'm going Giroud then, yeah. Alan, you are the winner. Hey! The best teams find an edge wherever they can. It should be the same with your energy. Take control of your energy like it's part of your game plan. Sign up at fuseenergy.com slash football. using code FOOTBALL, all uppercase, to save on your energy bill. And get the chance to ask us your football question on the pod, full terms and conditions, at FuseEnergy.com.

1:40Alan Shearer:Hello and welcome to the Rest is Football emergency episode with Alan Shearer and me, Garolinica. The news broke last night that Liam Rossini has lost his job at Chelsea. so we thought we'd jump on what's your view Alan not wholly surprising given the recent run of form five straight defeats without scoring a single goal yeah no I wasn't surprised no I don't wholly blame him I don't think he ever had a choice really he had to say yes to becoming the manager he was at their other club and I guess there's no doubt there's so potential in him I still think that will be the case it'll just have to take this hit on the chin.

2:25And I think some of the things that he said in terms of giving people the opportunity to have a pop were probably not wise, but he was inexperienced. And I've always said it, whoever goes into that job, that is a bloody hard job to do because it's a bonkers football club. It's run very differently. It's not a surprise with losing five on the spin, not scoring a goal, their demand to win trophies. to get into Champions League positions and all of those things. But my take on it would be the responsibility lies with people making the decisions to appoint him. They're the ones that should be looked at.

3:05They're the ones that need to be scrutinised rather than Liam Resignia.

3:10Alan Shearer:I would agree with that. But as we all know from our experience and life in football, it's generally the coach that gets it. I mean, he did have a tough time and perhaps in hindsight, he might have done a few things differently. But first, let me read out the club statement from Chelsea Football Club. On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, we would like to place on record our gratitude to Liam and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the club. Liam has always conducted himself with the highest integrity and professionalism following his appointment midway through the season. It's not been a decision the club has taken lightly, however, recent results and performances have fallen below the necessary standards with so much more to play for this season.

3:56Alan Shearer:Everyone at Chelsea FC wishes Liam every success in the future. Callum McFarlane will take charge of the team as interim head coach until the end of the season with support from existing club backroom staff as we strive to achieve European qualification and progress in the FA Cup. As the club works towards bringing stability to the head coach position, we will undertake a process of self-reflection. I like that bit. to make the right long-term appointment. Well, at least they've nodded their heads slightly to themselves at some point. I love that bit as the club works to bring stability to the head coach position on the day that they fire someone.

4:34Alan Shearer:I found that mildly amusing, although it's obviously not an amusing situation because, I mean, it's always difficult talking about coaches and managers when they lose their jobs and it's awful. I mean, it's funny. I remember I talked to Carlo Ancelotti. I was talking to him. I said, you know, you've won more than any other manager, like more Champions Leagues. He's won five, you know, all the Europe's top leagues. He's won everything. But he's been fired like half, five, six times. How do you deal with a job? He said, well, the first time, the first time I got sacked, he said, I was really, really upset.

5:08Alan Shearer:Second time, mildly upset. And then after that, you just know that comes with the job. So hopefully Liam will listen to that and bounce back and come back a better and stronger coach. he did have a tough time. I mean, he won 11 games from 23 matches. Obviously, most of those, when he actually had a good start. Yeah. The first 11 matches were played in 35 days after he got the job and he won eight of them. And then things started to go wrong a little bit. And then he started playing man-to-man with his tactics a little bit and was found out. I think Anthony Gordon actually said in one game, didn't he?

5:48Alan Shearer:they were playing man for man so we knew we could get behind them. PSG exploited it ruthlessly really winning 8-2 on aggregate. How difficult must it be though going into a club halfway through the season knowing that ultimately you've got to make the Champions League or you're toast? Well, I go back to my point. You probably didn't have a choice, Gary because with it being the sister club if you like, Strasbourg to Chelsea I guess if he had said no I'm not ready but the time isn't right they would have leaked it he would have got accused of having no ambition but you also know once you go into that football club then you know it's ran very differently to most because if you don't win games and ultimately and I guess that's the job you've got more chance of getting the sack there I guess quicker than anywhere else it's not just us that are seeing it and everyone's seeing it in terms of how they go out and recruit and how they give them the ridiculous long contracts.

6:50I guess the manager's long contract has got a clause in it that he doesn't get the full whack if he were to get sacked. But I don't think any of the players will have that in their contract. So it's just bizarre. I mean, they have got some really, really talented players in the football club. But it is bizarre that the money that they've spent, and I go back to points that I've also made before that haven't got a top-class keeper, haven't got a top-class centre-half and they haven't got a top class centre forward.

7:17Alan Shearer:And that's not the fault of Liam Rossini. Not at all. Not at all. He was kind of damned if he did take it and damned if he didn't. In a way, the only way that it would have been the right thing for him is if obviously it had been ultimately successful, which is not difficult. I mean, Mareska kind of almost forced him to sack him because I think he could see the writing was on the wall with this football club. I've got some info here. I mean, it's been widely reported. and we've had it all checked out. This is Bluco's gamble and financial reality. The total money that they've committed so far is over£4 billion that has been poured into the Chelsea project.

7:58Alan Shearer:That's more than the cost of building Wembley Stadium, five times over. Chelsea lost£262 million in a single year, 24-25, the biggest annual loss of any English club in football history. Under UEFA's stricter accounting, the loss was actually deemed to be$342 million. The top parent company has lost$1.85 billion in just over three years. Across three seasons, Chelsea loses roughly$629 ,000 every single day before player sales are accounted for. They've a hidden debt pile, two massive loans that are not on Chelsea's books. Loan one is for 800 million, which is due in 2027. Loan two, 500 million, which is due in 2033.

8:50Alan Shearer:The 500 million loan is rolling up interest, which apparently they aren't paying it off at the moment. It's being added to the total bill each year. By 2033, that 500 million pound debt will have swelled to over 1.4 billion, almost triple the original amount. Chelsea are under a strict UEFA monitoring period at the moment until 2029 for past overspending. They must get losses down to virtually zero next season. If they miss the target by more than£17 million, UEFA will ban them from European competition for one year. And to meet these targets, the club may be forced to sell their best players, like Cole Palmer, just to balance the books.

9:32Alan Shearer:With all the debt and losses included, Mid-Blue Co. needs to sell Chelsea for over£5 billion just to get their money back. That valuation would make Chelsea the most expensive sports team in history. Without Champions League football in a new stadium, that number currently, Alan, looks a bit like fantasy. That is mad, isn't it? Incredible. Staggering, isn't it? I mean, that is just... It's unbelievable, really. It's incredible, those numbers. I go back to my original words of that. It's run very differently. It's a crazy football club. What's the plan? You tell me. I don't know. I mean, I don't know.

10:16What have they got? Three or four sporting directors or directors of football, whatever you want to call them. I don't know. I really can't work it out. And it's staggering to get to that point. And we always say, don't we, whatever happens at the top always filters down onto the pitch and that's what sort of happened this season they were really really really poor the other night at Brighton so it's no surprise that it's actually come to this now

10:43Alan Shearer:let's take a little break here and then look perhaps ahead to what they might do next season

10:54Alan Shearer:welcome back to the Rest is football emergency episode with Alan Shearer and me Gary Lineker it certainly seems like an emergency for Chelsea at the moment, a club that seems like it's almost imploding at present. Where do they go from here, Alan? I've read out, obviously, in the first half there about the expenditure and the limitations that they might have and the needs that they might well have to have to sell players. So, I mean, it's probably not an attractive job proposition at present. Well, I guess if you're a manager and Chelsea approach you, then you would have to ask serious questions about where they want to go and how they're going to do that.

11:39And you'd have to protect yourself as per massively. With looking and reading and hearing all those numbers, then they'll get someone because they'll pay someone a fortune to go in there. It's just whether they're prepared to change and understand and realize that what they're trying to do is clearly, clearly not working.

11:58Alan Shearer:Why didn't it work for Liam Allen? I get it. He's got to take the job. He's relatively inexperienced. I think a little bit of naivety possibly in his press conference, etc. And there's a little bit of performative stuff. But I don't think that ultimately is the biggest deal here. It's obviously about results. But tactically, what did he get wrong, do you think? Well, he didn't have time to work with the players a lot when he first went in there. And ultimately, I guess that was his most profitable time when he first went in there in terms of early results, etc. But I think he probably looked back and probably didn't help himself with what he was prepared to see.

12:40I mean, protecting the ball and all that nonsense and just inviting unnecessary pressure onto you and the club for the words that he chose. But ultimately, it's results, isn't it? I mean, he'd still be here if he had won five of the last five. He'd still be in a job and looking forward to a semi-final

12:58Alan Shearer:in the FA Cup of the weekend, but that's not the case. It seems a little bit cruel to do it just before the FA Cup semi-final. I mean, I know there's no room for empathy too much in football. Look, you know the rules when you go into the job. Coaching and management is such a difficult job anyway. But you know the rules, and I guess you know the rules even more once you go into that football club. So as I said, it's very, very different to most others. So ultimately, top and bottom is if you don't get results, you're out as a manager. Yeah, I wonder whether there's a little bit of, well, if we win the semi-final at the weekend, then we'd probably have to keep him.

13:42Alan Shearer:If we win the FA Cup, we'd probably have to keep him next season and they might have lost confidence in him. And one or two players have spoken out a little bit, haven't they against tactics I saw Malogusto publicly suggested the team needed to know when to sit back instead of pressing obviously had the issues with Fernandes and talking about Madrid and I don't think he helped himself there by banning him for two games I think that probably worked against him Kukurea as well made a few comments questioning the club's direction and it was just three wins in the last 12 matches it's that old adage about I'm never quite sure these things are true, but you lose the dressing room.

14:23Well, I guess we said it at the time, didn't we, Gaz, when he banned him for those two games. I mean, the difference, because didn't Rodri say, not quite as strong as that, but didn't Rodri say something about Real Madrid? And Pep's response was, well, Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world. And I expect that. Whereas you have got an inexperienced manager at a huge football club with huge players. And it's difficult when you're inexperienced because you're trying to make your way and you've got to learn by your mistakes, I guess. He's trying to stamp his authority onto the football club.

14:56And yeah, that was another thing that I don't think sort of helped him. But I understand what he was trying to do, but banning a big player for a couple of games and in those couple of games, one of them was a huge game.

15:10Alan Shearer:Probably the most important player. Exactly. It was a huge call, which clearly didn't help. No, no, it didn't. Let's look ahead who might take the role. Obviously, they've put a caretaker until the end of the season. So looking at the summer, the favourites are all that people talking about Iriola because he's announced, hasn't he, that he's not going to be at Bournemouth next season. Oliver Glasner, I'm just plucking that one at the top of my head because he's available in the summer. Obviously, he's won stuff. Cesc Fabregas has been muted, which he's doing brilliantly at Coma. I think they're currently in the top five in Serie A.

15:52Alan Shearer:He's done an incredible job there, taking them up and keeping them up last season and now in the Champions League places. Former Chelsea player, of course, as well. Would Cesc be mad enough to take that job? Yeah, that's the only thing. I mean, is he in a... He's slightly forward, I guess, to what Liam was in Strasbourg in terms of what he's doing and etc. But that would be a big call early on in his career to go to Chelsea now or at the end of the season. That would be a huge call from him. I don't know. It'd be a big, big ask. It is. I mean, I think it's gone from a club, this is just a personal view, club that would probably attract any manager in the world to a club where the top managers in the world might think, not sure I wonder I wonder this is just me throwing one out there as well Jose Mourinho Act 3 I think I think he'd take it I mean he loves London loves the area loves the football club he's won so much for them over the period he's at Benfica at present obviously but I guess if there's one guy who's seen it and done it all exactly would understand and know how to play them then he would be able to do that I'm sure.

17:12Alan Shearer:I think he'd be strong enough to deal with everything as well I think you need a massive personality in there at the moment probably so anyway I just thought I'd throw that one out well we shall see well thanks for popping on Alan and we're sorry it ended badly for Neil. His time will come again I've got that one. Yeah he'll get another chance because he's clearly a talented coach and that was like he was dealt a tough hand there I thought you know as we said he was damned if he took the job and damned if he didn't and it's not worked out Wish him all the best in the future. Okay, Al. Thanks very much.

17:49Alan Shearer:Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me