Joe Cole tips former Liverpool star to become next Chelsea head coach | OneFootball

Search is on for a permanent appointment after Liam Rosenior sacking

The Blues’ hierarchy are on the lookout for their next head coach after sacking Liam Rosenior on Wednesday, under four months into a six-and-a-half-year contract.

Calum McFarlane has taken up the post of interim head coach for the rest of the season and begins on Sunday in Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds.

Meanwhile, conversations will begin about who should be Rosenior’s permanent successor and the next full-time head coach at Stamford Bridge.

Former Chelsea midfielder Cole believes top managers “worth their salt” would not want to join Chelsea in the club’s current state, but could picture one former rival from his Premier League playing days being a potential contender.

“I’d like to see Carlo Ancelotti,” Cole said. “I’d like to see Pep Guardiola. But you’ve got to be realistic about these situations.

Cole, speaking to Paddy Power, added: “I’d love to see Xabi Alonso at the club. I loved watching his [Bayer] Leverkusen team. I think he was hard done by at Real Madrid. He understands massive clubs. He’s a winner.”

But a brutally honest Cole then added: “The sad thing is, I don’t think Xabi Alonso would even consider Chelsea.

“The owners [BlueCo] are the ones who need to shoulder the blame because they’re appointing the managers and they’re putting the system in place that’s not allowing the managers to thrive.

“The sad thing is there doesn’t seem to be any kind of appraisal or genuine enquiry into why this isn’t working at the football club.

“That would require some soul-searching and listening to people who genuinely have the clubs best interest at heart. People who have a lot of understanding into how these things operate.

“So the owners have to shoulder the blame. Liam was put in there, same as Enzo [Maresca], same as Poch [Mauricio Pochettino]. They get the job and then it’s a community of people making decisions. The manager has to be the one that makes the football decisions in terms of recruitment, how they play, who plays when, how the team trains.