Derby County revelation involving Liam Rosenior emerges as Chelsea job beckons | OneFootball

Derby County made the decision to replace Liam Rosenior in September 2022, with the Strasbourg boss now favourite to take over at Chelsea.

Derby County owner David Clowes rated Liam Rosenior as a coach, but he decided against giving him the job at Pride Park on a permanent basis due to his lack of experience in League One.

The 41-year-old is in the news after he emerged as the favourite to succeed Enzo Maresca at Chelsea after the Italian left the Londoners this week.

That would continue Rosenior’s remarkable rise as a coach, which began at Brighton’s U23 side after he had finished his playing career with the Seagulls and comprised stints in the EFL before truly making his mark with French outfit Strasbourg.

Derby County turned to Paul Warne over Liam Rosenior amid Chelsea news

However, he really rose to prominence with the Rams. After initially joining the backroom team when Phillip Cocu was appointed, Rosenior became assistant to Wayne Rooney for the Midlands outfit, where he earned plenty of praise for his work on the training ground.

After Rooney resigned, Rosenior was named interim manager at Derby, during what was a very difficult period for the club after they had suffered following years of mismanagement off the pitch.

With Clowes, who had recently purchased the club, getting his feet under the table, there was constant speculation surrounding Rosenior’s future, and despite winning seven of his 12 games in charge, the new owner turned to Paul Warne, who has proved himself as a League One promotion specialist over the years with Rotherham United.

Whilst this decision was made back in September 2022, journalist Simon Stone has now revealed that it wasn’t seen as a negative on Rosenior, as he explained that key figures at Derby were convinced the current Strasbourg chief would go on to have a successful career in management.

“Derby would have kept him (Rosenior) if they had been in Championship as they rated him highly but felt they needed someone with L1 experience to get them out of that league. Everyone at Pride Park knew how good Rosenior could become.”

Derby County needed to be ruthless as they looked to return to the Championship

Obviously, this decision will come under scrutiny if Rosenior does land the Chelsea job, which is one of the top jobs available in the country. But, it would be unfair to use that against Clowes and Derby, as the circumstances were very difficult for the club back then.

At that period in time, the only thing that mattered for Derby was winning promotion, and whilst they didn’t go up the season Rosenior was replaced, Warne did ultimately take the club back to the Championship.

Even though Rosenior is a good coach, there was no guarantee he would have delivered promotion, so it made sense that the club went for a quick fix.

As the update outlines, in the Championship, there would be more scope for the club to build, whereas in League One it was about instant success.

It worked out well for Derby, and, to his credit, Rosenior has bounced back from that setback, and he deserves huge credit for the progress he has made as a coach in the past few years, which put him on the radar of those involved with Strasbourg and Chelsea.