From the "forensic report"...
October 2022, at the Mercure hotel on Sheffield Parkway. Hull City is facing an important decision. The team needs a new head coach to lead the relegation battle in the Championship, after parting ways with Shota Arveladze, and the search for a replacement has entered a final stage.
Rob Edwards is one of the candidates being considered, along with some names working abroad. However, Liam Rosenior - a young coach, who has almost no outstanding achievements in the position of head coach - is the character that makes decision-makers at Hull really pay attention to.
That curiosity started from a 60-page document sent to the club's recruitment department. In which there were detailed captioned video clips, carefully marked static frames. This is Rosenior's analysis, dissecting each tactical issue of Hull City, pointing out bottlenecks in the playing style and proposing solutions that he considered appropriate. The level of detail makes this document more likened to a "legal report" than a regular job application. A training philosophy is fully exposed, neither concealed nor avoided.
After phone conversations, a direct meeting was held in South Yorkshire. A 20-minute PowerPoint presentation closed with absolute consensus. Hull officials reached the decision to award Rosenior the position of first official head coach in his career.
...To the Champions League dream
I always ask players and coaches where they feel in 5 years," Tan Kesler, then Vice President of Hull City and now CEO of Pogon Szczecin club in Poland, shared, " Liam's answer is that he wants to lead a team playing in the Champions League. Not just the Premier League, but the Champions League.
Looking back, those words no longer have the appearance of a fictional statement. Rosenior reached that goal in just 4 years. The 41-year-old coach left Strasbourg to fill the void left by Enzo Maresca at Chelsea, after the departure of the Italian strategist from Stamford Bridge was confirmed on New Year's Day.
Rosenior was assigned the task of reviving Chelsea's season in the challenging first month. The schedule immediately put him at the center of attention, with the Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal, along with the London derbys against Brentford, Crystal Palace and West Ham United. It was a huge challenge, especially for a coach with very little experience at the highest level. There will be many people who doubt - but not Rosenior.
Liam was waiting for this moment," Kesler added, "He spent years preparing. When we recruited Liam, there was a kind of light in him. He was different.
Coach before even being a player
The path leading Rosenior to Chelsea, on the surface, seems short and accelerates rapidly. It began with a temporary spell at Derby County in League One in 2022, before he led Hull City and then Strasbourg. But for those close to him, the appeal of Rosenior's coaching career was revealed very early.
His father, Leroy Rosenior, said his son aimed to become a coach even before he wanted to become a professional player. Rosenior read the "FA Coaching Book of Soccer Tactics and Skills" from the age of 9 and started coaching a school football team in Bristol at the age of 11.
A 16-year career as a defender led Rosenior to the Premier League. But even when playing at the top, he was silently preparing for the next chapter. When Rosenior played in the FA Cup final in 2014 with Hull City, losing to Arsenal after extra time, the first steps on the coaching path were formed.
At the end of his 20s, he actively applied to work with Hull's youth training department, regularly attending U21 matches and watching from the technical area. He participated in dressing room exchanges, and attended the first coaching certificates through the Northern Ireland Football Association, along with teammate Tom Huddlestone. The Pro License - the highest level of coaching - was completed by Rosenior at the age of 32, coinciding with the time he ended his playing career at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Liam is always someone who reads books by Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho, reads anything possible about coaching," Curtis Davies, who used to play with Rosenior at Hull and was coached by him at Derby, said, "He always thinks about football.
Personal identity
That spirit was most clearly shown during the turbulent period at Derby County. Under Phillip Cocu, Rosenior only took on limited roles. But when Cocu left and Wayne Rooney took over the team in the context of financial crisis, Rosenior's role became central.
In the 2021-2022 season, Derby won 55 points in the Championship under Rooney and Rosenior, but was deducted 21 points for falling into special management and violating EFL's accounting regulations. Relegation to League One was inevitable, but in that adversity, a football identity was built.
We play unbelievable football," Curtis Davies recalled, "Liam is meticulous to every detail. Details, details too. I believe that 90% of the implementation of ideas on the field is done by Liam.
After Rooney left, Rosenior was given the opportunity to lead Derby as interim coach. Although not officially appointed, that time was enough to bring his name back to Hull City - the team he used to be attached to as a player.
Young players and the "ice track to accelerate
At Hull, then Strasbourg, the characteristics of Rosenior's working style are increasingly clear. He directly manages training sessions, preferring a compact coaching staff to maximize personal working time with players.
One of Liam's biggest strengths is his ability to simplify everything," Kesler said, "He doesn't sit down for hours. Everything is concise, straight to the point. Then return to the training ground to create moments for players to show their talents.
Liam Delap, Jaden Philogene, Jacob Greaves or Fabio Carvalho are typical examples of Rosenior's ability to develop young players. In Strasbourg, Andrey Santos also regained his form and confidence under his leadership.
Now, Rosenior is facing the biggest challenge of his career at Chelsea. Pressure, expectations and level of scrutiny will be completely different from Derby, Hull or Strasbourg. But for those who have witnessed his journey, this is not a random leap, but the destination of a road that has been prepared very early.
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