Gary Neville has sharply criticised Chelsea owners BlueCo, following the sacking of Liam Rosenior as the club sit eighth in the Premier League table, with Champions League qualification now looking unlikely.
Rosenior lost his job a day after the Blues suffered a damaging 3-0 defeat to Brighton which made it five losses in a row in the league, all without scoring a single goal.
Reacting to Rosenior’s sacking on Sky Sports, Neville said: “I don’t think it’s a reflection upon Liam at all. Obviously, he’s lost a lot of football matches in the last few weeks […] but it’s time for the owners, sporting directors and the players to reflect enormously on their role in terms of what’s happened.
“The coach always takes the hit […] it’s easier to move the coach out than it is 25 players, owners won’t sack ourselves — I’ve been an owner — and sporting directors probably won’t either. The owners are getting it really badly wrong there — let’s be really clear.
“They’ve got group of talented players, young sporting directors in respect to experience relating to Europe, a relatively young ownership in terms of how long they’ve been at Chelsea […] you need some experience somewhere in the club and they put a very young manager in,” Neville said.
“I think Liam should get on with his life, pretend the last 107 days never happened, learn from it as much as he possibly can but don’t think of it as a reflection upon himself,” he continued. “Go and get another job as quickly as you possibly can at a club you can trust and leave the mess that exists at Chelsea behind, don’t think anything of it.”
Former Manchester United right-back Neville also said that recent Chelsea results “have not been good enough” but criticised players Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernández for “stitching up” Rosenior by talking about their love for former Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
“This policy at Chelsea, these six year, eight year agreements, it’s almost laughable from the start — whether those are for a player or a manager. The owners haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.
“They’re all over the place. I don’t get it really. You deserve what you get in football. It’s a reflection upon them, not a reflection upon the coach — who, to be fair, probably shouldn’t have been advanced as quickly as he was into the role.
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“He should’ve been left to develop his career, a promising young coach […] you don’t turn down the Chelsea job, you don’t turn down a big job like that, I can see why it was appealing.
“But the reality of it is he just needs to get on with his coaching career now. Put it behind him as quickly as he possibly can because it’s a club that, at this moment in time, is a little bit crazy in its decision making.”
Chelsea confirmed on Wednesday that Calum McFarlane, the head coach of Chelsea’s U21s, will take charge of the first team as interim head coach until the end of the season.
The Blues face in-form Leeds United in an FA Cup semifinal on Sunday.
When asked who might be the next permanent manager at Chelsea, Neville said:
“I don’t care. Chelsea are a massive football club, an amazing football club, their fans will be absolutely disgusted by the way in which this has gone. I’m sure everyone realised that Liam would lose his job […] but it’s the way in which it’s happened. It’s not right.
“I’ve been there myself, I’ve sacked a manager after four months, not quite 107 days, and it’s a reflection upon you, upon me when I get it wrong […] and these long contracts, they gave him almost a six-year contract. It’s just bizarre.”
