New Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior: Why 'strange guy' was destined to be a manager - 'Football's in my blood'

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From coaching the school team at 11 years old and helping his dad manage Gloucester City, to playing in the Premier League and taking charge at Chelsea. It has been a whirlwind for Liam Rosenior, who is embarking on his biggest project yet. He tells TNT Sports that "football is in my blood" as he recalls the early days of his football journey and what made him desperate to become a manager.

'I didn't want to speak to them' - Rosenior describes his relationships with Chelsea's squad

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Liam Rosenior had a football-heavy upbringing, which led to the former defender playing over 400 professional matches - and now, he is the head coach of Chelsea.

During a 16-year playing career, Rosenior represented clubs such as Hull City, Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Reading, and racked up 141 appearances in the Premier League.

Following his Chelsea appointment earlier this week, switching from French side Strasbourg, Rosenior sat down with former Blues forward Joe Cole ahead of his debut in the dugout against Charlton in the Emirates FA Cup - live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

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He opened up about his early football life, and the Wandsworth-born coach admitted that when he was at school, the children in one particular class were asked to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Instead of drawing a picture of a professional footballer, which he was lucky enough to become, he drew himself as a manager.

"I'm a strange guy, mate. I'm a strange guy," Rosenior told TNT Sports. "My dad's still got it!"

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Rosenior then went into detail about how he fell in love with football, especially coaching, and Cole asked whether he had always wanted to be a manager more than a player.

"100%," he said without hesitation. "You ask my mates who I'm still friends with now from school in Bristol. I was managing the school team at 11. I was doing shapes with them on the school fields after school.

"My dad was a player and my dad was a coach. You always follow your dad; my dad was my hero. My dad was managing Gloucester City, it wasn't the biggest level, but my time with him was on a Friday night after school. Me and my brother would sit down with him on the kitchen table and do set plays with him for the game the next day. Then I'd be on the coach when they go away from home, I'd be at every team talk.

"Football's in my blood. It started at West Ham when my dad was playing. I'm the manager at Chelsea now, so I can't speak too highly about that club. But it started at Upton Park, 10 minutes before the game, John Lyall was the manager and I could smell the deep heat. I was four years old and was able to warm up with the players, so it's just in my blood and it's what I've always wanted to do."

Chelsea squad 'understand my demands'

Rosenior has replaced Enzo Maresca at Chelsea, who departed the club after 18 months following a poor run and growing tensions with the club's owners.

The Blues sit eighth in the Premier League table and winless in five games, with their last victory coming against League One Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup in December.

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That triumph earned them a spot in the semi-finals, where Rosenior will lead the team against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal in a two-leg tie.

But before hosting the Gunners in a mouth-watering clash at Stamford Bridge next week - which will be Rosenior's first home match in charge - Chelsea travel to Charlton in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Ahead of the game, Cole quizzed Rosenior about his first interactions with his new squad.

"Connection, openness, honesty, transparency and trust," Ronseior said when asked what he wanted from his players.

"The first word I put to the players was trust. If you're not in a place where you trust the coach, or you trust your team-mate or you trust yourself, you're never going to win games of football.

Liam Rosenior

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"You know what it's like, we've been there. A new manager walks in and you're in the dressing room and you're going, 'Alright, let's see what he's made of'. It's normal. So for me, I've had that interaction with the players.

"I think they've got to know me as well as they possibly can do in the last 48 hours. We've had some very interesting meetings. I think they understand my demands, and they understand where I think we can go with the talent that we have. Now it's up to all of us to put it into practice."

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