An Powerful Occasion as Rosenior Breaks Obstacles

"Rosenior represents an excellent coach that understands football back to front, and that's what matters most.

"However, as the Blues' first black player, it would be dishonest if I said this news doesn't move me."

Those are the words expressed by the former Chelsea winger, the man who earned his historic debut for Chelsea's senior side off the bench back in April 1982.

This week, the club named RC Strasbourg manager Rosenior, aged 41, as their new head coach after the departure of manager Enzo Maresca.

The French club is part of the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital-owned ownership group that also owns the London club.

Statistics show just twelve black managers – not including individuals in interim positions – in England's top flight since it began thirty-four years ago.

"One thing that impresses me about Liam is that he was raised and played not far from here, he knows the local fans," continued Canoville.

"Whenever kids observe someone like Liam managing the team they support, someone they can identify with, who's from their ends, who comes from a household that fights for what's right… that's profound and shows them that opportunities exist.

"Indeed, it is a massive step for Chelsea, for the capital, for all aspiring individual with big dreams.

"But right now? Let's back Liam, give him the necessary tools, and let the man do his work."

What Do the Statistics Show?

Dutch legend Ruud Gullit became the Blues' head coach in 1996 thereby becoming the Premier League's first African heritage head coach.

A dozen years on, by 2008, Paul Ince became the first English black manager in the top flight after taking charge at Blackburn Rovers.

The Hammers' manager Nuno Espirito Santo is the sole additional present Premier League boss of colour.

The shortage of managers of colour across English football is matched by a lack of diversity at executive level.

According to a Black Footballers Partnership 2023 study, forty-three percent of top-flight players are from black heritage.

However, research by Kick It Out found only 3.2% of executive and leadership management teams across 17 of 20 Premier League clubs are held by people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Regarding first-team coaching positions, according to data from eleven clubs, the percentage is 2%.

Across all coaching roles – encompassing senior roles – from the same 11 clubs, the statistic is just five percent.

"He has undoubtedly broken barriers in terms of him being announced as the Chelsea manager, and as an organization, we hope to see more of that," stated Kick It Out CEO Samuel Okafor.

"We know that there exists a wealth of talent present within black and underrepresented groups... they want a chance to demonstrate their capabilities. It is imperative to persist in striving to break those barriers once and for all."

Furthermore, Rosenior will become the fourth full-time English managers presently in the Premier League – joining Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe and Scott Parker – a number that lags behind the continent's remaining big five divisions regarding national managers.

Sixteen of the 20 first division coaches in Serie A are from Italy, Eleven of the 20 are Spanish, Twelve in the Bundesliga in Germany while 10 in Ligue 1 in France.

Current Chelsea caretaker manager Calum McFarlane commented: "I have no doubt every aspiring British coaches from an academy background will be, in some way regardless of allegiance, rooting for Liam.

"It is truly inspirational to up-and-coming British academy coaches to see an individual land such a role with his background and we hope he will be really well."

'Let's not forget – he's there on merit'

His father, Leroy, Rosenior Sr., had a career with the likes of Fulham, the Hammers and Queens Park Rangers, and his coaching stint culminating in a five-month stint in charge of the third-tier club Brentford back in 2006.

In 2019, he was awarded an MBE in that year's 2019 New Year Honours for his services in combating inequality in football and wider society.

After Liam retired from playing he followed a path in management. He started penning articles for The Guardian, and in one piece he acknowledged the lack of diversity of black coaches. He highlighted that ethnicity does not determine ability arguing that roles must be awarded based on qualification.

He further expressed a point he would repeat: that significant lack of diversity results in misunderstandings of players with diverse cultural and ethnic heritage.

During an interview with The Athletic FC, he explained how his star striker, Emmanuel Emegha, had been described as "difficult" or "passionate", but said he understood the Netherlands player with Nigerian parentage. Emegha is set to follow him with a move from France to Chelsea this summer.

In subsequent Guardian columns, he also confessed to being "ashamed" upon hearing a coach utter a homophobic slur. He pledged support for the Premier League's Rainbow Laces campaign and wrote an open letter to the former US President while he was in office, condemning his "blatant" prejudice.

He has subsequently built his reputation in the dugout – initially with Hull City, then Strasbourg – and Wayne Rooney recently stating Rosenior was "among the best coaches I've ever worked with" following their collaboration at Derby County.

Rosenior said goodbye to his former club on Tuesday morning prior to putting pen to paper on a six‑and‑a‑half‑year deal at Chelsea.

Chelsea had the top flight's pioneering black boss with Gullit and the first black captain in Paul Elliott.

Elliott later worked in several senior positions, among them the Football Association's diversity and inclusion board|