Good luck, Liam Rosenior – you'll need it

Many questions have followed Liam Rosenior into Stamford Bridge.

- Henry WINTER THE VOICE OF FOOTBALL

Most significant is: what exactly is success for him at Chelsea? As an ambitious head coach, Rosenior wants to challenge for the major honours. Supporters want him to guide them to serious silverware - not just the Conference League and Club World Cup - and with entertaining football. Chelsea's owners, BlueCo, want him to finesse young talents and finish in the money-spinning Champions League positions. Rosenior can't do them all. An inherent tension exists at the heart of his job specification. It will be fascinating to see how this charismatic and widely-respected 41-year-old coach fares in the strange, demanding realm of Chelsea Football Club. Rosenior is the ninth permanent coach in ten years at Chelsea (plus two caretakers and Frank Lampard twice). That six-year contract looks ambitious.

He's enjoyed a promising journey so far as a coach. He stepped confidently from a well-regarded career as a mobile, intelligent full-back good enough at Fulham to shackle Cristiano Ronaldo during the flying winger's early days at Manchester United. He began as assistant coach of Brighton & Hove Albion Under-23s, then moved on to Derby County to become specialist first-team coach to Phillip Cocu and then assistant to Wayne Rooney.