Rosenior will have big task ahead of him as new boss for dysfunctional Chelsea

LONDON -- Liam Rosenior might want to check if the ink is dry on his six-year contract as Chelsea head coach because he has walked into a storm at Stamford Bridge that may only just be beginning.

He has inherited a dysfunctional team without a reliable goalkeeper or full-back, one that is stocked with young talent rather than experience, but perhaps most alarming for Rosenior is the discord off the pitch and anger from the supporters towards co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.

As Chelsea slumped to a 2-1 defeat against West London neighbors Fulham, the Blues fans turned on the owners with furious, expletive-laced chants demanding that they leave.

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They even sang the name of former owner Roman Abramovich, who gave up control of the club in May 2022 due to UK government sanctions on the Russian oligarch following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Disharmony is the watchword at Chelsea right now and Rosenior, through no fault of his own, is helping to fuel the bad feeling.

The newly-installed team boss, who left Chelsea's French partner club Strasbourg to replace the sacked Enzo Maresca earlier this week, sat through the whole 90 minutes of his new side's defeat at Craven Cottage on Wednesday, but he was only an interested observer.

Despite signing his contract on Tuesday, Rosenior decided he hadn't had enough time to work with his new team ahead of the game, so he opted instead to sit alongside co-owner Eghbali with interim coach Calum McFarlane overseeing the action on the pitch.

That may have been Rosenior's second mistake. The first? Taking the Chelsea job in the first place.

In fairness to Rosenior, whose last job in English football ended with the sack at EFL Championship club Hull City, no ambitious young coach could ever turn down the chance to take charge of a club as big as Chelsea.

But it is the circumstances that led to him getting the job that has helped spark the unrest among the supporters.

Maresca was never a popular figure, often deemed to have been over-promoted after one season in the Championship with Leicester City, but the Italian earned the respect of the fans, if not their affection, by winning the UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup as well as securing UEFA Champions League qualification last season.

When Maresca voiced his frustration in the weeks prior to his dismissal, he was echoing many of those of the fans, so his departure and swift replacement by Rosenior, rather than the kind of elite coach Chelsea grew accustomed to under Abramovich, has simply fanned the flames among the supporters.

And it was notable that, while they sang against the owners, they didn't sing anything in support of Rosenior. The new man was met simply with indifference, which is a rarity for any new coach or manager.

Had he been on the touchline, giving out instructions and managing the team -- if a Chelsea coach is ever allowed to manage the team -- Rosenior may have been able to win over the fans, but that will have to wait until his first official game in charge on Saturday, in the FA Cup third round tie at Charlton Athletic.

And when he does sit down and lay out a plan for his squad, Rosenior has plenty of work to do.

It is a squad that has incredible talent, but it lacks direction and discipline. When Marc Cucurella was sent off for fouling Harry Wilson in the first half, it was their seventh red card in all competitions this season, four more than any other Premier League side.

So Rosenior needs to bring structure and order, but whether he can do that without a commanding center back to organize his unreliable goalkeepers and full backs remains to be seen.