Another week, another Chelsea head coach sacked.
Liam Rosenior is the fifth manager ‘moved on’ by the club since BlueCo assumed ownership in 2022.
Results have not been good, Rosenior himself has admitted that, while rumours of disquiet in the changing room have been made public – the suspension of Enzo Fernandez testament to a head coach trying to wrestle back control of his players.
In the end, the possibility – or probability – of Chelsea missing out on qualifying for the Champions League meant that Todd Boehly and co felt that Rosenior’s position had become untenable.
He joins the rollcall of Chelsea head coaches sacked by BlueCo since 2022:
- Thomas Tuchel – January 2021 to September 2022
- Graham Potter – September 2022 to April 2023
- Mauricio Pochettino – July 2023 to May 2024
- Enzo Maresca – July 2024 to January 2026
- Liam Rosenior – January 2026 to April 2026
As you can see, Rosenior’s tenure was by far and away the shortest – making his compensation payment even more eye-watering.
In fact, when you look at how much Chelsea have spent on compensation to deposed managers since BlueCo took charge, it really does not read well.
Either selecting better candidates, or giving them longer to establish themselves in the dugout, has to be the smarter way to do business.
Thomas Tuchel (£13m)
When Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022 and replaced him with Graham Potter, it brought their spending on managers – both in terms of compensation paid to the previous head coach sacked, as well as a payment to the club that the new man was poached from – to £156.9 million since 2007.
Chelsea Football Club part company with Thomas Tuchel.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 7, 2022
The amount of compensation paid to a dismissed manager is calculated as the length of their contract remaining multiplied by their annual salary. So, for example, a head coach paid £3 million a year with three years left on their deal would be owed £9 million.
Other payments, such as performance bonuses that the individual no longer has the chance to achieve, may also be due depending on the nature of their contract.
So, when Tuchel was dismissed in September 2022, he was paid £13 million in compensation. That’s because he had one year left on an agreement worth £13 million a season.
On top of that, a further £2 million was paid to Tuchel’s backroom staff as they too were handed their P45s.
Graham Potter (£13m)
Potter was unable to wave his magic wand over his Chelsea squad and was sacked after about seven months in charge.
With a win ratio of just 38.7% from his 31 games in charge – one of the worst records in Chelsea’s modern history, Potter can’t have too many complaints.
Nor could he when his compensation cheque landed on his doormat. He received the same amount as Tuchel – a staggering £13 million – thanks to being paid the remainder an agreed settlement to leave Stamford Bridge.
And that, lest we forget, came just seven months after Chelsea paid a record £22 million to steal him away from Brighton in the first place…
Mauricio Pochettino (£10m)
Pochettino’s single season stint, which incorporated the 2023/24 campaign, was underwhelming, rather than a disaster.
The Argentine took the Blues to the EFL Cup final, where they lost to Liverpool, and to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League.
But he clashed often with the board, particularly sporting director Paul Winstanley, and so the decision was taken to sever ties at the end of the campaign.
Although media reports vary in terms of the compensation paid to Pochettino, it’s thought that £10 million was the agreed final pay-off.
Enzo Maresca (£4.3m)
Although Maresca left Chelsea after just 17 months of a five-year contract, hist compensation payout was thankfully a lot lower than those that had come before him.
That’s because the Italian agreed to leave the club by mutual consent, rather than being sacked outright, which significantly minimised his severance package – he would have been owed £14 million, in that scenario.
But don’t lose any sleep over it. Maresca still trousered a cool £4.3 million, which was believed to be the equivalent of a year’s salary.
Liam Rosenior (£24m?)
Unlike Maresca, Rosenior was sacked by Chelsea in the true sense of the word.
Club statement: Liam Rosenior
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 22, 2026
He was dismissed after serving just four months of a six-and-a-half year contract, which as we’ve established is grounds for a pretty hefty compo payout.
With a salary set to be in the region of £4 million a year, multiplied by the six years not served, Rosenior could be in-line for a severance package of £24 million.
That would be one of the largest ever paid out in world football. The record? That belongs to, you guessed it, Chelsea: they forked out £26 million to get rid of Antonio Conte and his backroom staff back in 2019.