Enzo Maresca's time as Chelsea manager came to an end on New Year's Day, and although the club won't have a new permanent manager in place for their next match against Manchester City on Sunday evening, Liam Rosenior is currently the frontrunner to take the reins at Stamford Bridge.
The news of Rosenior's imminent appointment has not gone down well with the club's supporters, as it once again displays the strong links between the Blues and Strasbourg, the French club who share the same ownership with Chelsea.
Rosenior has done a decent enough job at Strasbourg, but large sections of the fanbase don't believe that he has done anywhere near enough to be gifted the top gig at Stamford Bridge.
Protests are planned for Chelsea's next home match
Chelsea fan group ‘Not a Project CFC' have announced on social media that they are planning a protest against co-owner Behdad Eghbali and the rest of the board due to frustrations about how the club is being run.
A statement from the group on X states that they believe that the club's hierarchy has ‘failed to meet the standards required at a club of Chelsea's size, history and ambition.'
🚨 Chelsea Fan Protest against Behdad Eghbali and the Sporting Directorship.
— NotAProjectCFC (@NotAProjectCFC) January 2, 2026
⚽️ Chelsea vs Brentford, 17th January
🏟️ Britannia Gate, Stamford Bridge
⏰ Protest starts at 1pm
One club. One voice. Change MUST occur.
Read the full statement below. #OurClub #OneVoice pic.twitter.com/ZfM3WcjGfW
The protest is set to take place on 17 January ahead of Chelsea's next home match against Brentford. While the group are keen to express that the protest will be a ‘peaceful' one, the words used in the statement are damning.
The group claim that the ownership group have been running the club ‘less like an elite club and more like a player trading farm focused on churn, speculation, and long-term potential at the expense of present-day competitiveness'.
The statement concludes by making six demands:
- Clear accountability
- The end of micromanagement culture
- Flexibility over volume when it comes to player recruitment
- Board stability
- Proper management support
- Championship ambition
FGG says: A long time coming
Chelsea's new ownership structure has been in place since 2022, and for the past three-and-a-half years, their behaviour in the transfer market has been erratic. The focus on buying players under the age of 23 on long-term contracts isn't the issue, but the fact that they are seemingly doing this so they can flip them for more money rather than so they can mould them into an elite team is.