Leroy Rosenior, Liam’s father, played for the likes of Fulham, West Ham and Queens Park Rangers, and his managerial career peaked with a five-month stint at then-League One side Brentford in 2006.
In 2019 he was awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours for his services to tackling discrimination in football and wider society.
When Rosenior Jr retired from playing he followed his father’s footsteps. He began writing a column for The Guardian, where in 2017 he acknowledged the under-representation of black coaches. He highlighted that race does not influence ability and said opportunities should be given on merit.
He also made a point he would repeat: that vast under-representation leads to misunderstandings of players from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
In a podcast with The Athletic FC, Rosenior highlighted how his star striker, Emmanuel Emegha, was labelled “difficult” and “emotional”, but said he understood the Netherlands international with Nigerian parentage. Emegha is set to join him in moving from Strasbourg to Chelsea in July.
In further Guardian columns, Rosenior also admitted he was “ashamed” to hear an unnamed coach make a homophobic slur when he was a player. He pledged his support for the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign and wrote an open letter to Donald Trump during his first US presidency, accusing him of “blatant” racism.
Rosenior has since made his name as a manager – first at Hull City, then Strasbourg – and Wayne Rooney said this week he was “as good a coach as I’ve ever worked with” following their time together at Derby County.
Rosenior said his farewells at Strasbourg on Tuesday morning before signing a six‑and‑a‑half‑year contract at Chelsea.
The Blues had the Premier League’s first black manager in Gullit and the first black captain in Paul Elliott.
Elliott has since worked in multiple senior positions, including the FA’s diversity and inclusion board, and is now the vice-chairman at Charlton Athletic – who Chelsea play in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
“Liam, in my opinion, represents everything that was right about the 21st century,” Elliott said.
“He has been an outstanding player, very articulate, hugely intelligent, and you can see that whatever he did – whether as a manager or technical director – he was really cognizant of the game.
“Whatever he did, I knew he would be a success. His passion was to forge a career in football management. He speaks in a way I hadn’t heard from many people – you felt you were learning.
“It sends out a strong, positive message to current and future generations – that people of colour who look like Liam can go to the very top and be at the cutting edge of football management.
“But let’s not forget – he’s there on merit. He’s there on talent.”