'Humiliating' - Liam Rosenior move to be Chelsea manager leads to fury and protests

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Strasbourg fans have vented their fury at the “humiliating” departure of Liam Rosenior - and claimed it showed the French club’s “subservience” to Chelsea under BlueCo. Now more protests are threatened at the Alsace club’s next home game by Ultras who already boycott the start of matches in protest at multi-club ownership.

The Chelsea owners bought Racing Club Strasbourg for €75m in June 2023 and appointed Rosenior in July 2024 as the replacement for Arsenal legend Patrick Viera.

With the youngest squad in the top five leagues in Europe - including every outfield player being under the age of 23 in one match - he earned a new three-year contract in April last year as he led the Alsace club to seventh place. But despite spending €100m over the summer, there was already unrest among Racing fans about their club being used as a reserve side and testing ground for young players. Now BlueCo have done the same with their head coach after five Ligue 1 games without a win.

The Federation of RC Strasbourg Supporters Club today posted on X: "The transfer of Liam Rosenior marks another humiliating step in Racing's subservience to Chelsea. For two and a half years, along with others, we have been trying to raise the alarm about this.

"The problem goes far beyond the mid-season sporting impact and the ambitions of a young coach. It is structural; the future of French club football is at stake.

"Every additional contortion by Marc Keller, every extra minute spent at the helm of the club, is an insult to the tremendous work accomplished before 2023. What was seen by many as an outrageous move last September increasingly looks like sound advice: he must leave. Now.

"The FSRCS will coordinate closely with the three other associations actively fighting against multiple ownership, as well as all people of goodwill, to define the next steps."

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Strasbourg won the 1979 French title and finished sixth in 2022 under now QPR boss Julien Stéphan. But French football has faced financial challenges since the collapse of the five-year TV contract with streaming service DAZN after only one season.

Ligue 1 is now the first of Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues to roll out a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service this season - and Strasbourg insist BlueCo’s ownership has given them security. They also get the use of some of the most promising young players in the world . Mike Penders and Kendry Paez are on loan from Chelsea this season and Strasbourg finished top of the UEFA Conference League group stage table.

And 10 of the 18 Ligue 1 clubs are now part of multi-club ownership structures with Troyes associated with Manchester City , Olympique Lyonnais - owned by former Palace shareholder John Textor - in a group with Botafogo of Brazil, Toulouse linked to AC Milan while INEOS own Nice and Manchester United .

But Dutch striker Emmanuel Emegha was bought by Strasbourg in 2023 - who claimed he thought the club was in Germany when he first joined - has already agreed to join Chelsea next summer.

Strasbourg ultras have made clear their concerns with banners and protest chants during recent matches and they already boycott the first fifteen minutes of every home game. The Eastern derby with Metz on January 18 promises to be a heated affair.

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