There’s a reason the main stand of the Meinau stays silent for the first 15 minutes of every Strasbourg home game, as has been the case since 2023. It’s an objection to their state of affairs; not on the pitch, but in the boardroom. Under the multi-club ownership model of BlueCo, a vocal portion of the Strasbourg fanbase feel their role as the “pawn” in Chelsea’s big game of chess has been stripping them of their identity. They’ve now been stripped of their manager.
Liam Rosenior is the latest Strasbourg casualty to cross the bridge to Chelsea. He follows – or precedes – Strasbourg captain Emanuel Emegha, whose move this summer was confirmed back in September, to the wrath of those in Alsace. The spokesperson for Strasbourg’s four main supporter groups told The Independent in October that there was an expectation that Rosenior “sees himself somewhere in England in one or two years”. But not now, and not like this. In snatching their sister club’s manager mid-season, Chelsea have taken their big-brothering of Strasbourg to a new level.
