Rosenior’s tenure ended less than 24 hours after he publicly criticised his players in the wake of Tuesday’s defeat at Brighton – an episode that lay at the heart of what ultimately went wrong for the Englishman.
It was not for a lack of trying. Rosenior often defended his players, sometimes to his own detriment.
His comments about the team “respecting the ball” followed an attempt to justify a pre-match huddle – an idea from his leadership group, rather than Rosenior himself – in which the players encircled referee Paul Tierney before a 1-0 defeat by Newcastle at Stamford Bridge in March.
That episode may ultimately define his tenure. It marked the start of a run of five defeats without scoring, Chelsea’s worst such sequence in 114 years, leading to his exit.
But there were signs in the early days of Rosenior’s short reign that the dressing room were unimpressed with him.
Despite relative success at Strasbourg, the former Hull City boss had never managed in the Premier League.
Views within the squad were mixed, but the Spanish-speaking contingent were particularly unconvinced. That was reflected in comments made by Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez during the March international break, in which both talked up moves to Spain.
Multiple sources told BBC Sport that leadership meetings became increasingly quiet as Rosenior’s tenure began to unravel, with the head coach struggling to generate the level of participation he had hoped for.
Further evidence was provided by team news leaks around both legs of their Champions League last-16 tie against Paris St-Germain, which sources say originated from within the dressing room. A leak before Rosenior’s final match at Brighton remarkably seemed to come from Cucurella’s barber.
There was also footage of players on a near-weekly basis appearing to snub Rosenior’s inexperienced backroom staff, including a recent video that showed Wesley Fofana ignoring assistant James Walker after a home defeat by Manchester United. One player even gave him the nickname “the supply teacher”.
Privately, sources close to several players have confirmed that Rosenior began to lose authority as he attempted to implement more of his own ideas, having initially leaned on Maresca’s blueprint during his first six weeks in charge, amid limited time on the training pitch.
Key tactical decisions also came under scrutiny. One source close to PSG said they felt Rosenior’s approach over the two legs of the tie was too open, allowing the French champions to exploit Chelsea in an 8-2 aggregate win. The decision to start young centre-back Mamadou Sarr at right-back also proved costly in the second leg, with his error leading to an early Khvicha Kvaratskhelia goal as PSG won 3-0 on the night.
In addition, Moises Caicedo was said to be covering too much ground following a shift from a double pivot – two defensive midfielders – to a single pivot.
It was not all negative. Most players were said to regard Rosenior as a thoroughly decent person and he was known, according to one source, to be more popular with English members of the squad. However, injuries to Trevoh Chalobah, Cole Palmer and Reece James later in his spell further complicated matters.