Every permanent Chelsea manager over the last 20 years ranked

Chelsea’s season reached a nadir with the 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Tuesday night.

While the result itself was hugely alarming, the nature of the defeat was even worse, with Liam Rosenior describing the performance as indefensible as the Blues fell out of the Premier League top five.

As a consequence, Rosenior has been relieved of his duties just three months into his six-year contract and Chelsea must now commence their search for a sixth permanent manager since Todd Boehly's reign began in 2022.

Without further ado, we’ve ranked every permanent Chelsea manager over the last 20 years.

14 – Liam Rosenior

Liam Rosenior wasn’t dealt the best hand when moving to Stamford Bridge, but played it terribly. A team of Chelsea’s stature cannot be losing five consecutive Premier League games, and they certainly can’t do so without scoring a goal.

Rosenior clearly felt the pressure, and at no point seemed to have convinced the dressing room to believe in his methods.

While there is sympathy within Chelsea for Rosenior’s plight, his tenure at Stamford Bridge will be one of the most forgettable in the club's modern history.

13 – Graham Potter

Like Rosenior, there was the feeling that Graham Potter had perhaps been given too much too soon. Impressing at a smaller club, Potter was handed the reigns on the back of Thomas Tuchel’s dismissal.

After a promising start with three straight Premier League wins, Potter won just two of his next 15 games and oversaw a pair of domestic cup exits at the hands of Manchester City before his departure.

12 – Andre Villas-Boas

There were fair comparisons between Andre Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho, in that both had led Porto to great domestic success and even took a European trophy to Portugal before moving to Stamford Bridge.

That’s just about where the comparisons ended, however. Villas-Boas had a reputation as one of the most tactically astute coaches in the game, but was unable to handle the Chelsea dressing room, quickly alienating key players.

Falling out with captain John Terry, Villas-Boas left with the worst win ratio of all permanent Chelsea managers since Glenn Hoddle.

11 – Luiz Felipe Scolari

An exciting appointment at the time, World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari was tasked with overthrowing double winners Manchester United at the summit of English football. Life under Big Phil started superbly with the Blues top of the league heading towards November with new signing Deco pulling the strings.

Things unravelled somewhat from there, however, winning four of their next 12 matches to fall to fourth in the table as Scolari was given his marching orders.

10 – Avram Grant

The unlikely successor to Jose Mourinho’s crown, Avram Grant overcame a rocky start to lose just one of his final 30 Premier League games, pushing Manchester United all the way in the title race.

Grant was three wins away from a treble, but lost the EFL Cup final to Tottenham, and the UEFA Champions League final on penalties to United.

9 – Mauricio Pochettino

The decision to hire Mauricio Pochettino after the failed Potter experiment signalled a move back to more established coaches for Chelsea.

After taking over a side that finished 12th the previous season, Pochettino was tasked with bedding in more than a dozen new signings and while it took a while for Chelsea to hit their stride under the Argentine, they did take 32 points from their final 15 matches to finish sixth.

Everything looked promising at Stamford Bridge, but an apparent disagreement between Pochettino and the board regarding transfer policy saw the former Tottenham boss leave at the end of the season.

8 – Roberto Di Matteo

Roberto Di Matteo took interim charge from Villas-Boas until the end of the 2011/12 season, with his primary task being to galvanise a squad who never took to the Portuguese.

While the Italian was never meant to be a permanent hire, his FA Cup win – and miraculous UEFA Champions League triumph – saw him handed the permanent job.

Despite a strong start to the following season, results turned for Di Matteo, and the failure to get out of their UEFA Champions League group saw the former Blues midfielder dismissed.

7 – Frank Lampard

While his second stint at the club as interim manager was dismal, winning one game in 11, Frank Lampard’s first spell in the Stamford Bridge dugout was a relative success.

Though chequered by periods of inconsistency and the FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal, Lampard was operating under a transfer embargo following the sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid, and helped blood the likes of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James and Fikayo Tomori en route to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League.

6 – Maurizio Sarri

While the limitations of Sarriball became clear throughout Maurizio Sarri’s tenure at Chelsea, the results were hard to argue with.

The Italian started strongly in West London and ultimately did enough to secure UEFA Champions League qualification and masterminded a 4-1 Europa League final win over Arsenal.

5 – Enzo Maresca

How Chelsea fans must be wondering what could have been. Dealing with whatever squad Clearlake hands you is going to be difficult for any Chelsea manager, and Enzo Maresca publicly expressed his frustration at the situation more than once, ultimately leading to his departure.

In his first season, Maresca navigated the UEFA Conference League and returned the club to the UEFA Champions League, winning the Club World Cup later that summer.

Though results had started to turn, it’s safe to assume that Chelsea would have been in a better position had they kept Maresca in charge.

4 – Antonio Conte

Two things are near certainties when bringing Antonio Conte to your club: silverware and a bust-up with higher-ups leading to an acrimonious exit.

Sure enough, Conte delivered on both at Chelsea.

With no European football following the previous season’s 10th place finish, Conte took Chelsea back to the Premier League title with a points tally only bettered by Mourinho’s 2004/05 title winners.

In his second season, however, the Italian struggled to juggle European and domestic commitments, all the while bemoaning the club’s transfer policy.

Despite an FA Cup win, poor form from the turn of the year saw Chelsea fall out of the UEFA Champions League places, and Conte was on his way.

3 – Thomas Tuchel

With Chelsea floundering in mid-table, Frank Lampard was dismissed with Thomas Tuchel stepping into the dugout.

The German would take Chelsea from ninth in the table back to the top four and masterminded their UEFA Champions League final win over Manchester City.

By the end of November, Chelsea were top of the Premier League, ultimately finishing third having reached a pair of domestic cup finals, failing to a classic Real Madrid comeback in Europe.

Tuchel was then rather prematurely dismissed just a month into the following season.

2 – Carlo Ancelotti

Perhaps the harshest and most misguided of all of Chelsea’s managerial changes over the years, in Carlo Ancelotti the Blues had a legitimately world class coach who’d completed a league and cup double in his first season.

Chelsea scored a record 103 goals, also breaking the record for the best goal difference (+71) and most goals scored at home (68) in the Premier League.

Admittedly, his second season was underwhelming, but the move from Ancelotti to Villas-Boas might have been the biggest downgrade the club have made in the dugout.

1 – Jose Mourinho

Still the standard bearer, no manager has ever come close to replicating Jose Mourinho’s success at Stamford Bridge. Taking English football by storm, Mourinho’s first two seasons in West London saw him win back-to-back Premier League titles as well as the League Cup, before being dethroned in his third season, albeit still winning the FA Cup and a second League Cup.

A poor start to his fourth season, coupled with disagreements between Mourinho and Roman Abramovich saw the Portuguese depart.

Mourinho returned in 2013, and while his impact wasn’t quite so immediate the second time around, he did win a third Premier League and League Cup in his second season, before a dismal third term saw Mourinho sacked shortly before Christmas with the Blues languishing in 16th place.