Liam Rosenior is angry — and wrong — Square Ball 12/2/26

The credible hulk

Words by: Chris McMenamy

I’ve got some bad news for Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior — he’s been given the wrong copy of Premier League Rules for Dummies. Rosenior appeared in front of the TNT Sports cameras after Chelsea’s 2-2 draw at home to Leeds United, seething at Jayden Bogle, the Premier League and, for some reason, reporter Olivia Buzaglo for their conspiratorial cabal set on denying plucky little Chelsea a home win against newly promoted behemoths Leeds.

“The rule is that if there is any contact with his hand it should be disallowed,” Rosenior told Buzaglo while moaning about Leeds’ slapstick equaliser at Stamford Bridge. “But I haven’t seen it back to make that judgement.”

Rather than allow himself time to go back and watch it, Rosenior took heed of Buzaglo telling him that the commentary team said it was a “non-deliberate handball”, and it set the Chelsea manager off further.

“The rule is the rule, from my understanding if there is any handball in the lead up to the goal it should be disallowed,” he said. “If they have said that, then someone explain the rules to me. Because they need to help the referee. You [the reporter] saying that has just got me angrier because that is unacceptable if they’ve come with that judgement.”

Look, you’re right. We live in a rules based society, Liam. I’m sorry, let me just pull up the Premier League rules and check that I’m definitely wrong about this not being a handball:

It is an offence if a player scores in the opponents’ goal:

-Directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper

-Immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental

I get that Mr Rosenior is a very busy man managing Chelsea FC while also embarking upon his new career as a LinkedIn life coach, but this feels like something he should know.

What I didn’t tell you is that moments prior to his Bruce Banner moment, he had said:

“Whether we think it’s handball or not in that moment, we’re still in control of the situation, we kick the ball away and then you ask for handball after. These are small moments that have cost us the three points today that we need to eliminate from our game.”

So what you’re telling me is that footballers should play to the whistle? Huge if true. In the build up to Noah Okafor’s equalising goal, Bogle ran on to James Justin’s hopeful ball forward, which Trevoh Chalobah swung a clumsy leg at and missed. The ball bounced up off Bogle’s knee onto his elbow and Leeds scored a whole twelve seconds later.

That doesn’t seem very direct to me. Rosenior argued that his players “switched off” in that moment, but he hasn’t legislated for the fact that their woeful defending began well before the handball when Chalobah kicked air, and continued without anyone missing a step when three defenders tried to challenge the Leeds wing-back before goalkeeper Robert Sanchez fouled him.

Even in that moment, nobody thought to mark Okafor, an attacker, standing on his own and onside eight yards from goal. But yes, it’s the handball. It’s Bogle’s fault. It’s VAR. It’s referee Rob Jones. It’s Peter Shilton’s fault for not jumping higher. Forgive me, I’m getting carried away.

Despite being fond of the odd Football Manager game, I can’t say I know too much about managing a Premier League football club in the real world, but I’m fairly certain that one thing that won’t get you very far is making sweeping, contradictory statements in interviews without much evidence. We can only hope that Rosenior handles actual adversity with a similar lack of composure for the purposes of entertainment.

One benefit we do get is seeing a Chelsea meltdown caused by Leeds United. It began with the man on the sideline and trickling down to the fans but, most enjoyably, to Talksport shock jock Andy Jacobs, who took exception to a little lighthearted fun at the end of the game.

I don’t remember Jayden Bogle’s unfathomable miss! Given how sanitised modern football is, these are the small wins we must celebrate. I remember not too long ago hearing the insufferable Premier League droners going on about how great it is to have Leeds back in the league.

The charm might be starting to wear off, and we’re all loving it.