Chelsea interim Calum McFarlane boss speaks for first time, “performance wasn’t good enough”

Three months have past since Calum McFarlane was appointed caretaker of Chelsea in the days following the firing of Enzo Martinez. Now he is back on the touchline after Liam Rosenior was sacked early this week.

McFarlane back for Blues

Chelsea went on a historically bad run over their last five Premier League matches. They lost each of those matches, failed to score a single goal in that span, and plummeted down the Premier League standings. Now McFarlane is back in the dugout to try and put out the fire left by the former RC Strasbourg coach.

On Friday McFarlane faced the media for the first time in his second stint as caretaker. The primary question was centered around how long he expects to be on the touchline considering this is his second stint as caretaker. With only four matches remaining reporters wanted to know if he was on board for the rest of the campaign. “All I’ve been made aware of is I will take the team on an interim basis from now until the end of the season. Beyond that, I’m not sure,” said McFarlane.

McFarlane joined Chelsea this summer went he was named the head coach of the Under 21s. Before that he was assistant manager at non-league side Croydon before joining Whyteleafe. His journey took him to Manchester City where he got an assistant role with the youth academy. He spent three years there and then got a job at Southampton’s youth academy, where he stayed until joining Chelsea this year.

Clear objective for rest of way

In between the sacking of Maresca and the debut of Rosenior McFarlane took over for Chelsea’s match against Fulham. They lost that match 2-1 at Craven Cottage before Rosenior took charge. He would be kept on board with the first team, and appointed a role in the back room staff or Rosenior.

He has been working with the squad ever since, and feels comfortable being in the position that he once held for a brief stint back in January. “But I’ve worked with the group for three or four months now. I’ve got relationships with the players, a better understanding of where they’re at mentally, so it’s a very different task [to his first stint in charge].”

Chelsea have an FA Cup semifinal match against Leeds this weekend, and then set their sights on the final four matches of the Premier League season. The message to the players from McFarlane is clear. “The same thing I’m saying to you, I’m saying to the players: let’s make sure we get the next three games right, let’s make sure we’re performing well against Leeds and we’ll go day by day on that.”

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