Liam Rosenior honed his trade under Tony Pulis but could he now replace him at Championship outfit Boro?
Liam Rosenior has emerged as a surprise option to take over at Middlesbrough this summer, according to the Sun (5 May, page 52).
Boro are on the lookout for a new manager as they look to improve on last season’s disappointing seventh placed finish. So far, a wide array of experienced coaches have been linked, including Championship veterans Chris Hughton, Chris Wilder, Slavisa Jokanovic and Nigel Pearson.
Rosenior, meanwhile, has absolutely no managerial experience, although he has honed his trade as the assistant coach of Brighton’s U23 team.
The 34-year-old former Fulham, Reading and Hull City defender only retired from playing last year and he has spent much of the last 12 months working as a pundit on Sky Sports’ Championship coverage, earning plenty of admiration for his erudite points and ability to dissect a game.
Interestingly, Rosenior learned his trade from none other than Tony Pulis as a youth team player for Bristol City and he has been an outspoken supporter of an oft-criticised Welshman who became hugely unpopular with many Middlesbrough supporters before he was sacked in May.
“I often hear negative comments made about the style of football Pulis plays and, while I understand people who complain about the way he sets his teams up – reliant on strong defensive structure and being a constant threat from set plays – as a budding young coach/player with aspirations to manage at the highest level I can’t help but admire the fact every team he has managed have a strong identity and mirror his footballing philosophy,” Rosenior told the Guardian in 2017.
In fairness, Rosenior does add that that he ‘does not completely agree’ with Pulis’s famously pragmatic style.
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