The Athletic FC

Welcome to the Athletic FFC podcast with me, Ayo Akemolera.

Liam Racine has signed a six and a half year deal to be head coach of Chelsea Football Club.

So what challenges await him at Stanford Bridge?

And is he ready to step up?

All right, with us today, we have French football writer and broadcaster Tom Williams. We've also got later on in the program, Chelsea correspondent

Simon Johnson and Matt Slater as well. Right, Tom, let's get into this because in his only full

season at Strasbourg, Rossinia led the club to seventh place. How is he perceived as a coach in L'Egan?

He made a really positive impression in France. I mean, he wasn't known at all when he was appointed. There was a lot of curiosity about him, this young English coach with very little coaching experience behind him.

He made a very good impression very quickly, really good with the media.

I think that's one of his real strong points.

He's a great communicator.

But it wasn't just speaking to the media.

It was speaking to the fan base and it was speaking to the players in particular.

He got this buy-in from the players really quickly,

as has been commented on quite a lot.

Strasbourg have the youngest squad in the five major European leagues.

But he got them playing some absolutely sensational football,

really spectacular football, high-pressing, high-energy,

lots of running.

At home in particular last season, they pulled off some fantastic results.

They beat PSG, they beat Marseille.

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