"Liam Rosenior looks up at the towering Strasbourg Kop. He shouts and pleads as he points to his players, demanding the fans applaud them. Met with hostility, boos and jeers in the stands, he cuts a lone figure, one at pains to sow unity at a divided club. Strasbourg had just won the game, beating Le Havre 1-0 earlier this season, but the club's fans were in no mood to celebrate."
"Rarely has Rosenior looked or sounded more emotional. I'm devastated, he said. I'm so disappointed with the reaction and it's not all of the fans who don't give the respect that my players deserve. He was not being an apologist for BlueCo, the company that owns Strasbourg and Chelsea. Nor was he demanding fans forsake their misgivings about the ownership's intentions. He was simply pleading with supporters to back his young and exciting squad."
"Rosenior described himself as an emotional person earlier this season. While he goes to great lengths to defend his players, his support is not unconditional. Emegha discovered that last month when he was on the receiving end of a one-game ban from his own club, the result of a set of statements in the media, including one where he revealed he initially thought Strasbourg was in Germany. Emegha made some clumsy comments that hurt a lot of people"
Strasbourg players received boos and banners from fans despite a 1-0 victory over Le Havre, revealing deep frustration with club ownership and recent transfer dealings. Banners targeted president Marc Keller, criticised a convoluted transfer, and labeled captain Emmanuel Emegha a pawn of BlueCo after his Chelsea move. Manager Liam Rosenior publicly implored supporters to applaud and back his team, expressing devastation at the reaction while rejecting excuses for ownership. Rosenior defends his players but applies limits; Emegha faced a one-game club ban after media statements, including admitting he once thought Strasbourg was in Germany.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]